31DC2012: Day 14, Flowers (+ Tutorial)

It's day 14 of the 31 Day Challenge and today's theme is flowers. Last year's manicure was a loose interpretation of a stargazer lily. I think that manicure has held up really well, in terms of aesthetics and how much I still like it. I actually considered redoing it, but then changed my mind and decided to do something new.

Keep on reading for more information -- there's even a quick tutorial at the end!

The base of this manicure is OPI My Very First Knockwurst, which is actually quite a nice nude on my skin tone. The base of the flowers is Sheswai f*ckyeah, which has recently been re-released as "hot damn." The shading and highlighting on the flowers was done by mixing white and black with the Sheswai color. The leaves are Essie Mojito Madness.

Not my most original floral print ever, but I do love me some full nail patterns and the colors on this come together nicely, in my eyes.

Not sure what kind of flowers these are. Does anyone know? I just kind of made them up as I was going so I suppose we'll just have to make a guess as to what flower it is closest to in real life.

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Here's my little tutorial that I made with my iPhone as I was doing these nails last night! Kind of a "quick and dirty" tutorial but maybe it will help some of you visualize how it came together.

(click photo to enlarge)

1. Start with a base color. Using your base flower color, paint on some imprecise flower shaped blobs. It's okay to get some polish on your fingers when painting some of the flowers along the edges. We'll clean this up later!
   
   
2. Using a small nail art brush, mix some white polish with your flower color. Using a light touch, add some lighter marks on the inside of your flower shapes.
   
   
3. Repeat step two but mix black in with your flower color instead of white. Concentrate these marks closer to the center of the flower.
   
   
4. Using pure black, make some small dots in the center of the flowers.
   
   
5. Using a small nail art brush, add some leaf shapes in the spaces between the flowers.
   
   
6. Take a small makeup brush and dip it in remover. Use the brush to clean up any polish you may have gotten on your fingers or your cuticles.
   
   
7. Topcoat your design to smooth and protect it!

Thanks for reading! :)