Plum Wine Lace nails

Round · Lace

Salon or steady hand

Plum Wine with a Milk Glass lace border, the pattern densest near the cuticle.

3 bottles: Plum Wine, Milk Glass and Black Plum. Plum Wine against Milk Glass is a hard contrast, so the motif reads from across a room, and any wobble in the line reads with it. The bottles are not all the same finish (crème and sheer), so the pattern picks up light differently from the ground.

On a round shape the pattern has a shallow, even canvas and nothing to snag, which is why the small repeating motifs tend to end up here.

Make it yours

Pick a part of the nail, then a shade
Base: Plum Wine · Crème Open the bottle

Bottles for this nail

Tap a bottle to open it on the shelf

What you need

Base colour cured
Striper brush clean lines
Gloss top level the paint

How to paint Plum Wine Lace nails

  1. 1 Buff, dehydrate and base coat, then cure. Two coats of Plum Wine. A dark base shows every ridge, so the ridge-filling base coat matters more than usual here.
  2. 2 Draw the Milk Glass scalloped edge first, then fill behind it with dots and short arcs.
  3. 3 Gloss top coat, cure, then cuticle oil once it is out of the lamp.

Questions about Plum Wine Lace

  • Is Plum Wine Lace hard to do at home?

    It is the hardest tier on the site. It is doable at home, but the technique is the point rather than the colour. Budget an hour or more 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 Plum Wine Lace?

    3 bottles: Plum Wine (crème), Milk Glass (sheer) and Black Plum (crème). Plus a base coat and a gloss top coat, which every design here assumes you already have.

  • Does Plum Wine Lace work on short nails?

    Round is already the shortest shape here, so yes, this is one of the designs that works at almost any length.

  • How many coats does Plum Wine Lace need?

    More than you would expect. Milk Glass 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.

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