Small hand-painted daisies with Milk Bath petals and Marigold middles, sitting on Terracotta Hour and deliberately not evenly spaced.
3 bottles: Terracotta Hour, Milk Bath and Marigold. Terracotta Hour and Milk Bath sit a comfortable distance apart: the motif is clearly legible without shouting, which is the easiest range to freehand in. The bottles are not all the same finish (crème and sheer), so the pattern picks up light differently from the ground.
On a squoval the design has real width to work across, and the rounded corners are what stop the straight walls catching on things.
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Bottles for this nail
Tap a bottle to open it on the shelfWhat you need
How to paint Rust Daisy nails
- 1 Buff, dehydrate and base coat, then cure. Lay down Terracotta Hour and cure it fully, because a soft base will drag under the petals.
- 2 Five dots of Milk Bath in a ring, then pull each one outward into a petal with the tip of the brush.
- 3 A single Marigold dot in each centre, then gloss top coat over the whole nail.
Questions about Rust Daisy
Is Rust Daisy hard to do at home?
Yes, with a steady hand. The motif is freehand, so the first nail is usually the worst one. Budget around 45 minutes for a full set, and three colours means three chances for something to bleed, so cure between each one rather than working wet on wet.
What polish do I need for Rust Daisy?
3 bottles: Terracotta Hour (crème), Milk Bath (sheer) and Marigold (crème). Plus a base coat and a gloss top coat, which every design here assumes you already have.
Does Rust Daisy work on short nails?
A squoval works short: you lose canvas width rather than length, so the motif just sits closer together.
How many coats does Rust Daisy need?
More than you would expect. Milk Bath is translucent, so the colour builds over three thin coats rather than covering in two. Stop wherever you like the depth — that is the point of a sheer.