All About Nail Designs and Nail Art

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Nail designs or nail art is a very simple concept - designs or art that is used to decorate the finger or toe nails. They are used predominately to enhance an outfit or brighten an everyday look. Seen nowadays as more a fashion activity and something that allows for creativity and expression of one's own style, the nail designs and art are considered to be a significant area of fashion and beauty. Different nail designs and nail art can be found on the latest catwalks of the best designers, Hollywood stars and celebrities will often showcase the hottest new nail trends on the red carpets, and of course anyone from their own home can create nail art to match their mood, outfit or artistic personality.

History originally saw nail art as being a show of social class, and the more extravagant the higher class you were considered. These days it is available to everyone and has exploded in popularity, so much so that a documentary NAILgasm, was released to explore the growing trend of nail art from subculture to high fashion. In January 2014, Nailpolis: Museum of Nail Art was founded for nail artists and hobbyists to share their designs. Membership on NailpolisMuseum is limited to invitation only to "maintain quality content.

How To Do Nail Art?

If you want your nails to look their best, copy your favourite star's nails, or just have a great design idea for them, then there are a few ways to go about achieving the desired look.

Salons:

Explore about blue coffin nails- The easiest but probably most expensive option is to visit a nail salon or nail bar. With the increase in nail designs and nail art popularity nail salons/bars have become common-place in many towns and high streets. They will have nail technicians that should be capable of creating any designs you wish.

Kits:

Nail art kits are useful for beginners as they give you everything you need to get started. They will usually contain the top and base coats, polish and colours, special brushes or dotting tools, different patterns, stickers and pins for the designs, and possibly sometimes stones, jewels or glitter depending on the kit. You may even want to get a kit with nail art pens that allow for you to draw directly onto the nail, getting a totally unique design of your own.

If you're thinking about getting into nail designs, a nail art kit might be the ideal starting point. You can buy nail art kits from some of the biggest retailers.

Tutorials:

If you want to avoid the cost of nail salons or are just feeling brave there is a massive amount of tutorials and guides for all sorts of nail designs on the internet. You can easily do a quick Google and YouTube search for a whole host of other resources.

What You Need

In order to get the desired designs or art and you aren't going to a nail salon, you'll need the best tools and supplies. One of the most basic tools for any budding nail artist are brushes. A set of brushes can be picked up from most places like Amazon for very cheap. Nail files are also important and you will likely need more than one. Your design ideas and what techniques they will require plays a large part in the tools you might find yourself needing. Nail stamps and dotting tools may be necessary to create specific designs.

These are just a few of a wide range of tools available for nail designs and art. Depending on the type of design or pattern you are trying to achieve you will require specific tools that will enable you to create those specific designs.

Nail Designs

Once you've decided to create your own nail art, and you've got all the tools you need to do so, you'll need to decide on a design. The range of options available to you is huge and with time you'll become more familiar with different accessories that can be used to improve or enhance your nail designs. Some of the more common designs are:

Flowers
Glitter
Bows
Dots/spots
Holiday Themed e.g. Easter bunnies.
Animal Prints
Two Tones
French Manicure
Those are just a few of many designs you could go for. The choices are endless and almost any picture or pattern can be recreated on your nails.

Inspiration

There are lots of resources for finding nail design inspiration. Various nail art books on can be found online that will cater for the nail designs you're looking for or level of skill you currently have. Alternatively you could attend a class at your local nail salon to get the basics first or find inspiration from them, not to mention vastly improving your ability. And of course the internet is a treasure-trove of information and ideas. A quick search will find you an endless supply of design ideas and nail art.