Green Tortoiseshell Nail Art Trend and Inspiration Photos
Green Tortoiseshell Nails Is Our New Favourite Trend This Winter
Tortoiseshell nails have been around for a long time and even though the design is not new, I'm still totally in love with the nature-inspired style. And just when I thought my love for them had peaked, I discovered green tortoiseshell nails — the cooler cousin of the tortoiseshell effect — on my Instagram feed.
When I spotted the green tortoiseshell design on California-based salon Hey Nice Nails Instagram, I immediately had to get the scoop on the trend. "This was an artist choice manicure so I'm very happy and excited others love it as much as I do!" Donne, the co-founder of Hey Nice Nails, told POPSUGAR. "Tortoiseshell nails have always been trendy and I wanted to play around with a different tone," she said. "This design is essentially created in the moment, I wanted to do a fall transitional design that was still bright and edgy."
Much like the original, the design is created by a layering technique using gel nail polish. First, Donne applied a thin layer of jelly-green gel polish and cured it. Next, she applied a second thin layer of the same shade and whilst it was still wet, she added small blobs of dark green gel and let that spread before curing to build up opacity. She then applied small dots of black gel over the top of the dark green blobs and whilst that was still wet, she applied a third, thin layer of the original jelly-green. Before curing this, she lightly dragged the black gel to create to create some fluid shapes. Finally, she added a super shiny top coat and sured the nails again. It's definitely a process but when the outcome looks as good as this does, it's definitely worth it.
To try this at home using regular nail polish, Donne rates Cirque Colors Olive Jelly and recommends using a little bit of acetone to help the layers spread out a little more. Another top tip from Donne is not to overwork the polish, "you can 1/3 of the nail dark and opaque and 1/3 of the nail transparent."
Read on to see more green tortoiseshell nails to give you inspiration for your next trip to the salon.
