Eyeball Pattern Nails (+ Tutorial)

Good morning fellow nail fanatics! This morning I have a very special manicure to show you. I wanted to do something eyeball related as a Halloween manicure, but I have seen a lot of eyeball manis lately and I had to make sure that mine was different (you know, because I'm a contrarian). So I came up with this pattern design that has a huge wow factor but really is not very difficult to execute well!

And THEN, I wrote you guys a tutorial cause I LURRRRVE you all! Except, I didn't have any photos of the process to go along with it. What to do? Whitney from We're Making History suggested that I make some diagrams to go along with the tutorial. I thought that was a brilliant idea so I spent some time in Photoshop putting together some graphics for you guys.

First things first, let's see the mani that we will be working towards today!

So graphic!

To recreate this look, you will need:

• Basecoat of choice (CND Stickey)
• Burgundy polish for the base (Wet N Wild Buy Me a Drink)
• White polish with a round brush - read: not OPI (China Glaze White On White)
• Red jelly polish or similar sheer polish (OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y)
• Polishes for eye colors (OPI Ogre the Top Blue, OPI Mermaids Tears, China Glaze Street Chic)
• Black polish (China Glaze Liquid Leather)
• Topcoat of choice (Seche Vite)
• A small nail art brush
• A large dotting tool, a small dotting tool, and a tiny dotting tool (or a toothpick)
• Cleanup tools - a makeup brush or Q-Tip, acetone or remover

1. Apply your basecoat to your nails. Let it dry. Apply the burgundy color or whatever color you want to use for the background to your full nails.
   
   
2. Add big white dots to the nail by dotting them on using the polish's brush. If the polish you are using has a flat brush like OPI's, you may want to apply your white with a large dotting tool or nail art brush. I found that these dots look best if you apply them so that there are white dots partially off the sides of the nail, to keep the pattern looking infinite. It's okay if you get white on your fingers or cuticles, we will clean this up later.
   
   
3. Using a small nail art brush, paint on some eyeball veins with your red jelly or sheer red polish. There is a lot going on in this mani so the sheer-factor keeps the red from being too distracting.
   
   
4. Use the large end of your dotting tool to apply dots of your first eye color in the middle of the white dots. I like to put a few drops of polish on to a piece of wax paper and dip the dotting tool into that. Again, it's fine if you get the colored polish on your fingers or cuticles when you are doing the eyes on the edges of your nails.
   
   
5. Repeat step four with your second eye color.
   
   
6. Repeat step four with your third eye color.
   
   
7. Use the small end of your dotting tool to apply the black pupils of the eyeballs in the middle of the colored dots. Use a light touch when applying so the black doesn't spread too wide and cover your colors.
   
   
8. Use a tiny dotting tool or a toothpick to apply the white highlights to the eyes (optional). Don't center them in the black; instead, place them at the top right of the black and colored dots. See visual for placement clarification.
   
   
9. Clean up the extra polish on your fingers and cuticles. I like to use a makeup brush dipped in pure acetone. Let your nails dry for a bit, and apply your topcoat of choice to seal and protect the look.

See, not too hard, right? It's mostly just applying a bunch of dots! Here are some more pics of my nails with this super cool mani on them.

If you give this look a try, PLEASE come back and show it to me! I love seeing people recreate my tutorials! You could even post the pic to the Chalkboard Nails Facebook wall! :]