Hello everyone! Welcome back to another month, with another blog about another hobby 😊. This month, I decided to choose one of my favourite hobbies: painting my nails. Rarely, I will go to the nail salon to get them done, but most of the time, I will do them myself at home. I love doing my nails, as they make me feel put together and more confident. Here are my top tips on how to start doing your nails. I am not a professional, so some people can give you better ideas than me, but here are my suggestions.
1. Choose what style you want to do
There are so many different nail art styles to choose from, with complicated ones or just one colour nails. When choosing what you decide, make sure that it is something that you can do – don’t do it too complicated to begin with as it is better to get the skill improved than start and not have something that you are proud of. Things such as gradients and dotticures are always a great place to start: they don’t take too long and are good to do when you are getting into it. Don’t forget to challenge yourself though: if you find a style that you think you might be able to do, go for it! If it goes wrong, you can just wipe it off afterwards.
2. Choose your colours
This is the most important and exciting part: choose the colour of polish you want. What vibe do you want? What aesthetic do you have? I would recommend choosing something that goes with most of the clothes that you own, but sometimes statement nails are the way to go – if you wear an all-black outfit with yellow nails, it can really bring out the outfit! Depending on the style you have decided to do depends on how many colours you will need. However, if you want to do the same styles with different colours that can be equally pretty!
3. Get the supplies
Now that you have decided what design and colours you want, you need to go and buy the supplies. Various places, like Amazon, do great nail art starter kits with all of the brushes needed. If you don’t want to buy this, lots of nail art can be done with normal household items, so don’t forget to have a look for these for a simpler approach. Nail varnish can be between £1-£6, but you can get a lot of different sets and bundles, so have a look around. I would advise you also get a base coat and topcoat, just to protect your nails and keep the style on for as long as possible.
4. Choose a time of day
Nails can take a long time to paint and dry, so make sure to choose a suitable time of day: you need to leave at least an hour at the end to make sure they are completely dry and don’t smudge or chip straight away. Depending on the design and nail polish will affect how long needs to be waited in between each coat, so make sure to check what other people recommend. When I paint my nails with one colour, I normally leave about 5 minutes in between each layer – you want to make sure all of the layers dry so that they stay on longer and don’t smudge at much. I find it quite nice doing them when I am watching TV in the evening, or doing something on my computer, so that they can dry whilst I am doing something else.
5. Paint away!
Now, all that’s left is to do your nails! This is the fun part 😊. Make sure to keep some nail varnish remover and a cotton bud on hand just in case you make a mistake. Don’t stress too much about it: some styles are meant to look a certain way (like plaint splattering), and you can make them your own! Don’t confine yourself to one style either: you can try many and see which one you prefer, changing what you do every time you paint them.
There are all of my tips! I hope you find them helpful, and you enjoy painting your nails as much as I do. If you have a hobby, or an easy nail art tutorial, don’t forget to write us a blog about it – I’d love to hear them! Here is a link to find out more: https://www.girlguidinglaser.org.uk/challenges/report-for-the-hive.
Happy painting, and I’ll see you next month 😊.