Two waves over a Vanilla Cream ground: Terracotta Hour first and wide, then a thin Studio Black one under it.
3 bottles: Vanilla Cream, Terracotta Hour and Studio Black. Vanilla Cream and Terracotta Hour 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 (sheer and crème), so the pattern picks up light differently from the ground.
It sits on a coffin, sometimes called ballerina, tapered at the sides and cut off square at the tip. It needs real length and repays it with the largest flat area of any shape.
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Bottles for this nail
Tap a bottle to open it on the shelfWhat you need
How to paint Rust Wave nails
- 1 Buff, dehydrate and base coat, then cure. Vanilla Cream, cured.
- 2 One wide Terracotta Hour wave across the nail with a liner brush.
- 3 A thinner Studio Black wave beneath it, then top coat.
Questions about Rust Wave
Is Rust Wave 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 Rust Wave?
3 bottles: Vanilla Cream (sheer), Terracotta Hour (crème) and Studio Black (crème). Plus a base coat and a gloss top coat, which every design here assumes you already have.
Does Rust Wave work on short nails?
Coffin is the one shape here that genuinely needs length. On a short nail there is not enough free edge to cut square, and it will read as a squoval instead.
How many coats does Rust Wave need?
More than you would expect. Vanilla Cream 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.