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Here are some of my favorite tools for nail art. First is a sponge. I love this, it helps
with our ombre technique. Some people use a brush. I prefer to use a sponge. It's very
simple, fun and easy, and it creates great, soft looks. You can use this end to do the
whole bed of the nail or like I did for Color Club, for our Charlotte Ronson Spring 2013
Collection, we used this side and actually did ombre stripes. So you can get creative
with your technique using this sponge.
So now to get super fine lines in your nail art looks, there are two basic, pre-bottled
nail art brushes and it's great, because then your brushes never dry out. You can get just
a regular striper brush. and here I have Color Club's Art Club, just a regular striper brush.
They're thin. They're flexible. They're great for doing long lines. But there's also, some
nail artists prefer to work with pens and there are a lot on the market.
They they work just like a pen, except if you squeeze a little a little bit of paint
will come off at the top, and then you can just take it straight to your nail and run
with it. So those are two ways that you can get pre-bottled nail art ready to go. But
if you're like me and you like to go a little bit deeper you have a set of brushes. These
are some of my favorite brushes. You can get, this is the Orly Detailer. Sephora makes a
great one, too.
Then I have these from a beauty supply store that I love. Basically, this gives you a little
variation in the length of your brush, because as you can tell from the striper it's long
and it's thin, which is great if you're doing long lines. If you want to do small details,
you may just get caught up in it wobbling. So to have the control of a shorter brush
is really fantastic, so it just keeps your options open.
Then the next thing and this is, I always say is the best $10 you can ever spend, if
you want to be a nail artist is to pick up dotters. They sell them at beauty supply stores.
You can get them online. They come in all different dot shapes and sizes, and basically,
every culture that's ever existed on the earth has drawn a circle. But it's one of the most
difficult things to paint, so this just helps give you a perfect circle every time.
You just paint the polish on the end until it has a bead, dab it on the nail and you
have a perfect polka dot. You can use it for all kinds of things, like hearts or anything
with a rounded edge, super useful. And then after I make a mess, because I certainly - I've
never been neat. I've always been messy. Your cleanup brush, this is a size five acrylic
brush made out of sable and I just dip it.
I take a Dappen dish or just like a little crystal dish, don't use plastic, acetone has
a tendency to eat through plastic. But just a little glass or just a little dish, you
can find this at any beauty supply store. It's called a dappen dish. You just fill it
with acetone, dip it, dip your brush in here and you can clean up along the edges of your
nails. It's a substitute for... The problem with Q-tips is the cotton can sometimes get
in the wet nail polish, so this is a substitute that won't get those fuzzies in your nail
polish. But they also have pointed Q-tips, which are super easy to use and that's also
a great alternative.