Tutorial Tuesday: Giraffe Nail Art!

Hello, readers!! I don't know the last time I was so excited to post something on the blog. It's our first Tutorial Tuesday! Since we are coming up on my two year blogaversary, I've recently reevaluated Adventures In Acetone and where I want it to go in the future.

Tutorial Tuesday is a new series of step by step tutorials of previous designs I've done, and we are starting off with a bang! This giraffe nail art design posted almost a year and a half ago and I promised a tutorial way back then. Sorry it's taken so long! This is my most popular free hand nail art look, with almost 20,000 page views and numerous Pinterest repins. And it is so easy to recreate!

Sneak Peek of the step by step process. You can find full sized images and step by step instructions futher down in this post:

Here is a look at the full manicure photo from January of last year:

http://www.adventuresinacetone.com/2012/01/giraffe-nails.html

Let's begin, shall we?

The things needed for this look:

OPI That's Hot! Pink, OPI In My Back Pocket, Orly Lemonade, OPI Black Onyx, China Glaze White on White.

Striper brush and two sizes of dotting tools.

Step 1) After your base coat, paint 2 coats of OPI That's Hot! Pink.

Step 2) Use your striper brush and Orly Lemonade to paint a rectangle neck for the giraffe. I did this on the right half of the nail to leave room for the head on the left side.

 Step 3) Using the striper brush and Orly Lemonade, paint a circle head shape with it over hanging the left side of the neck. 

 Step 4) Using your striper brush and Orly Lemonade, paint some upside down triangles for the giraffe's ears. 

 Step 5) Using your striping brush and OPI In My Back Pocket, paint a half circle on the bottom left side of the head. This should overlap and come off of the bottom left part of the head and not just cover up the yellow circle you already had. 

 Step 6) Use your striper brush and OPI In My Back Pocket to do two lines coming out of the head between the ears. Use your smaller dotting tool and put two dots at the tops of the lines to create the "antlers."

 Step 7) Using your striper brush and OPI In My Back Pocket, paint on some irregular shapes along the giraffe's neck. 

 Step 8) Use your bigger dotting tool and China Glaze White on White to make the eyes. Try to get these as close to the same size as possible and positioned in between the antlers and the nose.

 Step 9) Use your smaller dotting tool and OPI Black Onyx to make two dots for nostrils and two more dots for the pupils in the eyes. Again, try to get these as close to the same size as possible and in the center of the white dots.

Don't forget to add a thick, quick drying top coat to protect and seal in your design! I prefer Seche Vite, H K Girl Top Coat, or Poshe.  Put a thick bead of top coat on the brush and gently spread it toward the tips and side, taking great care to not let the bristles touch the polish underneath. Thinner top coats can cause streaking or bleeding of the colors and the bristles drag lines through the design. YOU'RE DONE!

You can do this on each nail or even as an accent nail. Did this seem easy enough for you to recreate? I hope so, as you can see in the step by step instructions, it is made up of simple shapes!

What did you think of our first Tutorial Tuesday design? Please let me know if you tried out my tutorial by posting your pic on either my Facebook Page or tag me in your instagram photo! You can find the icon links to both my facebook and instagram at the top right of the blog in teal!

Thank you so much for reading!