If you’re looking for an easy yet impressive looking manicure idea, this geometric gradient nail art is for you. Nail art brushes are great but nothing compares to good old striping tape for accuracy and speed! Oh sharp corners and perfectly straight lines, how I missed thee.
The geometry and muted colours of Roman architecture inspired this manicure. It’s such an inspiring city that I often had to stop to quickly make a draft of design ideas. The combination of two or three shades in one building particularity appealed to me. As soon as I was reunited with striping tape, this gradient manicure was born!
So without further ado, here’s our how-to!
- Apply a base coat, then paint all nails with 2-3 coats of light nude opaque nail polish.
- Once the base is is dry, (make sure it’s dry completely!) apply nail art tape as pictured on all nails.
- Now work one nail at a time. Using mid-thickness nail art brush, paint each segment with a different shade of nude/brown nail polish to create a gradient effect.
- Accurately remove the tape.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 on all fingers.
- Clean up around cuticles with an angled brush if required and apply a top coat. If you used matte polishes to create this look, you can leave your design as it is or apply a matte top coat to smooth it out. If you used glossy nail polishes make sure you apply a matte top coat.


USED:
- All polishes from Essie Cashmere collection
- Essie Matte About You.
- SoNailicious #4 Warrior angled brush – to clean up
Wearing: Gunmetal Knuckle Ring.
Now, over to you!
So how do you like this Roman holiday gradient nail art? Are you keen to try it?
– Maria, xx
Related posts: See previous posts from the SoNailicious Takes A Trip series here.
P.S. If you do try this gradient nail art tutorial, I’d love to see the result – Tweet or Instagram me a photo of your manicure with the tag #sonailicious.
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