Tutorial: Cut-Out Nails

What You Need

• two nail colors of your choice
• basecoat
• topcoat
• black nail polish
• acetone
• fine brush (you can buy on Amazon or in art supply stores)
• scrap of paper (to use as a palette)

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1
Step
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Apply basecoat. Chelsea used Julep Oxygen Nail treatment. “Since this is look involves negative space, this base coat is great because it has a tint to it. It makes bare nails just look better,” she says.
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2
Step
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Working carefully freehand, cover parts of the nail with color in geometric shapes, as seen here.

Go over your shapes with a second coat. If you don’t feel comfortable free-handing it, use regular tape to help section and give you straight edges. We used: Cult Nails Nail Lacquer in My Kind of Cool Aid and Kiss My Rose Bush.
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3
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Using a piece of paper as a palette, dab out some black nail polish. Dip the brush in acetone, which thins out polish so it’s easier to paint with. Use the black to create a solid outline around the negative, unpolished, shapes. We used: Cult Nails Nail Lacquer in Nevermore.
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4
Step
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Finish with a topcoat. Chelsea likes Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat. She says, “It’s really shiny and goes on well, although it can get a little thick toward the end of the bottle.”

By Jill Russell