Celebrating the Year of the Dragon - original nail designs

What it is

Animal print has been extremely popular in the fashion industry for several seasons in a row. Patterns with dangerous predators and amphibians are in great demand, along with leopard, tiger and zebra, not only among designers of world Fashion Houses. Reptile manicure has firmly established itself among nail art masters and home users. The unique texture creates a special predatory effect on the nails, so much so that not a single fatal beauty can pass by it.

The fashion for expensive texture is most often expressed in wallets, bags, belts and other accessories. But American girls went further and began to stick real snakeskin on their nails, carefully securing the surface with a top coat. Snake skin can be purchased for $12-20 online. But the price for a manicure with a reptile costs about $150-300. The unreasonable price for a luxury coating forced the craftsmen to come up with analogues of the dangerous print.

You can repeat it using regular polish (gel polish), gel paste and several brushes. Not bright, but with a predatory character, the texture involves the placement of scales over the entire area of ​​the nail with a colored base. It is necessary to form small zones of different lengths and widths around the perimeter. An important feature of the reptile design is that the edges of the scales should be wavy and have round corners. The approximate size should range from 3 to 6 mm. After marking, you can put a drop of topcoat on each scale for volume. This is another great option for a voluminous manicure.

Best color combinations

To create a coating, any natural and natural shades are suitable. Standard colors are green, brown, black, gray and beige. Any dirty and muted undertones (swamp, olive, mud color) will also be very appropriate. The print pattern should be much brighter and more contrasting than its background. Don't forget about color combinations, otherwise the wrong combination can ruin the entire manicure. Each nail should resemble a different small reptile.

Design lifehacks

Our small tips will help you create the perfect nail design with imitation reptile skin:

• the best combination with an original manicure is exquisite evening dresses, a formal trouser suit or a discreet look with a blouse and pencil skirt;
• you can even draw an unusual dragon texture if you use blue and green varnish with shimmer as a base;
• a gradient substrate is particularly well suited for such a coating;
• if you have some kind of accessory with a predatory print, try to repeat a similar texture on your nails for complete harmony;
• a manicure with an imitation of a reptile on the nails looks quite bold and is not always suitable for an everyday look, it is more of an evening option;
• old snake skin can be found in the forest in the spring or ordered on the Internet; the price for such pleasure starts from 700 rubles.

All shades of blue

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Design technique

There are several ways to make a reptile manicure with gel polish, but they are all very simple. Usually all the tools can be found at home. Let's look at all the options with which you can create an unusual texture.

Simple predatory print

In the table you can find several ideas that will help you transfer a unique print to your nails. Choose the one that suits you best:

Drawing scheme

There are several methods for rendering the reptile texture. It is best to draw random lines where your hand leads you. The scales can be very small or form a large mesh. It all depends on your desire. You can arrange the scales in a chaotic manner, changing their sizes, or use our diagram:

1. You need to prepare your nails in advance: apply a base and a colored layer of gel polish.
2. Using a brush, draw thin lines in the middle of the nail along the entire length. The space between the lines should be decent.
3. Connect the lines on the sides to create corners.
4. From each corner, draw parallel lines up and down on each side.
5. Connect the lines and finish the drawing.

To draw scales, it is recommended to use gel paste or thick gel polish.

Video instruction

Detailed instructions on how to do a reptile manicure can be seen in the video below.

Blue

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Design for a special occasion

How to make a reptile manicure even more sophisticated and luxurious? This sophisticated design needs to be carefully combined with other techniques so that it doesn’t end up looking tacky. We present to your attention several options for original coating.

Snake skin

If you don’t want to spend money on expensive snake skin or don’t know where to buy it, then you can create the texture yourself from scrap materials. All that remains is to stock up on varnishes and the necessary tools.

What you will need:

• base;
• gold gel polish;
• green gel polish;
• black gel paste;
• thin brush;
• dots;
• foil for casting;
• top

How to make a manicure with imitation reptile skin:

1. Prepare your nails for work and cover them with a base layer, then send them to polymerize in a lamp.
2. Cover the nails without a design with gold varnish, and the rest with green.
3. Place a few drops of liquid topcoat on the nails with the future design. The drops should be of different sizes and located close to each other in a chaotic manner.
4. After drying in the lamp, use a thin brush with black gel paste to carefully outline the boundaries of the circles.
5. Print foil for casting.
6. Cover the design with topcoat and dry.

Triple combination

The cat's eye and casting techniques add even more value to the design with imitation snake skin. If you follow all the steps correctly, you can end up with an unusually expensive and luxurious coating.

What you will need:

• base;
• varnish with shimmer;
• special magnet;
• lint-free napkin;
• soft buff;
• gel paste;
• thin brush;
• foil for casting;
• top

How to do a manicure with a reptile effect:

1. Apply base coat to prepared nails, drying it well in a lamp.
2. Paint your nails with the main color.
3. After drying, coat your nails with shimmer polish.
4. Apply a special magnet, forming an even highlight.
5. Send the design to cure in a lamp.
6. Cover your nails with top coat and remove the sticky layer with a lint-free cloth.
7. Gently walk over the surface of the nail with a soft buff to create a casting effect in the future.
8. Use black gel paint to paint the reptile's skin.
9. Dry the design in a lamp and print the foil onto gel paint.
10. Cover the design with top coat and remove the sticky layer.
11. Fill the cells with a thick topcoat, constantly drying the design in the lamp.
12. Remove the sticky layer with a lint-free cloth.

Reptile manicure in several versions (snake, lizard, crocodile, dragon, python) can be seen in the photo below.

Predatory crocodile

If you want to replicate the unique texture of a dangerous crocodile on your nails, then this option is for you. This voluminous manicure with imitation reptile skin goes harmoniously with a fitted long dress and is suitable for going out.

What you will need:

• base;
• colored gel polishes;
• thin brush;
• soft buff;
• lint-free napkin;
• top

How to do a reptile manicure:

1. Cover your nails with a base coat and dry them in a lamp.
2. Apply colored gel polish to nails without a design.
3. Using a thin brush with topcoat, carefully draw the texture. The grid should be dense squares of different lengths with soft corners and edges. The joints between the lines should be smooth and semicircular. It is allowed for lines to run in different directions.
4. Some scales should stand out from the general row. They can be made smaller.
5. Visually lift the scales and stretch out the fuzzy lines near the edges using a thin brush and dark gel polish.
6. Mix beige or golden brown gel polish with the base and use a thin brush to highlight light areas (highlights) on the scales.
7. Apply a soft buff to the surface of the nail to create a matte effect.
8. Using a brush with topcoat, duplicate the scales, giving a luscious appearance to the skin and raising a little volume.
9. Dry the design in a lamp.
10. Repeat layer of top if necessary.
11. Use a lint-free cloth to remove the sticky layer.

When adding volume to a design using a top coat, the scales should not merge into one large drop.

Reptile manicure represents the luxury of crocodile skin. You can experiment on your own and change the shade of the coating to match your clothes or handbag if you have an accessory of the desired texture.

Black

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Tiger print

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Grey

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