Adventures in Zooey Deschanel Nail Art

I have a confession to make: I am an awards show junkie. I watch the Oscars (my equivalent of the Superbowl), the Emmys and the Golden Globes every year. I really couldn't tell you what I love more: the gowns or the awards themselves. What girly girl hasn't thought about what she would wear if she was a star on the red carpet?

Hint: This. I would want to look like this. In case you were wondering, this is Chinese actress Fan Bingbing looking ten million kinds of fierce on the RC. Basically, I would wear anything that Fan Bingbing would wear.

 

Okay, so I highly doubt I'll ever get to have my Fan Bingbing moment. *sigh* But I can try to capture a little bit of red carpet glamour on my nails with some help from another leading lady who's becoming very well known for her red carpet nail art.

Zooey at the 2012 Emmys

Zooey is a modern style icon, so of course her nails have to look the part too, whether it's her adorable tuxedo nails at the Golden Globes or the retro TV design she sported at the Emmys this year.

Zooey's Emmy nails

Super cute, right? Zooey's look is pretty easy to replicate, even for a nail art newbie like me! I followed along with the steps celeb manicurist Tom Bachik did on Zooey's nails for the Emmys to create my own version of her mani. Here's how it all went down...

1. Start with a thin layer of a bright yellow polish. I used Wet N Wild Art Crime, but any yellow will work just fine. Don't worry about opacity or if it doesn't look completely perfect, because we're just using it as a base.

If you look jaundiced, you're doing it right!

2. Next layer one coat of a soft pastel peach, like L'Oreal Sweet Nothings that I used here, to soften the yellow. The way my camera captured this step makes my nails look way too yellow compared to how they really were, so I left a pic out for this step, but the look we're going for is a muted yellow. Your nails should not look completely peach, just softened.

3. On your thumb, make a small square in the center of your nail using a silver glitter. I went with OPI Crown Me Already! here.

4. Wait a few minutes for everything to dry, then outline your glitter square using a black nail art pen. I used a Sally Hansen one for my mani. Remember to round the corners on your outline to really get that retro look! Don't forget to draw in the rest of the details--antenna and TV stand legs--with your black nail art pen too. For the TV knobs, Zooey's manicure had Swarovski crystals, but I used a silver Sally Hansen nail art pen for my version.

6. The rest of Zooey's nails were spangled with Swarovski crystals here and there, so I dabbled Crown Me Already! on my nails to mimic the effect.

Ta-da! Okay, so my version isn't anywhere near as glamorous as Zooey's but this is pretty advanced nail art by my standards! I'm proud of myself for sticking with it, even when I had one of those inevitable "OMFG what have I done?!" moments. (*ahem* shaping the TV corners) Hopefully I didn't shame her gorgeous manicure too much with my attempt!

 

What do you think of Zooey's style? Have you ever tried to replicate a celeb manicure?

 

 

Disclosure: Sweet Nothings was provided to me by PR/manufacturer for this tutorial. This in no way alters or influences the content of this post. All other polishes were purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.