Although we’re never afraid of pushing boundaries in the style stakes, we Bristol students often adopt a more pared-back approach to our beauty regimes.

Hairstyles usually veer towards the just-got-out-of-bed look, and the most experimental we’ll get with makeup is a flash of red lipstick. However, in the fashion world, hair, makeup and nails are increasingly being used as the show-stopping accessories that make a look.

So, it’s time to pay attention to our manis! Nail art can often seem fiddly and time-consuming, but Tab Fashion is here to show you that it’s really not as hard as it looks.

Cool nails can be mastered by anyone if you follow some basic tips. As for being time-consuming, let’s be honest: we’re students, wasting time is what we do best!

Here’s a quick tutorial to get you started:

Leopard print nails

You will need: a base colour (nothing too dark or the design won’t show up), a lighter colour (if possible, use a nail striper, which has a thinner brush) and a black nail art pen.

1. Before you start, do whatever you need to do to ensure you have a good base for your design – file, buff, get rid of any unwanted cuticles, and, most importantly, paint with a clear basecoat to avoid staining.
2. Paint the nail evenly using your base colour – you might need two coats for a strong pigment.

Step 2: Paint with base colour.

3. Once the base colour has dried, dot the lighter colour in spots of varying size around the nail.

Step 3: Create your spots using lighter colour.

4. The final part of this design is the hardest – it might help to look at an image of leopard print for guidance, and you may want to practice on some paper before hand. Using the nail art pen, draw curved ‘c’ and ‘u’ shapes around the blobs of the lighter colour, and fill in any empty spaces with dots and dashes.

Step 4: Complete your leopard spots with the black nail art pen.

5. To make your designs last longer, finish a with a topcoat of clear polish.

6. Prepare to be inundated with compliments!

Nailinspo

If you’ve caught the nail art bug, check out these websites for some inspiring designs:

http://instagram.com/wahnails

http://mpnails.com

http://www.ghettonailz.com