Dreaming Nails

Vanilla Cream Houndstooth nails

Round · Houndstooth

Salon or steady hand

Vanilla Cream with a Milk Bath houndstooth repeat — four strokes per tooth, and they have to interlock.

3 bottles: Vanilla Cream, Milk Bath and Wheat. Vanilla Cream and Milk Bath are close in tone, so the design is tonal rather than graphic. It shows up in daylight and softens indoors. 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 round nail, filed to follow the fingertip, which is the shortest shape here and the one that chips least, so the motif gets a soft frame rather than a pointed one.

Make it yours

Pick a part of the nail, then a shade
Base: Vanilla Cream · Sheer Open the bottle

Bottles for this nail

Tap a bottle to open it on the shelf
Vanilla Cream Base · Sheer
Milk Bath Motif · Sheer
Wheat Accent · Crème

What you need

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

How to paint Vanilla Cream Houndstooth nails

  1. 1 Buff, dehydrate and base coat, then cure. Three sheer coats of Vanilla Cream — it is translucent, so it builds rather than covers.
  2. 2 Build each Milk Bath tooth from four short strokes and let them interlock with the next.
  3. 3 Gloss top coat, cure, then cuticle oil once it is out of the lamp.

Questions about Vanilla Cream Houndstooth

  • Is Vanilla Cream Houndstooth 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 Vanilla Cream Houndstooth?

    3 bottles: Vanilla Cream (sheer), Milk Bath (sheer) and Wheat (crème). Plus a base coat and a gloss top coat, which every design here assumes you already have.

  • Does Vanilla Cream Houndstooth 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 Vanilla Cream Houndstooth need?

    More than you would expect. Vanilla Cream and Milk Bath are 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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