4 simple nail art looks that even wobbly hands can do

Nail art is one of those things I spend a LOT of time looking at over on Pinterest, but when it comes to real life, wobbly doesn’t even begin to describe my skills. Like a lot of people, I’m pretty proficient at painting one hand’s set of nails but the other one always comes off *slightly* worse for wear. So I’ve been trying to find a few fool proof ways to get some quality looking nail art which doesn’t rely on skill (or false nails) to get it right.

Transfers – for detailed designs, stick on transfers can be a life saver! These are usually small little stickers that only cover part of your nail and feature everything from ice creams to cats. I’ve got quite a few different styles at home that I like to use on an accent nail every now and then – paint your nails as normal and once dry apply the transfer to your nail, sealing with a decent amount of clear top coat. They’ll usually last as long (if not longer!) than your nail polish.

The ‘drag’ method – this is my favourite ‘easy’ nail art look as it looks quite complicated but is actually super simple to achieve. You’ll need 4 colours of polish that all work well together (I like to use a white base and pastel shades on top). Paint a couple of coats of your chosen base colour and leave to dry thoroughly before moving on. Next, grab your first colour and try to wipe as much nail polish as you can off the brush – you want it to be virtually dry if you can. Take the dry brush and then drag it slowly across your nail, which should leave behind a jagged kind of brush stroke in patches across your base colour. Let it dry and repeat with the other two shades. Seal it in with a top coat and you’re good to go. If you find yours looks more splodgy than patchy, you’ve probably still got too much nail polish on your brush. It should look a little like this (excuse the wobbly Instagram photo).

Stripes – if you fancy a simple striped design, then grab some nail art tape and get creative. Simply paint your nails in your chosen base colour and wait until it’s completely dry, then apply the tape across your nails in the shape of your design. Paint the non-taped areas with a contrasting colour or two, wait until it’s dry and the carefully remove the tape. Voila! You’ve got an easy stripey look with minimal effort.

Nail stamps – there are lots of nail stamping kits that have popped up on the market, each offering a multitude of different designs. These use metal plates with the design etched it, which when painted over with nail polish, can be transferred onto your nails using a rubber stamp. I love the range of designs that are available with these, however the rolling method you need to use in order to get a clear stamp on your nail can take a lot of patience and practice. If you’ve got time to have a few practice runs, you’ll be able to get some really intricate designs with minimal effort.

Have you tried any of these nail art methods before? What are your favourite simple solutions?