When I think of sunflowers, I think of fall; Eating salty sunflower seeds at ball games, big beautiful petals that are as large as my one year old, tall elegant sunflowers turning downward to drop seeds for the coming year. They are truly magnificent.
Here’s a little secret, my nails are small. So when I thought about painting a sunflower I knew it wouldn’t fit on my nail and if it did, it would take up the whole thing and look silly. So here’s how I did it . . .
Note: I will be providing instructions on how to achieve this look with plain polish, along with Gel Polish.
Step 1: Prep Nails
View my post on Nail Polish Prep.
Step 2: Paint Nails
Paint all the nails with two coats of pink polish. I used the Shellac color called, Gotcha.
Gel Polish: Apply two coats of polish and cure in light (curing after each coat). Cure 2 minutes in the UV light, or 1 minute in an LED light.
Step 3: Sunflowers
Before I did the nail art, I painted liquid latex around my nail, just like I did in my Summer Glimpse video. so that I could just peel off the paint that gets onto the skin. There are many brands of it out there, but I bought a big container of body liquid latex and then just poured a little of it into an empty nail bottle I had laying around. If you don’t have an empty bottle, this liquid latex has good reviews and isn’t as expensive as some.
Begin by making a black circle on the side or end of your nail, this will be for the center of the flower. Then do yellow lines out from the black circle. Fill in the lines to be thicker in the center and slightly skinnier on the ends, to create a petal look. If you have any gaps, like I did, make small petals to fill in the spaces. Now do a few very small white dots on the black circle, to add some interest to the sunflower center. View the video below to see how I did mine . . .
(Note: I did the sunflowers with yellow, black and white acrylic craft paint. . . Some polishes can dry almost transparent which makes the image hazy and you won’t get the wow factor you are going for.)
Step 4: Apply Final Top Coat
Now apply your top coat. Make sure the paint is completely dry before adding top coat to help avoid smearing.
Gel Polish: Apply top coat, only after paint is completely dry. Cure in UV light for 2 minutes, or 1 minute with an LED light.
Step 5: Allow to Dry and Apply Cuticle Oil
Allow your polish to dry completely. Apply a cuticle oil just around your nails on the cuticle and rub into the skin.
Gel Polish: Remove sticky residue on top of nails with a little alcohol or polish remover and apply cuticle oil. 
Remove gel polish after 2-3 weeks, check out Gel Polish Removal for the quickest, easiest and best way to remove gels.
