How to: Flames on Fingernails

Make your nails look like they are on fire.

If you can wield a nail polish brush, you can turn your nails into marvelous looking works of art in less than half an hour. You can create incredible flame nail designs with absolutely no nail art experience to complement a Halloween costume or just to show off your unique sense of style. Use typical flame colors, or instead turn your nails into psychedelic flames with bright neon purples, pinks and greens.

Things You'll Need

• Clear base coat
• Black nail polish
• Asphalt glitter nail polish
• Red nail polish
• Orange nail polish
• Golden yellow nail polish
• Thin nail polish brush
• Clear top coat

Instructions

1. Clean your nails and apply a clear basecoat nail polish. Let the basecoat dry thoroughly.

2. Apply the black nail polish to each nail. Cover the entire nail. Let the nail polish dry thoroughly and apply a sparkling asphalt nail polish over the black. The asphalt adds a slight sparkle and glow to the nail.

3. Add a thick coat of red nail polish to the tip of each nail. Cover about 1/4 inch at the tip of each nail. The coat should be about twice as thick as a typical nail polish application.

4. Apply a thick coat of orange nail polish right away. Start about 1/8 inch away from the top of the nail and cover about 1/4 inch. Do not apply this layer perfectly even. The bottom of this layer should look like a ragged edge. This exposes the red at the very tip while adding another layer to the flame. Let the polish dry.

5. Apply the golden yellow nail polish over top of the orange right away. Start about 1/8-inch away from the top of the orange layer and work downward a little bit more than 1/4-inch. Make the bottom line the same ragged edge as the orange. Let the polish dry.

6. Pull the thin brush very gently through the layers of polish. As you pull downward, the three colors will mix together to make the flames. Start at the tip at the left edge of your nail and make a wavy line downward with the brush. Stop at least 1/4 inch away from the base of your nail. Move over just 1/8 inch at the tip of the nail and repeat. Repeat the procedure across the entire nail. Make the wavy lines longer in the center of your nail. Let the polish dry thoroughly. This will take at least twice the drying time as a regular nail polish application because of the thickness of the layers.

7. Apply a clear top coat to seal in your new flame designs.