OK people, thank you so much for all your wonderful comments on the holographic butterflies, I got the message that you do want a tutorial loud and clear, so I'll just get right into it.
Let me say that this is seriously easy. When you see what it is you will think, "Is that all!" Anyone with a printer will be able to create nails like these, because it really is very simple and quick to do!
First up, what is the product? The paper that my designs are printed onto is Temporary Tattoo Paper. I bought mine off eBay. If you search eBay for "Temporary Tattoo Paper" you will find a few suppliers.
The supplier I bought mine off has a very good video about how to get your tattoo paper ready. You can check out that video here. But in simple terms, the tattoo paper comes in two sheets. One white sheet with a glossy side that you print your design on, and another sheet which is a piece of white paper with transparent film on the other side. After you've printed on your first piece of paper, you let it dry, and then separate the second piece of transparency from the paper and stick them together. Seriously, watch that video, it only goes for two and half minutes and it shows how to prep your tattoo paper perfectly.
So here is my first sheet of designs I did up. As you can see there are lots of different sized and coloured butterflies. I just found a butterfly image on google images and then fiddled with the hue and saturation in Photoshop to get all the different coloured butterflies, but keeping them all a consistent design.
There is also some old English names printed (my husband has real tattoos like this with mine and the kids names, and Mr 3 thinks it's really fun to have matching temporary tattoos as dad). You can also see gaps where I have already cut out designs.
For this tutorial, I' m just going to do some small butterflies. In the last design, I used the large butterflies, cut in half with partial wing designs on each finger, as well as the accent nail which was the collection of little butterflies (despite the fact that the little butterflies look like the Sally Hansen butterflies, they are completely home made). I will be applying the purple butterfly to my thumb, and then applying the red and green butterflies, cut in half on each of the other nails in the video below.
First, start off with you base colour. I used a layer of Orly Bonder base coat and two coats of Layla Mercury Twilight on all nails (actually only on the left hand, you will see later that my right hand is still the previous design - yes I'm still wearing it!)
So here is the little butterfly that I printed and put together using the temporary tattoo paper. I trim it closely around the design, but it doesn't have to be perfect.
Next you peel off the plastic covering to expose the sticky side of the tattoo.
Now just stick that image straight onto your nail. Make sure you place it correctly, because you wont be able to move it around like a water decal. It is just like sticking down a sticker. Press it firmly and rub it outwards gently to ensure there are no creases.
Grab a cotton ball or wipe and dip it in some water. Hold the water against the nail for 10-20 seconds.
The piece of paper will now just slide off.
And now your design has been transferred. You can clean up any parts of the tattoo that overhang your nail edge or at your cuticle with a bit of polish remover (or trim with scissors).
Then put on some top coat and you're done. The tattoo, once it is applied and no longer has paper on either side, is actually very stretchy. This means that it can be easily smoothed onto the nail and it doesn't form any creases. That is the problem that I have with water decals. Water decals are great for small images, but these temporary tattoos are perfect for all over nail designs.
Now I did record this rather dreadful video. I've said it before, but I have no clue about editing videos to make them fancy, so this is just a direct download of what I recorded from my camera. Apologies for the moments where I forgot about the camera and my fingers disappear from the screen, and also for the odd clicking noises. It's only a short video and I do four nails, so you will see how quickly this can be done.
Here is a photo of the final look. The only difference here from my original mani is that I did a smaller butterfly design on my nail. I think the full design covering the whole nail looks better, but I wanted to show another option.
Unfortunately there was no sun today, so these photos are under the bathroom light, which doesn't show the holo off as well., but you get the idea.
I found these lasted on the nail really well. As you can see in the video, I still have the original design on my right hand. I have plenty of tip wear, but I actually found that where the tattoo was on my nail it made the holo polish last much longer.
When I was removing the polish off my left hand prior to doing this tutorial, I found that the design actually seemed like it wasn't coming off. I rubbed and rubbed and it didn't do anything except remove the polish from the nail where the tattoo didn't cover it. I found that it was much easier to pick at a corner of the tattoo and peel it off in one sheet, then remove the polish off the nail.
Now I'm sure you will agree, these are super dooper easy to do. Let me know if you get any temporary tattoo paper and give this a go! I'd love to see what people come up with.
Ack that is SO cool! I love it Cathy!! Makes me wish I had a colour printer lol
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ReplyDeleteI knew about the idea of making your-own-nail-sticker using tattoo paper but didn't know it works soooooooooooooo great as this on the holos!! Oh god I might try this, I definitely might try this!!
ReplyDeleteThank you VERY much for this fabulous idea & post!!!!!
(Sorry I deleted my previous comment by my mistake :((( )
Great tutorial thanks!
ReplyDeleteI just remembered I have some old inkjet tattoo paper somewhere from 10 years ago. I'll have to dig it out and see if it works. I've tried the kids temporary tattoos on my nails before but there's only so much you can do with Freddo Frog :p I much prefer the idea of doing my own :)
FanTASTIC!!
ReplyDeleteOMG That is fabulous! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI love the butterflies wings! I've been thinking about buying a paper like this and print some bunnies to put on my nails ;)
ReplyDeletethis is such an awesome tutorial, thanks heaps!
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI have to try it=)
Tnx for sharing =)
I can't wait to try this out! Think so much for the awesome tutorial!
ReplyDeleteso beautifull! i'd rather small butterflies!
ReplyDeleteHoly Crap that's awesome!!! I wonder if this would work with any fake tattoo you buy at the store. I will so have to try this!
ReplyDeleteYes it does, I tired it with a cheap packet of butterfly temp tattoos I had and it worked perfectly. That's why I started looking for a DIY version so I could make my own design.
DeleteThanks so much for posting this tutorial - think I might give it a go one day!
ReplyDelete:O you're genius!! i love how you managed to think out of the box and create your own nail 'decals'!! and HOLO! i wouldn't have been able to come up with this in a lifetime
ReplyDelete*bows down in total respect of your creativity*
Niiiice! ♥
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I didn't even know you could get temp tattoo paper!! My daughters would love some to match mine & husbands!! ANd this manicure tutorial is perfect, thankyou!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if a regular temporary tattoo from a quarter machine would work??? I have some nail tattoos from the dollar store and they work the same way but now I'm curious...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely brilliant!!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteYou've got us all thinking outside the square now :)
ReplyDeleteThanks
Thanks so much - had no idea anything like this paper existed. So...the Holo we see in the butterfly is really coming through the sticker from the base polish and not the sticker right?
ReplyDeleteYep, just the holo from Layla Mercury Twilight, the tattoo sticker stuff is very think and clear, so it doesn't effect the holo finish very much.
DeleteWhat a brilliant idea!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a great idea, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCould you possible post a link to the page on eBay you ordered from? I'm afraid of buying the wrong ones! Pleeassseeeeee =] And I love the tutorial I wanna try it soooo bad!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe supplier I purchased from only ships to Australia, but here is the ones I got.
Deletehttp://www.ebay.com.au/itm/120752576610?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
I had no idea it would actually be this easy! Very clever (: I hope I can get my hands on that paper and give this a try. I love it soooo much!
ReplyDeletecutepolish just put up a tutorial video for the same thing. I'm not saying she stole your idea, but putting up a video the day after you posted yours and saying "i was at the store last week and i saw these temporary tattoos. it got me thinking" seems kind of shady. Just thought you might want to know in case you wanted credit.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tutorial !! I am gonna search for this paper over here :)
ReplyDeleteWow super easy! Thanks so much for the tutorial. Now I just need to get some temporary tattoo paper, oh and a printer. :P
ReplyDeleteCathy - you should try doing just a straight rainbow gradient over the holo polish..... then you get real rainbows!!!
ReplyDeleteI actually just printed a new sheet of tattoo paper and it has two sorts of gradients rainbows, I literally just put one one now!!
DeleteSO AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteMust you use a laser printer, or can I use an inkjet printer too?
ReplyDeleteThe tattoo paper I got was specifically for an inkjet printer. Mine were all inkjet and done on at cheap printer!
DeleteAwesome tutorial and so so so so pretty <3
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the tutorial, oh and the link to the ebay seller! I Just ordered some tattoo paper myself, and oh my gosh im so excited to try this!! Its so stunning
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVVVE this idea!! So original and clever!! I will have to try this sometime.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog :)
Melinda
I love this so much! Im going to have to try it! Are there specific papers for laser and inkjet printers?
ReplyDeleteThis is SO FRACKING COOL!!! omg the possibilities.......
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU so much for this tutorial--you ROCK!!
superb.. I would love to try this out soon.. thanks for the great idea
ReplyDeletethanks so much for the tutorial.. its so helpful... i will so be doing this when i find these tattoos somewhere. *goes off to hunt* heheh :D
ReplyDeleteWow, very cute. You have soooo much more patience than I have:)
ReplyDeleteHow amazing!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this excellent tutorial. I look forward to trying it.
ReplyDeleteI can't afford any of that beautiful holo polish so I was wondering if you tried this method with regular polish.
ReplyDeleteI can't afford any of that beautiful holographic polish so I was wondering if you tried this on regular polishes? ...already searching for the paper on EBay hehe
ReplyDelete[Note: also sorry if you got duplicates, don't usually use this:) ]
ReplyDeletePrintable tattoo paper? That is frickin AMAZING. I want some. I love your original design by the way!
ReplyDeleteThis is SOOOOOO amazing! Well done!
ReplyDeletewhat kind of format picture did you use? JPG or PNG?
ReplyDeleteThnx
The images are just small JPGs
Delete