HOW TO: Tattoo Tights

In my last outfit post I promised to do a DIY on these tattoo tights that my cousin made me:

Since then I have improved the technique to try and minimise the tattoos looking stretched out. It is a tiny bit trickier but nothing too hard. This DIY is really quick and easy and a lot cheaper and more customisable than going out and buying a ready made pair.

Draw out a tattoo design onto the centre of your piece of card.

You can google some stencils if you're not too keen on freehanding it and I found doing it in pencil rather than pen was easier to then tell where I traced over it on the tights later.

Roll up your card so that it is of roughly the same width as the part of your leg where you want the tattoo to be placed. Secure with tape.

I wanted mine on my lower thigh which is why it's a slightly conical shape. You may also need another sheet of card if your card isn't long enough.

Place the rolled up card into one of the legs of the tights, making sure that it is at the right height.

You'll probably want to try on the tights beforehand and draw on a small dot in biro where you want your tattoo to be, to make sure it's placed in the right place. I also found it easier to put the card into the tights when I put the card around my leg to stop the card from scrunching and then putting on the tights as you normally would.

This stretches out the tights so that the design doesn't become distorted once you actually put the tights on.

Trace the design with a permanent marker.

This photo is just for a comparison of thick and thin markers. You can choose to use whatever thickness you want. 

This is what it should look like once you've finished.

I found it easier to trace the design in short strokes or dotting motions. Otherwise the pen seemed to drag on the tights, then moving it into a different position from the stencil.

And you're done:

Hopefully you should tell that the tattoo comes out a lot less distorted when drawing it onto stretched tights rather than onto non-stretched tights (comparing the tights my cousin made and the ones in this tutorial).

You can trace over the stencil multiple times to make the tattoo darker but I was a bit too impatient for that. You can also draw on multiple tattoos of various sizes as my cousin did in the first photos or shade in your tattoo with coloured permanent markers.

Hopefully this was helpful and I've explained it all clearly :-)

-Blanc

follow me on:

bloglovin' | tumblr | twitter | instagram | pinterest | polyvore | flickr

NAILS: Cat & Polka Dots

 I bought a nail dotting pen over summer and I finally got around to using it. I used it to do this cute cat face and originally I was planning on doing it on more than one nail but, I'm not going to lie, I just couldn't be bothered and I though it would look nicer as an accent nail so here is the final look:

I used a quill-esque pen which I've had for years; it was a part of an art set I got when I was a kid where you scratch out a black board and draw pictures (does anybody know what I'm talking about?) but you could easily substitute with a toothpick or a fine nail art brush if you have one.

CAT:

I did this freehand and it does take a bit of practice but you could stencil it out by using tape and outlining the shape.

1.  Apply base coat and dry
2. Using a white nail polish, follow the above diagram and dry
3. If necessary, repeat step 2 to get an opaque layer
4. Draw 2 black dots for eyes using a dotting pen (or toothpick)
5. Put a blob of pink nail polish onto a piece of paper
6. Dip the quill (or toothpick) into the white nail polish and draw 3 triangles onto the cat for ears and a nose
7. Draw 2 black lines horizontally from the nose outwards on each side of the nail for whiskers using the dotting pen (or toothpick)
8. Let everything dry 
9. Seal it all with a top coat

POLKA DOTS:

I used a dotting pen for this but if you don't have one, you could easily get the same results from using either a toothpick or a pin needle (click on either to see the method I've posted previously).

Nails: Faded (with glitter)

L to R: The Face Shop Top Coat, Barry M Mint Green, Barry M Coral, Revlon Gold Lame

1) Apply base coat and dry
2) Apply a thick amount of clear nail polish to either tip of bottom of nails
3) Whilst the clear varnish is still wet, apply chosen colour in short strokes starting from tip and then gradually merging in with the clear varnish
4) Allow to dry
5) OPTIONAL apply glitter varnish over the clear area of nail and dry
6) Apply top coat

You can do it having the colour fading from the tip to bottom or vice versa. I find applying the coloured polish to the tip is a lot easier but practice makes perfect.

If you want 2 colours to fade into each other, add in an extra step after step 1 and apply a different colour to your entire nail and let dry.

If this tutorial was unclear, another version of similar effect nails can be found here