Nail Art Tutorial | Fuzzy Sweater Nails 3D

Earlier this week I posted a picture of the manicure I was wearing featuring a sweater nail accent on my ring finger and many of you asked for a tutorial, and well, here it is! 

The effect is best achieved with gel polish and here I will be using the Orly GelFX system. Here is what you will need:

- Gel base coat

- Gel colour (I am using Orly GelFX Artificial Sweetener)

- Gel top coat

- Gel Cleanser

- Buffer

- Stainless steel cuticle pusher or spatula

- Small-sized dotting tool or size 0 nail art brush

- Piece of aluminium foil

- Clear or coloured embossing powder

- Lint-free wipes

- UV/LED lamp

- Nail brush

1. Prep your nails according to the instructions with your gel polish system, buff the surface of the nail and apply the base coat. Cure for the appropriate time.

2. Apply the first coat of the coloured polish and cure.

3. Apply a second coat if desired and cure again.

4. Apply top coat and cure.

5. Cleanse the nail to remove the tacky layer from the top coat and prepare it for nail art.

6. Put a few drops of gel polish on a small piece of aluminium foil and using a small dotting tool, start drawing a cable knit pattern on the nail. Make sure to apply the gel thickly and leave little gaps between the motifs so that the design remains clearly distinguishable. Cure when satisfied with the design.

7. Go over the design once more with the gel colour. Do not cure.

8. Using a spatula or stainless steel cuticle pusher, apply some clear embossing powder over all of the nail, taking special attention to cover the whole design. I prefer to use clear embossing powder because it takes up the base colour and goes with everything. The embossing powder will give the design a textured look and feel.

9. Tap the excess powder off the nail and cure in the UV lamp.

10. Remove any excess embossing powder from the nail with a nail brush and follow with a little cleanser on a lint-free wipe.

11. Your sweater nails are ready to rock!

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and do let me know if you re-create the design yourselves by posting pictures on my Facebook page :)

Review | Born Pretty Store 3D Flat Back Square Rhinestones

3D Nail Art is not something I would usually go for but a little change sometimes is good so when Born Pretty Store offered me the chance to review some items from their store yet again, I picked up this 3 piece set of 3D Flat Back Square Rhinestones.

There are 12 colours to choose from and I chose SP005 which are essentially transparent but give off all sorts of iridescent colours according to how the light hits them. Each square measures 5mm x 5mm and they have a flat facet so that they can be adhered to the nail.

Being rather big, they are very easy to manage with a pair of tweezers and I have used nail glue to fix them in place. Their size however can work against practicality as although they lasted well, they do interfere with everyday tasks such as applying hand cream and being extra careful when washing your hands and hair and at work, I have to be careful when wearing and removing gloves, thus I only wore them for a day.

Having said that, I would still recommend these gems for special occasions to give your nails a different look and they can easily be saved for future use. Moreover, they go with a vast array of nail decorations such as the ones shown in the pictures above that can also be purchased from Born Pretty Store. In fact, mixed nail art decorations is the look I went for to use the 3D rhinestones.

You can buy these 3D Flat Back Square Rhinestones from Born Pretty Store for just $2.13 for 3 pieces and you can even get a 10% discount with my code EBABK31. Shipping is free worldwide, no minimum order.

PR Sample