Tutorial Tuesday: Polar Bear Nail Art!

Good morning, readers! I have a tutorial for you this week! It's a cute little polar bear that I wore on an accent nail during Winter Wonderland Week. He is cute and fairly easy to do if you have some dotting tools and a thin brush, so I hope you will try this design on your own nails!

Let's first flash back to the full mani in case you didn't get to see that post:

http://www.adventuresinacetone.com/2014/12/the-digit-al-dozen-does-winter_11.html

Continue reading for step by step instructions! 

Here's what I used, you can use anything similar that you have at home:

Polishes used: OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, OPI Black Onyx, Sinful Colors Cool Grey.

Tools used: Large and small dotting tools, thin nail art brush (I'm using Pure Color No.10). 

Step 1) Paint the entire nail with 2-3 coats of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook. 

Step 2) Using the bottle brush, paint a rounded square shape for the polar bear head using OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  (I basically paint just like I would my entire nail, but only go up part of the way.)

Step 3) Dip large dotting tool into a puddle of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and dot 2 ears on either side of the head. I did them on the "corners" so they weren't on the top of the head.

Step 4) Using Sinful Colors Cool Grey and the nail art brush, I painted curved lines "inside" of each ear.

Step 5) Using Sinful Colors Cool Grey and the nail art brush, paint a slightly curved horizonal line almost half way down the head for the "snout."

Step 6) Use your thin nail art brush and OPI Black Onyx to make the nose shape. This is the hardest step for me and I don't even know how to describe the shape. Basically start with a wide oval and then bring it down to a point at the bottom.

Step 7) Use Sinful Colors Cool Grey and your nail art brush to do a thin line from the bottom of the nose part way to the tip of the nail.

Step 8) Use Sinful Colors Cool Grey and your nail art brush to make a cute smile at the bottom of the line coming from the nose.

Step 9) Use your small dotting tool and OPI Black Onyx to make 2 eye dots above the snout curve. (In my original design, I also put a small grey dot in the center but I didn't think it was needed.)

Don't forget to add a thick, quick drying top coat to seal and protect your design! I love using KBShimmer Clearly On Top, HKGirl, Seche Vite, or Poshe for this step. Get a big dollop of top coat on the brush and carefully spread onto the nail without touching the bristles to your design. This can cause dragging through the image with even the driest designs, and thinner top coats tend to ruin all of your hard work. (If you want this to be mattified, use a matte top coat AFTER you've sealed with a quick dry top coat. Matte top coats ALWAYS ruin my designs if I haven't protected them first with this easy step.) And YOU'RE DONE!! ENJOY!

What do you think? I sure hope you will try it on your nails this season! If you try it, or any of my other tutorials, please share your photo on my Facebook Page, and tag me (@adventuresinacetone with #inspiredbyadventuresinacetone) on Instagram! Thanks so much for reading!