Gemstone / Rupee Nail Art

by ElizabethHudy

18K48136

Intro: Gemstone / Rupee Nail Art

I made a tutorial for all of you on how to do these gemstone/rupee nails that I did a little while ago! The concept was originally inspired by a wood block painting tutorial done by Fabric Paper Glue, but I just loved the illusion and look of it so much that I wanted to adapt it to nail art!

STEP 1: Getting Started

This tutorial requires only three colors: Your basic color, black, and white. You will be mixing these colors to create the 6 shades needed to complete the look. In the top right corner, you can see that I've illustrated a sort of "paint by number". The number 3 shade is the color right out of the bottle. The number 1 shade has the most white mixed in (I used about 3 globs of white polish), and your number 6 shade has the most black (I used two small globs of black polish). Be careful when you first mix in your black polish - black can be very overpowering and will make the color very dark very fast! Remember: you can always add more as needed!

Step 1: paint your entire nail with your #3 shade. Allow polish to dry completely (that is super important! if you don't allow it to be completely dried, you will get yucky marks from the tape later on)

STEP 2: The Sides

Step 2: take two pieces of striping tape and line two parallel areas running longways on either side of your nail. These two areas should be more narrow than the center area.

Step 3: fill in the left area with your #1 shade (lightest), and the right area with your #6 shade (darkest). It's okay if its a little messy - that's why you have the tape! Allow polish to dry completely before pealing up the tape.

STEP 3: The Edges

Step 4: take two more pieces of striping tape and tape off two more parallel areas, this time running shortways.

Step 5: fill in both areas with your #4 shade (just slightly darker than the base). Try not to paint over the areas you created in Step 3. If it's a little messy, that's okay, but I would recommend trying not to paint to the outside edges of the nail. This will help later when you are painting your corners. Again, wait for the polish to dry completely before removing the tape.

STEP 4: The Corners

Step 6: Taking your #2 shade (just slightly lighter than your base), create a trapezoid shape at the top and bottom corner on the left side. This part can get a little tricky to figure out the angle that your lines should go. It helps to remember that each shape you are creating on the nail will be a trapezoid (i.e. bigger on the outside edge and smaller on the inside edge).

Step 7: repeat Step 6 using your #5 shade on the right side of the nail.

STEP 5: Voila

Finish off with a topcoat and you are good to go!

35 Comments

Ainswy 8 years ago

this is a really amazing tutorial! is there any shortcuts that i can use or simpler ways? x

krummrey 9 years ago

Too bad we guys can't really run around with painted nails.
Looks awesome!

KetchupsUsername 8 years ago

sure you can i know many peoples who do

ElizabethHudy 9 years ago

be a trend setter! go for it man!

Mutazek 9 years ago

But if you have a girlfriend/spouse, you can practice before with fake nails, and then make her nails, she will love it! TRUST ME! (You will not look weird for doing that, if someone of your mates says it, just tell them the benefits... If you know what I mean)

fluffycotton 9 years ago

love it a lot when I saw it I almost died. I love legend of Zelda( more like link though) but I love the nails .its so easy that anyone can do it and just the salon

Passion Make 9 years ago

Never seen such a design :) vibrant and voted for you!

samalert 9 years ago

Rupee(Indian currency :) ) or Ruby ? By the way the nail looks soo 3d. Its awesome !

ElizabethHudy 9 years ago

rupee like from the zelda game! and ruby i guess haha. & thank you!

CreativeGeek 9 years ago

These reminded me of the Chaos Emeralds when viewed from above more.

padayattiljosemon 9 years ago

votted

tiffanykeri 9 years ago

I've never seen a nail design like this! Amazing!