3D Textured Diamond Plate Nails
I’ve seen some really cool 3D textured nails popping up on Instagram and Pinterest, so I decided to experiment to see if I could create a textured look using just soak-off gel polish. I think the result turned out pretty cool! I ended up with this industrial look that resembles a diamond plate pattern. I created a video to show you how easily this is done, which you can watch at the bottom of this post.
My index finger has three coats of Gelish Black Shadow. The pinky finger has two coats of Couture Tres Chic, and is stamped with stripes from Cheeky plate CH10 and black Konad polish. The diamond plate nails have two coats of Gelish Let’s Hit the Bunny Slopes and then the pattern was drawn on using a dotting tool (3 coats). The entire mani was topped off with the Gelish Matte TIO, which makes the texture pop even more.
The texture would freak me out! It looks cool but I would pick at it all day ;( I love the striped nail! If you were to purchase a bundle if stamping plates what would you recommend as your 1st choice. The ones I have are getting boring! Thank you!
Thanks. I thought I would pick at it too, but I really haven’t. My favorite plate collection that I own is the Create Your Own set from Bundle Monster. I think I get the most use out of that one.
OMG, the diamond plate…what a great idea!!
Also, what is the color on your right hand? Looks gorgeous!
That’s Gelish Race You to the Bottom – also from the Snow Escape collection. One of my faves :)
This is so fantastic! I love seeing your posts every day. =)
These look great, Andrea! I’d been looking at this effect for a while now but until you asked about it I hadn’t thought to actually try it. Next up is doing an actual mani. :) Great tutorial video too.
Andrea-Do you have a link so you can get credit for the stamping plates?
Here is my link to Amazon. Thank you very much :) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00F029RNY/chickettes-20
This is AWESOME! Have you ever tried it with regular nail polish as apposed to the gel?
No I haven’t. I don’t really use RNP any more. :)
I liked it! What an original idea! Just a question, if you do more than one nail at the time, do you flash cure (couple of seconds, right?) it each finger or you do all the fingers at the same time? I’m thinking of that the self-leveling ability of SOG could be a problem in this case.
Yes, I flash cured when doing multiple nails. Great question!
Wow, that looks amazing! Very industrial :)
I’m finally starting to warm to the matte top coat trend, especially when paired with a high gloss counterpoint.
I am going to try supernail’s pronail kit as it’s very reasonable and they’ve got some cool colurs, as well as structure building sog which I think could be good for applying nail tips. But they don’t have a matte topcoat (yet?).
I’m just trying to figure out what I can use to achieve a matte look- is it possible to use gelish matte topcoat over a different brand undercoat? Or could I use a normal matte topcoat ontop of my SOG mani instead? I’ve seen some lovely effects using stamping and matte topcoats and really want to give it a go.
As always, any advice is greatly appreciated :)
You can mix and match gel polish brands. If you use a RNP matte top coat you won’t get the staying power of gel.
Ahh, sorry I wasn’t clear, I mean doing a gel mani (including gel topcoat) and then using a RTW matte top coat… any idea if that would work? I’ve ordered a matte top coat online, so I’ll post here when I know whether or not if it works, just in case anyone else wants to try the same.
It works, you just may need to reapply the matte top coat once or twice because it will chip or wear off.
I’m looking to get some of the glam & Glits additives (color powders) that you featured awhile ago. Do you have any suggestions on where to get them?
You can buy them from glamandglits.com. They may be on Amazon too.
This is so amazing and imaginative! Well done :)
Brilliant!!!
I love these! What is the color you used on the other swathes with the textured swirls? I’ve really wanted an aqua color but have had no luck with the gelish harmony brands. All of the teals seem very green. I’ve recently mixed ooba ooba blue with the trends are you feeling it. Almost aqua… Any suggestions?
That was Gelish Seafoam. I like several of the Gelish teals – Radiance is My Middle Name, Garden Teal Party, A Mint of Spring. Send me a link to an image that has the type of teal/aqua that you’re looking for and I’ll see if I have anything like it.
http://pose.com/p/25mid
This is pretty close. I have radiance is my middle name, and I’ve also tried oocha coocha bing bang bam.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/18929260907837567/
This post says it’s aquamarine in opi gel but I’ve not been able to find it. Thanks for your help!! :)
Have you had any issues with fading with “bunny slopes”?
No, I haven’t had any issues with it