Fun and Spooky Nail Art Tutorial

In this video blog I'll show you how easy it is to create a Día de los Muertos (or Halloween!) inspired nail art designs in a few easy steps.

By Charleen Gonzalez for Shine Latina

Just as we're all gearing up for Halloween here in the US, locals in Mexico are preparing to celebrate Día de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead) on November 1st; it's a national holiday during which family and friends gather to remember and celebrate loved ones who have passed. Among the traditions kept during this holiday are private altars created in honor of the deceased decorated with flowers, food and sugar skulls. Sugar skulls, with their bright colors and ornate designs, are the inspiration behind this beauty tutorial. Follow these steps to create a quirky and fun nail design perfect for celebrating Día de los Muertos, Halloween or just standing out.

SUGAR SKULLS
Step 1:
Before applying any nail polish you will want to apply a base coat. I love Nails Inc. Kensington Caviar Base Coat, which nourishes your nails as well as protects them from staining or chipping.
-Apply two coats of a white nail polish to your nail; I used Nails Inc. Floral Street.

Step 2:
-Apply some top coat towards the tops of your nails, and then apply two flower decals for the eyes of the sugar skull. The top coat will act as glue. Then apply more top coat to right above and below the middle of the flower decals, and adhere a black heart rhinestone for the nose. I also chose to apply a purple heart rhinestone above the eyes for decoration. I suggest checking out Ebay for the most inexpensive, and largest variety of nail art rhinestones.

Step 3:
-Next you'll need a dotting tool (or a toothpick) and a small, thin nail art brush. Sally's has a double sided detail brush and dotting tool. Take a black nail polish (I used China Glaze Liquid Leather) and draw a thin line with your brush below the eyes for the mouth. Then, taking the dotting tool, place black dots close together above and below the line.

Step 4:
-While you're waiting for the dots to dry, apply some red rhinestones to the middle of the flowers (again use top coat as glue). Once the dots are mostly dry, take a white polish and apply white dots to the middle of the black dots for teeth. For a funky flair, I opted to add some glitter gold polish to random teeth so they looked like gold teeth.

Step 5:
-To further decorate my sugar skull, I placed green and purple dots around the face. Taking China Glaze Grape Pop and Four Leaf Clover, I used my nail art brush to place the dots around the face of the skull design.

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RHINESTONE CROSS

Step 1:
-Having your nails already painted white, take black polish and make a cross on your nails with the nail art brush.

Step 2:
-Then simply apply nail art rhinestones to the wet cross. Since the cross isn't dry, the rhinestones will adhere without having to use top coat as glue. My trick for easily applying rhinestones is to take your nail art brush and wet it with water or acetone, and then pick up the rhinestones with the brush and apply to to the nail.

Final Step:
-After your have completed your designs and your nails are mostly dry, apply top coat. I use Nails Inc. Kensington Caviar Top Coat, which dries your nails in under a minute. Adding top coat will seal in your design and prevent your designs from chipping, but be sure to wait for your nails to be pretty much dry or your run the risk of smudging your designs.


To see more of Charleen's beauty videos check out her YouTube Channel

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