The Great Gatsby inspired Art Deco nails tutorial

Everyone loves the Roaring Twenties. Prohibition was in full force, secret speakeasies taunted the authorities' tee-total ambitions, and women were asserting their power by abandoning restrictive fashion in place of shorter hemlines and flapper dresses. All in all, society was changing. It was all about relaxing, having fun and prosperity.

With the long-awaited Great Gatsby movie reviving that era of glamour, feathers, and clandestine dealings, these nails will help get you straight into the swinging spirit of the decade. So grab yourself some bathtub gin, pour it into your finest china tea cup, and try this tutorial out.

You'll need:

Models Own Gold Digger varnish

Models Own Sterling Silver Champagne varnish

Models Own Black Magic varnish
Scotch Magic Tape

Scissors

Base Coat

Top Coat

Clean up brush

Start by preparing some narrow strips (a variety of widths up to about 5mm), and some triangular wedges of tape using a sharp pair of scissors. Rest the strips on the edge of a clean object so they can be easily picked up later. Also, cut up a few big pieces of tape. These will protect your fingers from getting polish on them.

Apply a base coat.

 Apply a coat of gold nail polish to each nail.

Put the large pieces of tape around the edges of the nail on the ring finger to cover the surrounding skin.

Brush your silver nail polish on one end of a flat cosmetics sponge, and gold nail polish on the other end, making the colours meet in the middle as shown. 

Starting at the bottom, roll the sponge on to the nail to create a colour gradient of silver into gold at the tip. Leave to dry.

Arrange the strips and triangles of tape in your chosen pattern on all of the nails. We've chosen to create a striking triangular effect along the length of the nail. Make sure they're smooth and in full contact, but don't push on too hard. Use tweezers if you find it too fiddly with your fingers.

Apply a layer of black nail polish to each nail one at a time, removing the tape from each as you go, using tweezers. Have a tissue handy to put the used pieces of tape on to.

Once dry, apply a top coat to each nail. If necessary, you can dip a small make-up brush into acetone and use this to clean up around the nail to create clean smooth lines.

Admire the finished look!

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