Stain Glass Nails

I have always had a bit of an obsession with my nails... as someone who bit their nails to shreds as a child, I was so excited to have something to work with when they finally started growing! I began attempting nail art a few years ago, just on myself, and nothing too outrageous as there wasn't too much nail inspiration around as far as I can remember, but recently with all sorts of ideas and looks becoming so popular within nail art, I have been playing around and having lots of fun!

I did the marbling, messy but looks cool... the crackle polish, the contrasting half moons, multi coloured spots, leopard print, you name it... but recently whilst experimenting I discovered the stain glass effect. Now I'm not going to say I had some amazing vision and it worked first time round, because the truth of the matter is that I was attempting something completely different... and it just so happens that stain glass was the end result!

So, how did I do it?

Step 1: Paint a base coat in a rich, shimmering colour - I chose gold. I guess silver, bronze etc would work too.

Step 2: Use a nail art polish or pen (I used a polish with a very fine brush which I found in a random outlet shopping centre) to paint on small circular patterns, but don't be too careful. I used orange.

Step 3: Use another nail art polish/pen to trace around the patterns, again don't be precious about it - turns out that when it runs a bit the overall effect is better. I used a deep red colour as I wanted to palette to be quite tonal.

Step 4: Paint on a clear top coat to prevent chipping and to give another dimension.

And that is all you have to do! I think this would work with most colour palettes as long as they are tonal, so maybe a nice jade green with a couple of shades of blue/turquoise. If you do this, and manage to come up with some cool colour combos, let me know!