Paint old school tattoo letter font nails with this easy tutorial

If you appreciate font styles or just have an affinity for tattoo letters, then incorporating them into a manicure is a fun way to show off your painting skills. The old school tattoo font has a very distinct shape, but the color variations are as personal as individuals themselves.

To create letters in this style, sketch out the basic letter shape, then make the left side of the design twice as thick. All the letters are squared off on the top and bottom, and each one has a horizontal line dividing the thick side in half.

When picking colors for this manicure, feel free to use your imagination. The tutorial uses white, red and black, but you can mix and match colors to achieve a truly unique effect.

Materials
- White gel polish (Mission Control, Fizz)
- UV or LED lamp (not shown)
- Fine detail brush
- Black gel paint (Mission Control, Over Drive)
- Acetone (not shown)
- Paper towels (not shown)
- Red gel paint (Mission Control, Power Up)

Instructions
1. Paint the nails with two coats of white gel polish, curing it in between coats with the UV or LED lamp.

2. Use the fine detail brush and black gel paint to sketch out the outline of each letter. Start by painting the letter “L” on the pointer finger, then paint an “O,” “V” and “E” on the other nails to spell out “LOVE.” Cure the wet paint with the lamp. Tip: Paint the basic letter shape first, then add the additional line to the left of each letter to create the large block portion of the font.

3. Clean the detail brush with acetone, then wipe it on a paper towel before applying the next color.

4. Fill in the lower left block of each letter with red gel paint, then cure it with the lamp.

5. Clean the brush once more as in step three, then use the black gel paint to fill in the upper left block of each letter. Darken the overall outline if needed, then cure the paint with the lamp.

Enjoy this fun look! Stay pretty!