I've always admired feather nails but due to my stance on animal products I've steered clear. That was until yesterday when I was walking through Fred Aldous. Whilst looking for craft supplies I noticed the feathers had 'responsibly sourced' sticker on them. The staff explained to me this ment the feathers were collected after they had fallen off naturally. When I was in college I remember reading about feather farms for peacocks and how they were plucked while still alive so I've always been very cautious about buying feathers.
So, although I may be slightly behind, here is my feather nail tutorial. Enjoy!
You will need;
-Feathers (Available from craft stores, mine were £1.10 from Fred Aldous)
-Clear coat (I used Barry M)
-Small scissors
-Tweezers
Extra tips
- Screw your clear coat lid on tight. We will be using it a lot and I know you're going to get bored but please be careful. I ended up spilling mine all over my laptop case, oops!
- Smaller nails are harder to do. If you have small nails or a habit of biting, then try using falsies.
Step one
Clear coat all your nails and let them dry.
Step two
Clear coat again. Instead of leaving to dry place the tip of your chosen feather over your nail. I found using that using tweezers was better to place the feathers as they often got stuck to my fingers. Try to place the feather down tip first and not too close to the cuticle.
Step three
Once this has dried clear coat again. Try not to use a heavy coat as we will be clear coating again after. Try to paint the feather coming off your nail also as this will help keep the pattern once it has dried and also it will be easier ti snip away excess feather. You will only need to paint about 2mm of extra feather.
Step four
Let this dry before you cut the feather or else the feather may drag. You may find it easier to chop off a big chuck of the feather and leave about 2mm to snip like the example above.
Step five
Once this is done, use your top coat once again. Try not to use too much as you've already put 3 coats on.
Step six (Optional)
I repeted the whole process by layering feathers. I used a bigger pattern as a bas and then the more intricate on top. Both types of feathers came in one pack but you may want to experiment with totally different packs.
I've seen some great idea where glitter eye shadow has been sprinkled on top or glitter polish has been used. Just go wild! This is a very experimental form of nail art and there is no right or wrong. Just go for it!
This may take a lot of trial and error, since feathers are quite hard to work with! Let me know what you bon bons think and remember, send us pictures if you try out our tutorials. We love seeing what you guys get up to!
Love J