How To: Fan Brush Manicures

The Fan Brush. Nifty little thing. You don't see mani's with it too often anymore, but I just got my first one and am eager to try a new (to me at least) technique. Pick the colors you will want to use. I went with a base color of Sally Hansen "Straw-ready" and will paint on the colors "French White Creme" and "Black Creme" by Wet n Wild using the brush.

First you need to paint your base color and let it dry.

The fan brush is simply a paint brush with the bristles fanned out in a arc. You can find this at most art stores and some beauty supply stores.

You can use acrylic paint if you like. Paint will be easier to clean out of the brush later, but if you are careful then polish is fine. You just want paint/polish to be at the tips of the brush. If you saturate the brush it will be a huge pain to clean later. I dabbed some polish on a paper plate and just dipped the tip into the puddle. I then tapped excess polish off because I wanted thin pretty lines.

Polish just on the tip of the brush.

In a smooth stroke, brush the polish on the nail from one side to the other. I think I may have dabbed off too much because half way across the nail my polish ran dry and I had to go again starting from the other side to the center.

Do the same thing with your second color and you are done! Very simple artwork that just requires the use of a different sort of brush. You can keep adding more colors or more coats of the same colors. It just depends on the design you are trying to create.