How to Make Flower Nail Art

Preparing Your Nails

Remove any chipped polish left on your nails. Before you start painting, you want to give yourself a gorgeous canvas to work on. You can purchase nail polish remover from your local drugstore. If your nails are prone to drying out and flaking, look for a remover labeled “non-acetone.” These are gentler on your nails, and you don’t want to dry out your nails right before giving yourself a manicure!

Trim and file your nails. No matter how beautifully you create your floral nail art, it won’t look perfect if your nails are jagged, uneven, or misshapen. Before painting them, it’s important to trim and file them. First, choose the shape you want for your nails. Some people prefer square tips with sharp edges, while others prefer soft rounded nails. Trim your nails so that they are all the same length. Leave a little extra length when trimming, because they’ll get a bit shorter from filing. File your nails with the nail file using short, smooth strokes. You’ll see your nail slowly starting to take shape, and continue until you are satisfied. Double check that all your nails are the same length and shape. Make sure you don’t have any hang nails.

Apply your base color. Choose a color that will provide a nice backdrop for your flowers. Roll the polish between your palms to get it all mixed and ready. Don’t shake, as that will cause air bubbles that can dry out your polish. Dip the brush into the polish, being careful not to overload the brush with polish. Try to use only three strokes to apply the polish to your fingernail. If necessary, use a few more strokes to distribute the polish evenly on your nail. Let your base coat dry fully before moving on to the flowers. You can let it air dry, or speed up the process by blow-drying them with cold air.

Creating the Flowers

Choose two colors to create your flowers. You’ll want to choose colors that contrast enough with your base color that your flowers stand out. Choose opaque polishes, because it is not easy to go over an intricate flower design with a second coat of polish. However, sheer polishes can certainly be used to create more subtle flowers.

Create dots on your nails using your brush or a toothpick. If your nail polish brush is small enough to create the dots, certainly go ahead and use them. If not, set them aside and instead dip a toothpick into the polish. You should get enough polish on the end to form a dot. If the toothpick is too pointy and isn’t picking up enough polish when dipped, gently press the end of it into a hard surface until it flattens slightly. These dots will be forming the center of the flower, so place them on your nails accordingly. You may want to just do one flower per nail, or several. Leave room for the “petal” dots that you’ll be painting next! If you don’t have toothpicks, or don’t like the effect you’re creating with a toothpick, feel free to use any other thin tool to create the dots.

Make 5-6 dots—the petals—around the original dot using your second color. Dip your brush or toothpick into your second color of polish. Get enough polish on the end of the toothpick to form a dot. You will be placing dots around the original dots you created to form the petals of the flower. You can make as many petals as you’d like, but typically flowers are created with five or six. Once you’ve created the petal dots, you can leave them as is, or drag them to create different shapes. For example, try placing the petal dots farther away from the center dot, and then using your toothpick to “drag” the polish to the center. This will create more teardrop-shaped petals. Don’t be afraid to get creative. Experiment with different colors, different petal shapes, etc. Once you get more comfortable using a toothpick to apply the polish, you can try different things.

Completing Your Artwork

Allow your flowers to dry fully. This is incredibly important, because trying to apply a top coat too early or bumping your wet nails on something will distort your beautiful flowers. Some nail polishes are specifically marketed as quick drying, but others will take at least half an hour to dry fully. To speed up the process, dry your nails with a hairdryer. The trick is to set it on “cool.” Hot air will actually keep the polish from hardening, so cool air is the way to go. The drugstore sells special polish-drying sprays, so pick one up if you’re desperate to get your nails dried quickly.

Paint a stem. This is entirely optional. If you have green nail polish, use a super thin brush or a clean toothpick to create a small stem snaking its way from the flower. You can connect multiple flowers with stems, and even add little leaves! There are special nail polish pens that make intricate details like stems and leaves much easier. Check out your local drugstore or beauty supply store if you are interested in purchasing these.

Enhance the background or add sparkles. If you want to add even more individuality to your nail design, go ahead! You can use the toothpick to add tiny dots to the background, or other thin designs. Combining floral patterns with geometric backgrounds is extremely trendy. If you have a sheer glitter polish, you can paint a coat over the design to give it some sparkle.

Apply a clear topcoat. After your flowers are finished and your nails look flawless, it’s important to seal it all. Find a polish specifically marketed as a topcoat to finish off your manicure. A good topcoat protects the polish from everyday wear and tear, and it acts as a barrier to prevent chipping and other damage. Additionally, a topcoat adds a beautiful shine to your nails. Because you’ve applied several different kinds of nail polishes, a topcoat also helps to smooth out the entire design and help it look more cohesive.