As we plough through October and the seasons turn, we meet colder weather, darker days and Halloween, but best of all we are introduced to exciting new season trends. This is a guide to some easy but effective ways of incorporating some of this season’s biggest trends into your nail art.
Tartan
Punk is a huge trend this autumn/winter and leather and tartan are everywhere. The best way to reflect this in your nail art is to go for a tartan look which will look bold, but also really cute.
What you need:
Red nail varnish
Green nail varnish
Nail art pen
Base coat
Clear top coat
To start, paint on your base coat and when it’s dry, paint your nails red. You choose the shade: bright red nails are big for autumn and winter, especially oxblood red. For the next stage, it’s best to use a nail art pen (these can be purchased on e-bay for around £3), or failing that, a needle or even a pen which has run out of ink. When the red nail varnish has dried, dip your nail art pen or alternative into a pot of green nail varnish and very carefully draw two horizontal lines and two vertical lines onto your fourth finger, as shown in the picture below. If you don’t fancy green, black works too.
It’s up to you if you want to leave your nails like this for a simpler effect, or go all out and continue with more lines on all of your nails. If you go for an all over effect, try to vary line thickness and space between lines. This nail design could also be adapted by using black and white nail varnish instead of red and green. Finally, once the green nail varnish has dried, paint on your top coat and leave to dry.
Difficulty rating: 3/5
Monoscope
Black and white remains popular for autumn, especially involving bold prints. Monochrome nails can easily be adapted for your style because you can make it as simple, bold, delicate or edgy as you want.
What you need:
Black nail varnish
White nail varnish
Nail art pen (optional)
Base coat
Top coat
The first step is to paint on your base coat, let it dry, then paint your nails alternately in black and white.
If you prefer a simple look, you can leave the design at this point and skip to painting on your top coat. Alternatively, you can draw on stripes, spots, flowers, hearts or whatever you like – maybe even a different design on each nail!
Difficulty rating: 1/5- 3/5 depending on chosen design.
Glitter tips
Glitter tips are also a huge trend this season. They’re simple, classy, elegant, and you can adapt the colours to match any outfit.
What you need:
Any nail varnish colour
Any glitter nail varnish colour
Base coat
Top coat
First, paint on your base coat followed by any nail varnish colour of your choice. When this has dried, carefully paint a strip of your glitter nail varnish across the tip and that’s all there is to it! You could try dotting some glitter just underneath the tip too to give it a gradient effect.
Alternatively, you could paint the tip a solid non-glitter colour, different to the colour of the rest of the nails, then paint an opaque glitter nail varnish all over the nail. Each style of glitter tips gives a different effect, but all look really pretty and glamorous!
Difficulty rating: 2/5
Leopard Print
As well as tartan, leopard is one of the hottest prints this autumn/winter. It’s really easy to create a leopard print effect on nails – it looks bold, pretty and bang on trend.
What you need:
Brown nail varnish
Black nail varnish
Nail art pen (or alternative)
Base coat
Top coat
Paint on your base coat and then paint the brown all over your nails. When this is dry, use the nail art pen to paint on the black in semi circles, circles and spots varying in shapes and sizes, as shown in the picture below. All that’s left to do now is to paint on your top coat!
Difficulty rating: 3/5
Embellishment
Embellished nails are also in this season, and there are several ways that you can achieve them, for example, by using stick on diamantés in different colours and sizes. “Caviar” nails are also an easy way of adding embellishment to your nails.
What you need:
Any colour nail varnish
Caviar pearls
Base coat
Top coat
As always, start by painting on your base coat. Next, paint on your colour, and whilst the nail varnish is still wet, sprinkle on the caviar pearls. Having caviar pearls on every nail is a bit too much for some people, but there are also alternatives. For example, as seen in the picture, you could use the caviar pearls on just one nail, or use them just on the tips of your nails.
These are just a few hot ideas for you to play around with, but whatever you do – love your nails this season!
Image Sources:
All own pictures.
By Kerry Williams