Rainbow Brite 3D Acrylic Nail Design
There’s a wonderful moment that happens when a client and a nail artist come together on a design. For every appointment, there is a consultation. In the world of more advanced nail art, however, there has to be a good amount of conversation prior to the appointment to really have a strong concept. When creating the concept for this design, the stars aligned and we came together to come up with the idea and execute. So, I made a YouTube video!
A lot more time went into this set of acrylics than a “normal” or non-3D set. Because there were a lot of little details that had to come across in the nails, all of the 3D pieces were actually sculpted ahead of time. Doing this gave me the ability to perfect it AND make sure that the client was comfortable by not taking longer with sculpting it on the nails themselves. All I did was attach them to the nail with clear acrylic and add support to the star to ensure they maintain.
I started out with an all gel 2D background using a base of Gelish Bashful. Then, with my Robin Moses Wand Detail Brush, I added rainbow stripes down the corners with Gelish You Glare I Glow, Tahiti Hottie, Artistic Color Gloss in Wild and Chill and a discontinued orange gel by China Glaze. After that I used Arctic Freeze to paint the white stars. Last, I sealed it all with Gelish’s Matte Gel Top Coat.
Sculpting the star was a very interesting process. Trying to keep 5 petal shaped beads of acrylic consistently sized and shaped was tricky but with a bit of after filing, it worked out. I did it on a form because I didn’t want it to have any kind of curve on the nail so it looked more 3D as Rainbow Brite held it. I ended up attaching it to the nail with a bit of clear acrylic to fill any gaps.
For the 3D Rainbow Brite, I began sculpting her flattened heart shaped face and neck with white, then topped it with cover pink so the color would stand out better against the already nude background. With different colored INM and EZ Flow acrylics, I added the rings of her little outfit by placing down a bead and pressing it into the already dry acrylic above it to make it into a oval shape. I just repeated that all the way down to her hand then placed the background white for her hands. I added a bit of blue acrylic to her midsection to add support for the star. Once I added her star, I placed small relatively dry beads connecting to her hands so it would look like she was holding it! When looking at her face, I considered the fact that a) her facial features are tiny, and b) there was a lot of detail to see other than her face and trying to overdo the details could distract from that. So, I kept it simple and went with a simpler, more anime or “kawaii” style of eye that consisted of black dots with small drawn-out lashes and white highlights. I used acrylic paint to do this so afterward I sealed it with a tack-less top gel called IBD Intense Seal.
Hope you guys like my design, maybe find some inspiration from it and even learned something while watching the video! Find me on social media (links at top of page) and let me know what you guys think!