Impressionist/Abstract Flowers Tutorial

Hey guys,

So while updating my blog and changing the name and everything I realized I don not have enough tutorials!  I figured I would start with my abstract/ impressionist flowers that I have done a few times.  These are actually very easy to do and are pretty much mistake proof.  You will need pure acetone, some kind of small glass container to put some acetone in, a small nail art brush, a white or off-white base, three "flowery" colored nail polishes, a green and some topcoat.  

Colors used:  base- Orly Pure Porcelain, flowers- China Glaze Dance Baby & Fuchsia Fanatic, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Coral Reef, leaves- an unnamed Creative Arts green  (dupe to Color Club Twiggie)

Step One: Paint your nails a white or off-white base color and then apply a fast drying topcoat.This is important because we will be using acetone to make the flowers and the topcoat creates a barrier so we don't lift any of the base coat off as we are painting the flowers.

Step Two: Pour some acetone into your glass container and put a drop of one of  your flower colors onto a paper plate.  Dip your nail art brush into the acetone and then mix it into some of the polish you put on the plate, you want the polish to be pretty thinned out by the acetone so you may have to dip the brush back into it a few times to get enough.  Once you mix the polish and acetone begin painting flower like shapes onto your nails.

Step Three:  Continue painting your flowers with the other colors you have chosen, it really doesn't matter if you do perfect looking flower shapes, after the first color I really just kinda haphazardly place the color onto the nail in different spots to balance the look out.

Step Four: Grab your green polish and again thin a blob of it with your acetone and paint it anywhere you have open spaces on the nail.  I would try to avoid overlapping it with the flower colors as much as you can because it can make them look a little muddy. Once you have finished with the leaves you can apply your topcoat.  I like to do the topcoat pretty much right after I am done because it helps to blend the colors even more and gives it a more impressionist style look.

A couple of tips, you should not need very much polish for the flowers and leaves, using the acetone helps because even if the polish gets a bit thick you can still use it since you are thinning it with acetone.  The polish should not be opaque when you are painting the flowers and leaves it should look like watercolors.  If you do feel that you made a mistake you can take your brush and wash it off then dip it into the acetone a lightly brush wear you have messed up and it should take the polish off without removing your base color.

I hope you all like this tutorial and if you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me!