Nail Tutorial: Prada Pastels
Sorbet Separates, Palatable Pastels… Whatever you’d like to title it, soft pastel hues are a major trend in Spring 2012 collections. Pastels in Spring? “How original,” you might think, but this season took a different spin on the soft palette, adding the craze of color blocking to the mix. No longer must you match white or khaki pants to your orange sherbet colored blouse. Why not try a pair in periwinkle instead?
Looking back at the Spring 2012 collections I was surprised to find Prada, a fashion house known for strikingly bright colors and retro prints, send pastel down the runway look after look. Normally they leave the girly-girl hues for Miu Miu, their “daughter” brand. Prada’s pretty pastel ensembles inspired me to create these two nails tutorials:
Step 1: Paint nails yellow.
Step 2: Dip a ballpoint pen into blue polish and place a dot at the top of your nail.
Step 3: Use a toothpick to pull polish upward from dot.
Step 4: Dip the toothpick back into the blue polish and drag the upward dot up, over, and down each side (Framing a heart shape).
Step 5: While the polish is still wet, dip a toothpick into black polish and draw a line in the middle of the blue frame. Because the polish is still wet, it will drag a fairly clean line.
Step 6: Wait completely for nails to dry.
Step 1: Paint your nails light pink.
Step 2: Paint across the top of your nail seafoam green as if you were creating a french manicure.
Step 3: Dip a ballpoint pen into the seafoam green polish and place a dot on each side of your nail bed.
Step 4: Dip a toothpick into the seafoam green polish and drag a line up and over your nail, connecting the two dots.
Step 5: Draw two lines downward, inside the seafoam green frame.
Step 6: Wait for your nails to dry completely before applying clear polish.
Putting together an outfit while wearing nail art can be challenging. True, we live in a fashion era where mixing prints is standard procedure. However, when wearing nail art I try to dress in more solids (which is much easier with pastels) to avoid pattern collision. Here are some pieces I would wear with my Prada painted fingernails.