Klimt Inspired Nail Art Tutorial

As easily one of the most recognisable works of art, I have always been in love with Gustav Klimt's portrait, The Kiss. Though it was considered 'pornographic' in it's day, true story, I've always thought that there's real passion in this particular portrait.

On a recent trip to the Christmas markets in Vienna with my Sister this Austrian's artwork was everywhere and rightfully so. That's when the idea to incorporate it into simple nail art came about. It's just taken me a while to figure out how to make it simple and still hold the beautiful effect.

Your choice of polish can vary but do try to have one of each to hold true to the portrait

My choice of colours and equipment for this design are as minimal as possible. You can see there my highly technical tools of a hair clip/bobby pin and toothpick. oh & the pen I picked up for blog notes. I love it. 

After my base coat I applied two coats of this gold, number 855 from Inglot. A bright yellow would work too but I felt the gold suited the gilded portrait better.

Next you'll want several alternating black & white lines. They don't have to be perfect, that gives the design a much more realistic feel. I used Kiss Nail Art Pens in black & white.

Next up we use the hair pin to place the largest dots in random spaces. I started with Barry Ms Blueberry and touched it to the kitchen towel to then apply large cerise pink dots in Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus. Again these don't need to be perfectly placed. 

Using the alternate, smaller side of the hair pin we then place smaller dots on top of the larger. These can be either navy or white, depending on taste. I used OPIs Russian Navy. 

I always find working from a square of foil and dotting onto the kitchen towel cleaner &  more effective

Be sure that there is three alternating colours for each circle, that's what gives this design the stand out effect. Ideally they should be placed randomly, I think that's what I enjoyed most about this design. The margin for error!

A quick swish of your favourite topcoat and we're done. Probably the easiest but most eye catching nail art design I've seen*.

Will you be giving this one a shot? I'd love to see your pictures if so.


*shameless self horn tooting