How to: Create Gold-Studded Nail Art

Mon, 10 December 2012 3:32PM

Despite the fact that we’re currently wearing pretty pastels and bold brights on our nails for summer, the festive season always brings about the urge to paint a rich berry or a deep forest green.

And wouldn’t you know it, we spotted Revenge starlet Ashley Madekwe over the weekend with fabulous oxblood nails, complete with miniature gold studs as feature nails. You could even call them Christmas baubles. Seasonally appropriate, and bang on trend, wouldn’t you say Primpers?

And then to further instill the need to recreate them now, Rita Ora also sported gilt spikes overnight at the Jingle Ball in London …

So I set about to grab the closest thing I could find to tiny gold studs. The answer: Hello Darling Rock Candy in Caramel Kisses, $24.95, Hello Darling, a blend of gold and caramel pearls, or Gilded Ristretto, $24.95, with a blend of black, silver and gold. Alternatively, if you search ‘nail art studs’ online, you’ll easily be able to find them. Otherwise you could also use small gold diamantés (available for under $5 in a craft store). Another option still: you could paint tiny gold polkadots – click here for our step-by-step guide.

A word of warning, Primpers, this nail art requires a lot of patience because not only do you need to use tweezers to place the rocks on your nails, making the process quite fiddly, you also need to be careful where you place them to create your desired pattern. All in the name of art, right?

Let’s get started …

Step 1:

Paint a thin coat of base coat. I’m currently loving Essie 3-Way Glaze, $18.95, 1800 811 611.

Step 2:

Slick on two coats of rich colour. I chose an oxblood-like red – Orly’s Nail Lacquer in Ignite, $18.95, 1300 769 355 – as my base colour. Leave your nails to thoroughly dry, at least 10-15 minutes.

Step 3:

Have your gold rocks or studs close by, preferably sitting on a white piece of paper so you can easily pick them up. Apply a layer of top coat, and working quickly while the polish is still wet, use your tweezers to pick up each rock individually and place them in a pattern on your nail. Tip: You’ll find that if you’ve dropped a rock in the wrong spot, you can gently nudge it over the correct place without ruining your polish. When you are happy with where you have placed it, use the tip of your tweezers to gently press it down into place.

Step 4:

Let your top coat dry for as long as possible, so the beads set in. Think at least 10-15 minutes. As for the finished product …

Tell me, Primpers, what do you think?

Are you a fan of studded nail art?

Would you try this look with Rock Candy, polkadots or nail studs?

Hayley x

Posted by: Hayley Bennett

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Tags: diy, featured, gold studs, hello darling, how to, nail art, nails, rock candy, stud nail art, studs