Birthday Nails! (With tutorial)

Happy Birthday to you! Haaaappy Birthday to you! Haaaapy Birthday dear no-one-in-particulaaaaar! (But annnnyyyooonnne that has a Biiiiiiirthdaaaay) Happy Birthday tooooo.... yooooouuuuu!

 

 Okay, now that we have that fantastic song out of the way... Hello ladies! I am very, very sorry I haven't posted in the last 2+ weeks. You know holiday time is arriving when you have major amounts of finals in classes and everything just HAS to happen during the last 2 weeks before your break. :/ Life can be a stinker. Hehe, well in order to combat these finals blues I have for you some an awesome candle nail tutorial! (Sh. Look below, I think they look super cute and would be great for a birthday or whenever you need some funky "celebration" nails).

 I wanted to try these two different times with different colors, so I have to display a purple set of candles ;) But the tutorial I will use different colors. :p I still need to practice with some of the flames, but I think they're pretty dang cute!

So to create these nails, it's suggested to have a black nail art striper or a small brush in acrylic paint (to make the candle wick and outline the candle if you'd like) but it's NOT necessary. I could have used my nifty mechanical pencil to make the wick and outlining is up to you! And I actually did just use my pencil to make the flame part. xD So let's get started!

1. Start off with a base color. You can use any color you want, but I wanted a lighter base for the background. This is Dura Pearl by Sally Hansen with Make a Spectacle by China Glaze on top (just for a bit of sparkle and jazz ;) It's hard to tell in the picture though!)

2. Paint your candle sticks! I just used the nail polish brush (the one that came in the bottle) to make these lines. Make sure that there is only a LITTLE polish on and make a thin stroke. I also just realized that I put step 2 and 3 together though... but no worries. It's just time to make your little flame. It's hard to explain how you make these but practice drawing on a piece of stratch paper before you try on your nails. I did use yellow acrylic paint since it's easier to use with my pencil.  

3. If you want, you can paint some orange in the yellow flame to make it more realistic. I just used an orange nail art striper that I've had for like 3 years and had no use for haha..

4. Finally add a thin black line in the middle of the flame that comes down in the candle. :) If you like your candle the way it is, then just leave it! It looks super adorable already. I was inspired by Top Coat It's candle nails which you can see here. Her nails are always beautiful! But anyway, she didn't outline her candles and look how perfect they look?

5. I used my black paint brush with some acrylic paint on it and outlined the candle stick.

6. And then I also outlined the flame. 

 

Eep.. explaining how to "draw" candles is sort of hard to explain.. I would suggest to sketch them out on paper though before trying it out! I do that ALL the time when I just draw little things hehe and then somehow they get onto my nails... it much be magic. ;) Go ahead and look below for how my nails turned out step-by-step!

 

First, Dura Pearl by Sally Hansen. I LOVE this color. It's not white, or silver... It's a metallic pearl. xD Haha there is no other way to describe it! Love it in 3 coats!

 My base coat -- There is some glitter, but it's just hard to capture. :( Dura Pearl topped with Make a Spectacle.

 I added the candle sticks! The green is Who the Shrek Are You? by OPI, the mint is Mint Sorbet by Sally Hansen, and then the dark blue is I need a Re-Freshment by Wet n' Wild.

 I added my yellow flames. :)

 Plus some orange in the middle. :)

 Added a black wick for good measure. ;) (It's a candle Jenna... Shush. I know).

 I outlined the candle sticks! Look how much it makes the candles stand out on a light back ground!

 And finally added the outline on the flame!

 

I really do love these candles! They were requested by a birthday girl, but when I posted them on Instagram, many more ladies were super stoked because it was their birthday month/week too. xD So I hope you will try this nails out if you ever need some birthday nails!

 My version in purple. ;) Which one do you like best??

And just for the record, I love my spectra flair topcoat made by Katherine! I love adding it to everything and making it have an holographic effect. ;) Go shopping on her online store for sure if you love unique nail polish! She sure has some cool stuff. :)

 

Well I hope you enjoyed learning how to make some candle nails that are perfect for birthdays or celebrations. ;) Until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

 

(P.S. I saved this for last because I don't know how many actually read my blog all the time, but another issue for why I haven't been able to post as often as I'd like is because I originally wanted this blog to be full of tutorials and creating tutorials takes A LOT of time. I know that I have improved as a nail artist though during all of this time and I'd like to show you all that... I still want to be one of the "cool bloggers" that make nail art tutorials, but I'd also like to show off my other creations. So after this post, not all of my posts will be tutorials. I hope you don't mind much. That way I can feel more relaxed about what I post and not have the pressure of "oh gee, gotta edit that tutorial...". This will also ensure that I'll post much more! I do my nails every 2-3 days... I'd love to make tutorials for ALL my designs, but time doesn't allow such. So be prepared to see more of my artwork, but I can't create tutorials for all. Thank you all for reading my blog though. :) It means a lot to inspire others. :))