Petal Perfect! – 3D Acrylic Flowers

Welcome, One and All!

That's right, it's time for another exciting nail art tutorial. Today, I want to share a very special design that we can create using 3D acrylic flowers. While this ornate design may not be suitable for everyday use, it is perfect for special occasions.  Even if you haven't worked with 3D acrylic designs in the past, this design shouldn't be too tough for you. In fact, these acrylic flowers might just be the perfect place to start your 3D career!

 What you’ll need: acrylic colours (red &white), white acrylic powder, glitter liner (silver), silver pearl, top coat.
Technique:  3D acrylic flowers
Skill Level: Intermediate

Okay, let's jump right in!

When working with acrylic colours, it can be easy to get disorganized. Therefore, I recommend using a colour pallet if possible. This will not only keep your colours organized but will also make clean up easier later on. First, let's squeeze out a small amount of white acrylic colour into one section of the pallet. 

Now do the same with a small portion of red acrylic. You won't need quite as much red as white since we will only be using it as a pigment. If you want to be exact, us a proportion of about two parts white for one part red. Remember not to overdo it as you don't want to waste your materials. You can always add more colour later if you don't have enough, but you can't put it back in the tube!

Now that you've set up your pallet, use a soft brush to cover the entire surface of the nail with some of your white acrylic colour.

 Once this is done, quickly clean your brush and gently dip it ever so slightly in your red pallet section. You don't need much colour, just a little. Cover the nail with a very light layer of this colour so that it appears similar to what you see here. Once this is done, add further layers towards the front edge of the nail to create a gradated background moving from light pink to almost full red.

Now, allow the nail a couple of minutes to dry.  

Once the nail is dry, use a glitter liner to create two ultra-thin lines across the surface of the nail tip. You can use silver glitter as you see here, but any bright glitter liner should look great.

Now repeat the same process in the opposite direction, but this time draw three lines instead of two. If you wanted to you could paint even more lines, but this might make our grid a little too small for the acrylic flowers.

Okay, here comes the moment of truth. It's time to start working on the acrylic flowers themselves. Find the thinnest brush that you have and use it to place a small amount of acrylic on the nail tip. Now, gingerly apply a small amount of pressure to the acrylic with your brush in order to fashion your first petal.  You really don't need a lot of pressure, the acrylic should be quite responsive to your efforts.

Now repeat this process to create a second and third petal, thereby forming a simple but gorgeous little flower! Once you become an expert, you will be able to create more complicated designs.

You should have space for between two and four flowers, depending on the size of the tips that you are working with. Try not to create your flowers in patterns that are too predictable. Ideally, each nail should look a little different from the others. After finishing each nail, apply a layer of top coat in order to secure your flowers.

Your design should already look absolutely fabulous at this point, but if you would like to spice it up a little more, try adding some pearls in the middle of your flowers. I think that this makes the design look more elegant and sophisticated. The small round shape of nail art pearls should fit perfectly into this spot.

Voila! Now you have the perfect nail art design for your client's next special occasion. And believe me, this design is not as complicated as it looks. In fact the hardest part will probably be making the background! Just make sure to practice this before you try it on your clients and you should do fine.