Going to the salon to get my nails done was never part of my routine. For one, I am too lazy to get out on my free days. Second, I feel more stressed than relaxed everytime another person pushes my cuticles. Third, as a practical mom, I don't want to spend too much for my nails.

Not until my mom showed me what she learned from a short course in TESDA (a government agency which offers short courses on different skills), of which nail art is one of the topics. At first, I was just being generous to be her model. But later on, I got addicted to it that I became too excited to don another design each week. I clean my own nails, then my mom would turn my nails into a masterpiece.

One of my favorite designs is the strawberry nail art. It looks different and seems hard to do but is actually simple and can be done at home.

Prepare the materials for the nail art. You will be needing a nail hardener (optional), a red nail polish, green and white nail art pens/brushes and a clear nail polish. These are readily available in some beauty stores such as Watson's and Hortaleza.  

First, apply a nail hardener on clean nails. You may opt to skip this one but this would allow your nail polish to last longer and will harden your nails so it won't easily chip off.

Second, apply a red nail polish. You may apply a second coat for a sharper color and long lasting polish.

Third, use the green nail polish brush to paint the leaves of the strawberry. You may use the thin brush or the sharp tip, which allows you to execute the designs with ease.

Use a white nail polish pen to make dots for the seeds. You may opt to fill in the whole fingernail with these or just a portion of the nails such as my mom's version, which I find more dainty.

The Sassy Nail Art brand comes with both a thin brush and sharp tip, much like correction pen that we use to erase pen marks.

Lastly, put on a clear nail polish to protect the whole polish design. Be sure though that the design has completely dried up before you apply the clear one to prevent smudges.

To clean up the mess around the fingernails, use a cotton on a stick or a cotton bud and moisten with acetone. This will clean up the look of your strawberry nail art.