Nail Art Tutorial: Bee Nails

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Bee Nails Nail Art Tutorial, Swatches & PicturesWhat’s all the buzzin’ about? Pipe it down! 😛

Today I bring you some new (and easy) nail art: Bee Nails! Are they the bee’s knees or the bee’s elbows?

This is a design that I’ll show you step-by-step how to recreate. These yellow bandits will be ready in no time!

All you’ll need is a yellow polish (I used OPI Need Sunglasses?), a black striper and/or polish, a white polish, and a dotting tool.

Heh…if you look closely at the swatches of this, you’ll notice that I accidentally gave one of my bees a cataract! 🙁 Whoopsie! No hard feelings, right, Bee-atris? 😉

But hopefully you still like the way it looks. And, hey, maybe seeing isn’t always bee-lieving! (Okay, okay! I hear you groaning…I’ll stop with the corny puns.)

Bee Nail Art Swatches

All swatches have:

Bee Nails Nail Art Tutorial, Swatches & Pictures

Direct Sunlight

Bee Nail Art Tutorial & Swatch

Direct Sunlight

Honeybee Nail Art & Tutorial

Direct Sunlight

Nail Art Bee Tutorial & Pictures

Direct Sunlight

Nail Art Tutorial Bee Nails

Direct Sunlight

Bee Nail Art Photos

Natural Light

Bee Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Swatches

Natural Light

Bee Nails Tutorial & Photos

Natural Light

Honey Bee Nails Nail Art Tutorial

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How to Create Bee Nail Art

Natural Light

Bee Nails Nail Art

Flash

Honeybee Nails & Tutorial

Flash

*~* Bee Nail Art Tutorial *~*

Bee Nail Art Tutorial Supplies

What I Used:

  1. Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
  2. Nail Tek Foundation II Base Coat
  3. OPI Alpine Snow
  4. OPI Need Sunglasses?
  5. China Glaze Liquid Leather
  6. NYX Ink Nail Art (Black)
  7. Daniel Stone dotting tool #4
  8. Daniel Stone dotting tool #1
  9. Piece of foil

Step 1: Apply a Base Coat

Step 2: Paint Your Nails Yellow

I used OPI Need Sunglasses? because it wasn’t pastel, so it reminded me more of a bee yellow.

OPI Need Sunglasses Swatches

Quickie OPI Need Sunglasses? Review

To achieve the opacity in the above photo, it required four coats! While there are some yellow nail polishes that are more opaque, almost all the ones I own require many coats. With yellows, it just comes with the territory. Once the colour builds, it’s worth it. I liked the way it looked by itself more than I thought I would!

Step 3: Add Black Dots for the Eyes

Add a few drops of black polish onto your piece of foil and use your dotting tool to create the base for the eyes near the tip of your fingernails.

Bee Nails Tutorial Step 1

Step 4: Add the Black Stripes

Using your black-striper polish, add 3 horizontal lines on each nail. Striper brushes make it easier to get better lines. If you try to paint with a short brush, it’s do-able, but you have to have a very steady hand (which I don’t).

Bee Nails Tutorial Step 2

Step 5: Add Whites to the Eyes

Add a few drops of white polish onto your piece of foil and dip your dotting tool into it. Put the whites on top of the black dots you made. You can keep the whites inside the black or let them drift out (like I did…not on purpose).

Wait a few minutes before proceeding to the next step. If you get too impatient and move on too soon, you may also give your poor bees a cataract, too.

Bee Nails Tutorial Step 3

Step 6: Add Pupils

Add some black polish to your piece of foil and dip your smaller dotting tool into it. Add the pupils.

Wait 10-15 minutes to let this design dry a bit before you continue to the next step.

Bee Nails Tutorial Step 4

Step 7: Add a Top Coat

Step 8: ‘Bee’ Proud of Your Nail Art! 😉 (Guess I broke my promise of no more corny jokes in this post…)

I just thought…if you really want to take this manicure to the next level, you could try painting a beehive on your thumb nail. And maybe add wings to your bees. Let your imagination go wild!

Would you ever wear bee nail art? Do you like honey? Did you know that when I was a little kid, my mom used to call me Winnie the Pooh because apparently I always wanted to eat honey?

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36 thoughts on “Nail Art Tutorial: Bee Nails”

  1. Kimberly

    You know I love your sense of humor!!! It’s witty and not a lot of folks can do wit. ;p

    I would soooo wear this stinkin’ cute mani!!! Now all you need to do is cute flowers on your other hand. Interlace your fingers and snap a shot…well, someone will have to help or use the camera’s timer. 🙂

    I love honey and buy local honey for my hot tea. I also love it on my oatmeal.
    Kimberly recently posted: The Voice In My Head Makes Me Do Good Things

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    1. Mary Post author

      Hey Kimberly!

      Hehe, I’m glad you share my love for goofing around and seeing the bright side of a situation. 🙂

      Oh, what a cute idea you had about bees on one hand and flowers on the other!

      When I was a kid, when my family went on road trips, we’ve often pass by farms that sold honey (blueberries, strawberries, and corn, too) and my parents would always buy some. Haven’t been to a farmer’s market in a while, but when I did, I remember everything there tasting much better than store-bought grocery!

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  3. Carmela

    Bee-fore we go into honey, let me just say: this is such a bee-autiful mani! Totally wearable and re-bee-table too. 🙂

    I love honey on french toast and as a sweetener in coffee and fruit smoothies. You should do a Winnie the Pooh mani. 😀

    Reply ↓
    1. Mary Post author

      Hey Carmela!

      Ahahahahah! I love your bee puns! 😀

      Oohh…Winnie the Pooh. I’ll see what I can (hehe…or can’t) do. That would be a fun one. Maybe Pooh on some nails and a pot of honey on others. Thanks! Good idea!

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    1. Mary Post author

      Hey Lina-Elvira!

      Thank you – hope you decide to try it! 🙂

      (I just thought that if someone is allergic to bees, this manicure may not make them too happy…)

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  8. Marta

    Oh my. These are bee-utiful!!!! I am a big fan of the base yellow you chose (even if it did take you four coats)! 🙂 it’s so vibrant and fun. If you’re going to bee adventurous you might as well go all out 😉
    I may not be as brave to wear bee nails (The only time I got stung, I got stung in the behind- no joke- so I still hold a bit of resentment! 😉 ). So while I don’t care to bee around these critters, I do love me some honey! I like it in tea, and my favourite is a fresh baguette ( you know, still crispy and all) some butter and honey. It’s the best!!! Xxxx
    Marta recently posted: Pink IV

    Reply ↓
    1. Mary Post author

      Hey Marta!

      Hahahaha! Your comment made me laugh out loud – I love your bee puns! 😀

      Oh my – stung in the behind? That must’ve HURT! Every time you sat down, it was a reminder. I don’t blame you at all for not being the best of friends with bees after that.

      Mmm…butter and honey on a fresh baguette is so yummy! All this talk is making me crave honey. Going to have to go to the grocery store today and pick some up.

      Reply ↓
    1. Mary Post author

      Hey Katie!

      Sorry to hear that you had bad bee experiences! I’ll have a stern talk with them later tonight. BAD BEES! Yet they looked so innocent here…

      Reply ↓
    1. Mary Post author

      Hey Ruthe!

      These bees really amused me when I wore them. My favourite part was how simple they were to do and how you don’t need too many colours. 🙂 Hope you try it out sometime!

      Reply ↓
    1. Mary Post author

      Hey Hygea!

      He is? That sounds like a job that would make me nervous. He must be a pretty calm guy to be able to do that! Wow!

      Glad you like the nail art. 🙂

      Reply ↓
    1. Mary Post author

      Hey Hafsa!

      Thank you! 😀 I’m flattered that you’re going to try this design, too. If you can, please take photos and share them with me. I’d love to see how yours turn out.

      Reply ↓
  15. Frances Anne

    wow it’s sooooo cute . if i had alot of time i’ll try to this nail art 🙂
    sooo cute . BEE is our designation call with my bf so that’s why i wanted to do a nail art beee :))

    Reply ↓

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