Wednesday, May 7, 2014

The Beauty Buffs - Radiant Orchid Trend: Nail Art & Tutorial


Hello, all! It's time for another theme from the ladies of The Beauty Buffs! This week we're taking on "Radiant Orchid" and I'm so excited about it! I've been looking forward to this theme for awhile, but I've been so busy this week that I wasn't sure I'd be able to get something done for today - I'm so glad I squeezed it in :) 

As many of you already know, this year's color of the year is Radiant Orchid so it's only fitting that our group gave it a shot. I decided to take a very literal approach to this theme and went with painting an orchid instead of doing something more abstract with the color. And because I've never painted orchids before, it was a fun challenge for me.

When this color was first announced as the color of the year, Sarah over at Chalkboard Nails did a fantastic Orchid mani and that sparked my inspiration for today's look. I love that she did such a literal and detailed approach to it, but I was feeling more of a sketched and "loose" look when I was painting these.

I used OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls as the base white (the perfect white) and Zoya's Audrina for the base of the Orchids. I added in white acrylic paint for lighter accents in the flowers and OPI's I Just Can't Cope-acabana for the yellow centers. I outlined everything with black acrylic paint to avoid smudging and added a top coat :) 
AND! Guess what! I made a quick little pictorial of my steps for this mani! Let me know what you think!
1. Paint your nails white and let dry completely (use a top coat here!)
2. With an orchid color, roughly paint the base of the orchids. There are 5 petals (3 large at the top and two small at the bottom).
3. Use short, small dashes to paint the accent white in the middle of the flowers. 
4. With a yellow polish, add small dots to create the center of the orchid. 
5. With a black paint, add in the stems and buds behind the flowers. 
6. Finally, roughly sketch the outlines of the orchids. Try to be imprecise with this and paint outside the lines a bit. It should look slightly abstract! 
Whew! What do you think of these? Did you like the Radiant Orchid color of the year or were you pulling for another color? 
Be sure to check out the other posts from the ladies in the Beauty Buffs via the Inlinkz below!

Happy Polishing :)