Crab Tutorial

Hi everyone,


I'm super excited to show you my first tutorial. This design is based off of the crab design that Top Coat It! did. Now this was the first time I'd done the design so it's not the greatest, but in my defense my newborn had kept me up all night and I needed something to do to relax. So my hands were a little more shakey than they usually are. 

I started off with Zoya in Sooki. This is my go to red for any occasion. It's a bright cherry red with a super shiny finish. This is one coat without a top coat, yes it's that great. Zoya is also my favorite brand of polish. I found them originally during their 2011 Facebook promo and I've been in love ever since. Their bottles retail for $8.00 on their website and if you are wanting to purchase Sooki follow this link.

Next to create the effect that the crab is on the sand I did a half moon manicure. You can freehand these which I've done in the past, or you can purchase reinforcement labels. They will give you a smooth line for your half moon mani. Now for the body of the crab I actually put the stickers too far up my nails, which will explain why his poor arms look so strange in the later photos. I would recommend bringing the sticker to the end of your cuticles, you need more arms space than body space. 

I painted on my beach and removed my stickers. The colors so do not mesh well, but as you can see it's a very smooth and pretty half moon mani. I couldn't find my gold polish that I planned on using for the beach so I grabbed my Love & Beauty in Camel. This polish is a fantastic nude polish. My only issue was that it pulled the Sooki polish so I had to do some cover ups. But 2 coats covered this bright red completely. I tried finding the polish on their website and was unable to. I stumbled upon mine at my local Forever 21 which is where Love & Beauty comes from.

I drew out the crab's arms and claws using my dotter tool from my Bundle Monster kit. (You can find the kit here for $14.99. It comes with dotters and brushes. I'll do a review on the product soon!). Now as I mentioned earlier I made his little body too big so I didn't have enough room for his claws and arms in the sizes I wanted. Funny enough he looks like Mr. Crabs from Spongebob without his eyes painted on. :)

Next came time to paint on his eyeballs. My go to white is Claire's Snowball. This white is very clean and bright. The best part you ask? It's not a streaky mess! This is the first white polish I've owned that I didn't have to put 100 coats on to make it a smooth opaque finish. Their website is out of the white, but you'll be able to find it hopefully in your local Claire's store. 

And finally I used Wet N Wild in Black Cream to make his pupils. With 2 coats of Seche Vite I sealed my design and there the final product is. 

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial! If you attempt your own version be sure to leave a link in the comments, I'd love to see your designs!