Easy DIY nail art

Love the look of fancy and elaborate nail art designs, but don’t have the steady hands to do it yourself? These two manicures are so simple, we guarantee you’ll be able to pull them off: the marble manicure and the magnetic manicure.

With the whole nail art trend still going strong, what’s a girl to do when she can only do a regular nail polish application? Creating the elaborate designs seen on all the runways, in magazines and in the blogosphere call for a steady hand or a talented nail artist.

But you’re in luck. There are two manicures that are easy to do on your own. The first — the marble manicure — has actually been around for a while, but its magical, swirly design makes it a classic nail art look that even those of us with less-than-perfect nail skills can accomplish.

Marble manicure

1. Apply a base coat of colour to your nails.
2. Tape off the skin around your nails to keep your marbling polish off your skin.
3. Fill a disposable cup with room temperature water.
4. Using your selection of nail polish colours, drip each colour into the water one by one so that they form concentric circles.
5. Drag the tip of a toothpick or orange stick through the circles of polish to create swirly designs in the cup.
6. In an area of the swirled polish that you like the pattern of, dip your nail in completely, and hold it there for a few seconds to let the polish adhere.
7. Carefully lift your nail out, and let the polish dry.
8. Repeat with each nail.
9. Remove the tape and any nail polish on your fingers with nail polish remover.

Magnetic manicure

The magnetic manicure is even simpler than the marble manicure. To start, pick up a bottle of the new Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Colour. The nail polish is infused with metallic particles and iron filings. Apply the polish as you would regular nail polish. Then, while the polish is still wet, hold your nail up to the special top of the nail polish bottle, which has a magnet built into it. The magnetic force will cause the tiny metal particles to shift and create unique, wavy designs in the nail polish. Repeat with all your other wet nails, and then let them dry. This is perhaps the simplest nail art option we’ve ever tried!

Image courtesy of Sally Hansen

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