Are velvet nails the next big nail trend? Velvet nails are less about the texture of the nail, but rather the sparkle and shimmer of the polish. We love this trend for the holidays as adding some glitz and glam on nails is a perfect way to get into the holiday spirit! In this blog, we are going to be going through what velvet nails are, as well as how you can create them at home.

What Are Velvet Nails?

Velvet Nails have been swarming social media as of late. This sparkly manicure trend is traditionally done with a special nail polish and a magnet to move the glitter around in the polish. If this sounds intimidating, have no fear! We have curated a few velvet nail inspired mani’s for you to recreate this season.

DIY Velvet Inspired Nails

First up, we have a festive red manicure done with our Knees Up Patent Shine 10X Nail Lacquer. This metallic red hue gives a shimmery effect, which can be exaggerated with more coats of the nail lacquer. We recommend applying two to three coats of Knees Up to mimic the shimmery velvet nail trend without having to use a magnet. Be sure to set it with our bestselling Hardwear Shine UV Top Coat to ensure that your velvet nails are protected with a brilliant high shine.

Velvet French Tips

We love the idea of combining two different nail trends, velvet nails and DIY nail art, together! For this manicure, you will need a base coat, a shimmery “velvet” colour, and a top coat.

Step 1: Begin with a base coat of one of our Nail Foundation Priming Basecoats in the shade closest to your skin tone. Apply one to two coats to help strengthen nails while providing a smooth base for your mani.

Step 2: Using Royal Emerald Patent Shine 10X Nail Lacquer, a deep metallic green, carefully apply the shimmery hue to only the tips of nails. Apply two to three coats of Royal Emerald to get the maximum shimmer effect.

Step 3: To lock this velvet French tip manicure in, apply our Hardwear Shine UV Topcoat to help your manicure last longer with a nail-salon shine.

Velvet Ombre

Up next, we have a unique velvet ombre mani! This manicure is fun for holidays and can be done with any mixture of colors. For our tutorial, we will be using red and green for a festive look. You will need a beauty sponge for optimal results, or you may use a tissue.

Step 1: Apply two coats of Knees Up Patent Shine 10X Nail Lacquer to all nails. Let it dry partially where it is not wet, but not fully dry.

Step 2: Using shade Royal Emerald Patent Shine 10X Nail Lacquer, apply the metallic green to the top half of the nails. Make sure the polish stops halfway across the nail. Let it dry partially where it is not wet, but not fully dry.

Step 3: Next, we are going to use a beauty sponge as pictured above (or a tissue) to blend these two colours together. Gently dab the makeup sponge onto the nails until the colours are blended together.

Step 4: To finish the look, apply a coat of our bestselling Hardwear Shine UV Topcoat to help your ombre mani last longer.

Reverse French Mani

For our final velvet manicure look, we have a reverse French manicure. This velvet look consists of leaving a semi-circle at the bottom of the nail. For this tutorial, we will be using a Champagne hue to give a chrome-like effect.

Step 1: To begin, using shade Champagne Princess Patent Shine 10X Nail Lacquer, apply two to three coats of nail polish on all nails. Be sure to avoid putting polish on the bottom semi-circle of the nail, as seen in the photo above.

Step 2: If you accidently applied polish on the bottom of the nail, use a Nail Scrubber to gently carve out the half-moon shape at the base of the nail.

Step 3: Complete the look with a coat of Hardwear Shine UV Topcoat to help prevent any chips in the nail lacquer.

If you try out any of these velvet nail art looks, be sure to tag us @butterlondon for a chance to be featured on our social media! To shop more metallic nail colours to create your own velvet inspired manicure, head over to butterlondon.com.