Nail Art

Whilst I was at House of Holland, Henry was creating his A/W'10 collection which was pretty ghetto fabulous - it was all high ponytails and bandana's. And the models wore some rather offensively long acrylic white nail extensions with letters printed on them (NALGO was spread over each finger, meaning "Not a lot going on"). Henry and his nail artist Sophy Robson were some of the first to champion nail art. When it first became fashionable again, I shuddered. Anyone else remember nail piercings and diamante stick on's from the 90s? (Even Victoria Beckham was a fan!)

But my mind has been changed. Since Katy Perry is a massive fan (even going as far to print pictures of her husband on her nails) and Alexa Chung has been seen with palm tree motifs on the front row, I can no longer deny it. Nail art is here to stay. After being inspired by the intricate, original designs at WAH Nails I decided to give it a go myself (with a little help from my sister).

This was the result:

Not bad ay? It was time-consuming but I smile every time I look at my nails now, so here's how to give it a go yourself!

1) Rub your fingernails with nail varnish remover, even if they're already polish free. It removes the natural oils on your nails and allows polish to be applied smoothly.
2) Choose a base colour (here I used Rimmel's Lycra Pro Nail Polish in a rosey pink, which I love because it dries quickly) and paint a very thin layer on all your nails. Allow it to dry before painting a second layer.
3) Use the non-pointed end of a toothpick, dip it into a white nail polish (you can find these in french manicure sets, Sally Hansen do a fab one) and start dotting your nails with white polka dots, as big or small as you want! Don't use too much white polish though or else the dots will be too thick and will take forever to dry.
4) The best advice I was given at make-up college was whenever you're doing something fiddly, do it with conviction. So don't hold back, dot your nails quickly and smoothly. I find if you are too hesitant then your hands will start shaking and you'll be far more likely to smudge or ruin them!
5) Allow them to dry completely. This will take a couple of hours usually but I sped mine along by using Avon's Nail Expert Liquid Freeze Quick Dry Spray.
6) Leave them alone to set properly and then follow with a top coat. I used 17's Double Gloss Top Coat to make them uber shiny.

The now infamous leopard print metallic manicure on Katy Perry

Canary yellow and nail art: Rihanna nails two trends

Katy Perry (again) with candy sprinkle nails