Disney Princess Nails: Cinderella

When you wish upon a star…  These nails are inspired by the princess and the movie, Cinderella (1950).  Now off to the ball!

You’ll need:

Base coat

Top coat (I prefer Seche Vite)

Striper brush

Dotting tool

Light blue, dark blue, white, gold, black and silver nail polishes, and a silver glitter top coat (I used: Dior in Porcelaine 204; Sally Girl Nail Color in a deep blue, it’s unnamed; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in 110 Hard To Get; Love My Nails in Gold Dust 1585; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in 880 Black Heart; Sephora by OPI Nail Color in Queen of Everything; and Sephora by OPI Top Coat in Flurry Up!)

Start with a base coat then paint two coats of the light blue over each nail.  You want it to be opaque, but not too thick.

For this next step you can use a traditional ombré technique, but I used a dry brush technique.  Take your dark blue polish and wipe all the polish off the brush on the edge of the bottle.  Then quickly and carefully start brushing the little bit of (nearly dry) color left on the brush onto your ring and middle fingers, starting at the top of your nail.  Brush the color about halfway down your nails, being careful not to create a straight line.  Then continue dipping the brush into the polish, wiping it off and brushing it on your nails, always starting at the top.  Each time you should stay closer to the top of the nails, so that the deepest blue will be at the top and it will seem to fade to the light blue at the base of the nails.  Before the polish completely dries, go over the nails with a clear top coat to smooth out harsh lines and help the color blend more naturally.  These nails will resemble a darkening night sky.

Dip your striper brush in the white polish then outline and completely fill in a circle (or oval) on your index finger.  Let it dry briefly then lightly paint a clear top coat over the circle to smooth out lines.  Next, dip the striper brush in gold and paint a thin line around the circle.  (I added small shapes around the sides in gold for more detail, you can get creative here.)  Then with a little black polish on your striper brush, paint XII at the top of the clock.  You can paint the rest of the numbers if you have room, but I just did small dots for the rest.  (Really, all that matters is the 12.)  Then use the striper brush in black to add the clock hands about to strike midnight!

On your thumb, use the striper brush dipped in white to make a pumpkin shape and fill it in.  Again, a clear top coat will smooth out lines without smudging the design once the polish begins to dry.  Use the white to make small swirl shapes going out to the sides and away from the pumpkin shape.  Put some of the light blue polish on the tip of the striper brush and add two lines curving outward inside the pumpkin shape (to add a little more definition to the shape).  With gold polish on the tip of the striper brush, paint a small shape similar to a fleur-de-lis at the top of the pumpkin carriage.  Then add an oval shape in gold in between the light blue lines on the pumpkin, leaving some white between the edges of the gold and the blue.  Add some black polish to the tip of the striper brush and paint a small half circle with a line inside the gold oval, to create the opening to the carriage door.

Dip the striper brush in silver and paint a glass slipper shape on your pinky nail.  Use a piece of glitter from the silver glitter top coat to add the sparkle at the toe of the shoe!

Using the tip of the striper brush dipped in silver polish, carefully paint “When you wish” on your ring finger.  (Of course, there’s room for creativity here, so you could paint “Upon a star”, or anything you want.)  The silver seems to blend in with the light blue in pictures, but it shows much more clearly in natural light.

Dip your dotting tool in sliver polish then put a large dot in the top right corner of your middle finger.  Before it dries, use the striper brush (or a toothpick) to drag out the edges of the polish and create a large star.  Then use the dotting tool to make small silver dots (stars) all around the darker blue parts of the nail.  Finally, apply a light coat of silver glitter top coat just over the area where you painted the stars for extra sparkle.  Top each nail off with a quick dry top coat to seal in the look!

~ Alyssa