How to create rainbow ombré nails

When it comes to fashionable hair, clothing, and nails, the ombré trend shows no sign of slowing down. Hairstyles reflect this light-to-dark trend, and ombré nails in a single shade range, like lavender to deep violet, have made creative types more and more interested by pushing the trend outside the box.

The rainbow ombré nail design looks complicated, but it’s really just a combination of two different shades blurring together in the middle to create a third color. This tutorial uses every shade in the rainbow, so if a bright trendy manicure is your goal, then get ready to have some fun.

Unlike most multicolored manicures, the nails aren’t cured in between polish additions. By leaving the two shades wet, they’re easier to blend together in the middle, which creates the ombré shade. Check out the tutorial to see it in action.

Materials
- White gel nail polish
- UV or LED lamp (not shown)
- Red gel nail polish
- Flat nail art brush
- Orange gel nail polish
- Yellow gel nail polish
- Green gel nail polish
- Blue gel nail polish
- Purple gel nail polish

Instructions
1. Apply two coats of white gel nail polish to the nails, then cure them with a UV or LED lamp. This base coat acts like a primer and makes the individual colors more vibrant.

2. On the thumbnail, paint a vertical stripe of red gel polish along one side of the nail from the cuticle to the tip using the flat nail art brush. Tip: Clean the brush off before switching colors.

3. Apply orange gel polish to the other side of the same nail. Clean the brush once more.

4. Use the flat nail art brush to gently blend the two colors in the middle by sweeping the brush from the cuticle to the tip. Cure the nails with the lamp.

5. Apply a very thin coat of yellow gel polish to the pointer fingernail. Add a bit more polish to the left half, then paint the right half orange. Clean the brush, then drag it along the middle to blend and blur the two colors. Cure with the lamp.

6. Repeat step five on the middle fingernail, but use yellow gel paint first, and then apply the green paint to create a different ombré blend. Cure with the lamp.

7. Repeat the two-color process by applying green and blue nail paint on the next nail, then paint the last nail blue and purple. Cure with the lamp.