This fantastic mural butterfly design was created by Alexandra Lust of Germany. She uses acrylics (camouflage, pink, transparent, opal, and black), acrylic paints (black, white, red, yellow, light blue, and gold), top coat, and a lot of talent. Here she shows how to segment the design across all four nails to create a wonderful illusion of a butterfly.

1. Prep the natural nails and place stiletto forms.

2. Elongate the nail beds using camouflage acrylic and spread a thin layer of transparent acrylic.

3. Spread iridescent opal acrylic along the French smile line.   

4. Lightly file to perfect the shape of the stiletto and blend the opal and transparent acrylic.

5. Begin the slight contour of the butterfly’s wings with black acrylic paint. The body of the butterfly is done with black acrylic in 3-D.

6. Draw the wings with acrylic paint, transitioning the colors from black to red and yellow.

7. Draw the wing texture coloring on the edges of the butterfly’s wings using white, yellow, and orange acrylic paints.

8. Continue to decorate the wings with thin black and white lines as well as different dots. Drag white acrylic paint over the body to add detail.

9. Add thin black lines and dots to outline the contour of the butterfly. Use gold paint to accent.

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