One shade over the whole nail: Butter Yellow, with no motif to hide behind, which is why the prep matters more here than on anything patterned.
2 bottles: Butter Yellow and Warm Ochre. Butter Yellow and Warm Ochre are close in tone, so the design is tonal rather than graphic. It shows up in daylight and softens indoors. All of it is crème, so the whole nail takes light evenly and the shape of the motif is doing all the work.
On a squoval the design has real width to work across, and the rounded corners are what stop the straight walls catching on things.
Make it yours
Bottles for this nail
Tap a bottle to open it on the shelfWhat you need
How to paint Butter Yellow nails
- 1 Buff, dehydrate and base coat, then cure.
- 2 Two thin coats of Butter Yellow, curing each one. Thin twice always beats thick once.
- 3 Gloss top coat, cure, then cuticle oil once it is out of the lamp.
Questions about Butter Yellow
Is Butter Yellow hard to do at home?
Yes. There is no freehand work that has to be accurate. Budget about 30 minutes for a full set, and two colours keeps it simple: cure the first before the second goes near it and nothing bleeds.
What polish do I need for Butter Yellow?
2 bottles: Butter Yellow (crème) and Warm Ochre (crème). Plus a base coat and a gloss top coat, which every design here assumes you already have.
Does Butter Yellow work on short nails?
A squoval works short: you lose canvas width rather than length, so the motif just sits closer together.
Can I paint Butter Yellow in different colours?
Yes. Swap Butter Yellow or Warm Ochre under "Make it yours" for any of the 103 shades on the shelf, and the bottle list, the steps and the description above all change with it.