Japan Nail Art

Konichiwa chicas! :)


To keep up with my Japanese-y feeling this week, I decided to create these easy Japanese Flag Nails! For those of you who are wondering what my thumb nail says, it says "Nihon" which is the word for 'Japan' in Japanese :)

If you like these, be sure to check out my cute Cherry Blossom Nails from my mini MINI Japan nail series!

Below are the nail polishes and tool I used to create my Japan Flag Nails :)

(L to R)

• Sally Hansen Double Duty Base & Top Coat
• NYC White French Tip
• toothpick :)
• Wet n Wild Black
• Kiss Nail Art Striper: Black
• Red Nail Striper
• Orly: Red Flare

 Star by painting your nails with a clear base coat to protect your natural nail from staining. I used Sally Hansen's Double Duty Base & Top coat. After that's dry, paint all of your nails with 2-3 coats of a white nail polish. I used NYC's French White Tip which is very light, so I had to put about 3 coats to get it a nice solid even color.

 Using your toothpick and red polish, make a circle in the center of your nail to create Japan's flag :)

 For our word "Nihon", all Kanji characters have a stroke order which is important to follow. The above strip shows the stroke order for "Ni" :)

Above is the stroke order for "Hon" and this is what "Nihon" looks like in Japanese :)

At this point, your nails will look like this above.

 We're going to add some red tips to the rest of our nails. To make the stripes look nice and clean, use your red nail art striper and draw a straight line going across (above photo). I know it looks messy but it will be fixed! 

I found that it helps to rotate your finger as you're drawing the stripe and then just fill in the rest of the tip with your red striper :) <-- the fixing

 This is what your red tips will look like once they're filled in. Next, using your toothpick and black polish, make small dots on the nails with the red tips.

 Seal in your design with a clear top coat and you're done! :)

I hope you enjoyed these easy Japan Flag Nails and give'em a try. Be sure to check out my cute Cherry Blossom Nails from my mini MINI Japan nail series!


~Alejandra~