Nails: Snowflakes

I know it's only been a short while since my last tutorial but I was inspired by the disgusting cold weather and some of the pretty snowflake nails I've seen other people do.
So I've decided to do my own snowflake nails =]

Here's my take on this wintery themed nail art:

The tutorial for these nails is longer than other tutorials just because I want to show the steps for drawing the snowflakes =]

STEP 1: Baby blue base color.

Start off with a baby blue polish as the base color.

You may need to apply more than one coat to get your nails completely opaque.

As you can see, I am a pretty messy painter lol

STEP 2: Dark blue gradient.

Use a darker blue polish to create a gradient.

Here, I'm using China Glaze's Skyscraper as the darker blue, but you don't need to use a polish with glitter in it.

DOING THE GRADIENT: Start from the tip of your nails and dab the polish on. Make sure you don't start off with too much polish on the brush. Continue towards the bottom of the nails - the gradient will appear because you will have less and less polish on your brush as you keep dabbing downwards.

STEP 3: Snowflake - step 1.

Use a white nail polish and draw a thin stroke diagonally on your nail.

STEP 4: Snowflake - step 2.

Then draw another diagonal line, making an X on your nail.

STEP 5: Snowflake - step 3.

Draw a line across the X. You should have what looks like the asterisk symbol now.

STEP 6: Snowflake - step 4.

Haha sorry I didn't know what else to call this step except "split ends".

Add little V's to the end of your asterisk so now your snowflake-to-be have split ends like bad hair.

You can actually stop here if you are satisfied with this simple snowflake look.

STEP 7: Snowflake - step 5.

Draw little V's between the bigger strokes of the snowflake like shown in the diagram.

Now your snowflake is complete!

STEP 8: More snowflakes!

Draw snowflakes on your other nails.

If you are comfortable with drawing in a smaller proportion, you can even put multiple snowflakes on your nails =D

STEP 9: More like a tip than a step.

Be patient and wait for your snowflakes to completely dry before the next step, otherwise they will smudge.

STEP 10: Glitter top coat.

Apply a glitter top coat (like Sephora OPI's Flurry Up) to give your nail a frosty effect =]

Apply only a thin coat, because too much glitter will cover your snowflakes.

STEP 11: Clean up edges & top coat.

Dip a Q-tip in nail polish remover and clean up the edges of your nails.

Apply a clear top coat to protect your design - Done!

Hope you guys enjoyed this design =]

I will do another design for Christmas!