This week’s Nail Art “Jewel” – pardon my pun – is Gemstones & Rhinestones.
This nifty little tool is SO versatile – allowing you to add just the simplest touch of Nail Art to your mani..
OR.. create an intricate Work of Art..
And of course everything inbetween 😉
Gemstones & Rhinestones come in many, many different shapes, sizes and colours, which also adds to their versatility:
AND – they are available in many different places.. from the Chinese shop on the corner, to your local Arts & Crafts store, Beads store, Haberdasheries, and of course places that officially sell nail and nail art supplies!!
One of the most used online stores for Nail Art supplies is the Born Pretty store! And I will definitely recommend them if you are an online shopper. They have a wide variety at very reasonable prices.
There are a couple of different ways to attach your gem/rhinestones to your nails, and each have their own positives and negatives:
- I prefer using craft glue, because it still allows a slight “movability/flexibility” when it has dried, so the stone doesn’t pop of immediately when you accidentally knock it against something. But it does take quite a while to dry, so you have to be very careful with your nails for a very long time (hours) after applying.
- Regular nail polish, like your clear top coat for example. This seals in the stones quite securely, but I have found that it is very hard to NOT trap air bubbles (right against the stone) when you paint over it with your topcoat.
Tip: Do not use a lot of top coat, rather a thin layer, and sweep it past / down the sides of your stone/s rather than over. (please do share with us if you have any other tips on avoiding those annoying air bubbles?) - And then there is of course Nail Art Rhinestone glue, that is specifically manufactured and sold for this purpose. I have not yet bought or used one of these, so if you have, please do share your experience 😉
Now let’s look at some ideas using gem/rhinestones:
Here I did a Half Moon mani, with a triangular half moon using the negative space technique and some freehand painting and dotting to create the simple lace-y pattern. And then I added some Rhinestones on top of that:
Or here I just painted a simple black on all of my nails. And then did a diagonal line down the centre of each nail, using a different rhinestone for each nail:
This was one of my St Paddy’s day designs, where I blinged up the green Cross Shapes with some green rhinestones:
I also loved this simple idea for toes, and will definitely be trying it soon 😉
So there you go! A lovely little nail art tool/technique that you can use for adding just a touch of glam to your mani, or to go wiiiiiild!! 😉 ha-ha-ha
