Tortoiseshell Nails

Good morning! Today's nail art started as a random desire to do tortiseshell nails. I definitely did not have the proper polish "pieces" to make it happen though, so I started asking around to see if anyone could help me locate a brown jelly. I got a few thoughtful suggestions, but none of them were perfect for what I had in mind.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks later, when I got a message from the lovely Lulu from Elevation Polish and I Dig Brown Nail Polish (how apropos!). She told me she had been playing around with some pigments and had created a brown jelly if I was still looking for one. I told her I absolutely was and I would love to try it out.

Little did I know that she would send me three amazing brown jellies in different shades, and that all three shades would be perfect in crafting my tortoiseshell manicure! The formula was fantastic on all of them and they applied beautifully.

The jelly element is key in creating this look because it gives you the semi-clear almost-plasticy look that, say, tortoiseshell glasses would have. It also allows you to build different layers of depth that show through in different amounts.

I made these nails by starting with a base layer of the caramel jelly. I then added some splotches of the brick-colored jelly, and put some of the dark brown jelly inside of those splotches. I took a nail art brush and added sections of the caramel color overlapping some of what I had done, and then added more of the brick & dark brown splotches. This layering method helped to create a good amount of depth. The final step was a healthy layer of topcoat, to finish the shiny plastic look.

Because this was made with jellies, it looks awesome and lights up when in direct light/sunlight...

Unfortunately these shades are not being produced as part of the Elevation Polish line, but Lulu has plenty of other pretties to check out! If you want to do this look yourself, you could try making your own jellies by mixing different brown polishes with clear.

Thanks for reading!

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brown, elevation polish, freehand, jelly, nail art, tortoiseshell