Roses and Bows Tutorial using Essie French Affair Cube

I thought the colours in the Essie French Affair Cube were perfect for a little bit of vintage roses and bows. I also had a twitter request from @JPC_ for a tutorial so I decided to start with this one. 

 So on to the tutorial.

A few things to bear in mind. You need some fine brushes. If you haven't got any then you can cut down a normal one as shown here (This woman has mad skillz I want to be like her when I grow up XD)

You can use Gouache or Acrylic paint for the details if you prefer. I prefer to use polish but lots of people use paint because you can make it more fluid and easier to move around.

Think about the object your trying to make as shapes and then high and low lights. For example the rose is basically a circle with dark and light areas to give the impression of petals. 

Polishes used: Essie french affair, coat azure, topless & barefoot and Nice is nice. See this post for more details. I also used Models Own in True Blue and Blooboo for the high and low lights and New 17 Supreme Shine in Wave (will swatch soon but basically an aqua)

Ok first things first get your nails ready for business and apply the main colours. I used Nice is Nice on the index and ring finger, and Topless and Barefoot on the others. 

As you can see I have smudged it on the ring finger but before I added the blue for the rose base I smoothed it out with a little acetone on a normal size brush. Worked well I didn't need to redo the finger.

Next you need to apply 'blobs' of blue which are the base shape for the roses on the beige fingers and then use the fine brush and darker polish to paint lines to show the petals. These shapes can be vague.

Then add the highlights.

You then add little triangle shapes for the leaves

Now the true magic happens when you add the topcoat! A good coating of Seche Vite. 

It blends the polishes for you gives you the full rose effect. 

I didn't take pictures of the bow as it's past midnight and I have to be up very early tomorrow. Basically same principle bow shape in main colour add some low lights in your dark colour and high lights in light. Top coat and off you go! 

Ta da!

I hope you enjoyed that! I saw the original rose design in a Nail Up or Nail Venus magazine from Japan. I don't know who actually did the design there are a few versions.

Thanks for reading

Stacie xoxox