#NowTrending: Stunning snakeskin nails by Shannon Rae Smyth
By Callie Iley | 01 December 2020 | Feature, Tech Talk
Scratch chats with Shannon Rae Smyth of Shannon Rae Nail Artist about her love for nails, as she explains how she created this striking snakeskin nail design…
I started doing nails as a hobby; having always had both an interest in, and a passion for nail design. I spent about a year practicing skills and watching hours upon hours of YouTube tutorials, which helped me finally realise that I needed to pursue nails as a career. I booked an acrylic and gel polish nail course and qualified in July 2019!
I’m constantly learning, growing and trying new things and absolutely adore anything that involves free hand nail art. My favourite products to use are from Glitterbels. I love all of the products, gel polishes, acrylics and brushes! The Glitterbels nail art detail brushes have helped me so much with improving my nail art techniques and I created these snakeskin nails using Glitterbels gel polishes in the shades Beige Bunny and Army Girl.
How-to
I painted the whole nail in Beige Bunny. I then used Army Girl and the Glitterbels nail art brushes to create random and imperfect shapes. After this, I applied Blooming Gel over these shapes, and used a dotting tool with Beige Bunny, placing random dots around and then spreading them out a little to create the snakeskin effect I wanted to achieve. I followed this up by applying a matte top coat. Finally, I applied foil glue around my shapes, curing for 30 seconds, finishing the look with some gorgeous gold foil.
I love the nail industry so much because it allows me to use my creativity every single day, which is really important to me. Being able to create something different and new each day is such an amazing feeling!
The highlight of my career so far is being asked to be a Glitterbels ambassador, and to be part of the content creators team for the Glitterbels YouTube channel. It feels so amazing giving back to the community like this because YouTube is where my career began – I’ve come full circle! I do hope that one day, I’ll be able to become a nail educator. I really want to be able to open my very own nail salon or academy.