Guest Post From Elizabeth of Did My Nails

Hello everyone! How's your week going? Homestretch! TGIF! Let's celebrate with an amazing guest post from Elizabeth of Did My Nails, shall we?

One thing I definitely lack here on Nailed is nail art, but luckily I have some very talented friends! Elizabeth is sweet as can be and to top it off, the girl has got some mad nail art skills! I'm so pumped to show you what she came up with today. I cannot believe she freehanded this gorgeous mani! Isn't it just so perfectly ladylike and elegant? Very modern-day Scarlett O'Hara! It definitely inspires me to want to try this on my own, although I'm sure I'd botch it. :-/ Oh well. Show 'em how it's done, Elizabeth!

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Hi! My name is Elizabeth, and I'm thrilled to be able to pitch in while Chelsea is away! To be honest, it took me a while to decide what to do for this post. I just wasn't sure whether simple or fancy was the way to go, but in the end I think I landed on something that's a little bit of both, my second stab at some easy, freehand roses. 

 

 

At heart I'm a total sucker for glitter. And for flecks, foils, shimmers, duochromes...I love any and all kinds of eye-catching polish. Sometimes a nice creme finish makes for a refreshing change, though, and this design uses two of my current favourites, both of which happen to be movie tie-ins. The base colour, OPI Skull & Glossbones (from the 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean collection), is a greyish beige. Much lighter than most greiges, it's reminiscent of driftwood or sun-bleached bones. The roses are Orly Grave Mistake, a beautiful blood red from this year's Dark Shadows collection. I don't actually own a dark enough green that isn't a fleck or foil, so for the leaves I just added a single drop of China Glaze Liquid Leather (black) to 4 drops of Jessica Mint Mojito Green.

 

 

There are probably a dozen ways to do more perfect, polished roses than these, but I can't imagine any of them is much easier. All I did was use a small dotting tool dipped in red to paint some comma-shaped swooshes. Just start in the middle, then work your way around and out until it's about the size you want. They don't have to be perfect by any means. Then just give them a couple of minutes for the polish to settle and spread, and dot on some leaves. Once it's dry, add a top coat, and you're done!

 

 

These freehand roses are a fun, easy nail art design for any skill level. Whether you use a dotting tool, a bobby pin, a blunted toothpick, etc., if you can paint a comma, you can paint a rose!