The Understated Ombré Nail Trend You’ll Want To Wear All Winter

Pulling off the tiny nail-art look at home is inherently daunting — no matter how much you want trendy itsy-bitsy silver stars on your fingers, you know the safest bet is to buy a pack of stickers, shell out $20 for a manicure, or risk losing your mind trying to paint them on yourself.

Luckily, the next new trend to take off this winter is the antithesis of pain-in-the-ass nail art: Faded ombré is soft, sophisticated, and the perfect DIY project to recreate as you binge watch The Ted Bundy Tapes this weekend when it's too cold to go outside. As nail artist Julie Kandalec tells us, the first step to mastering the faded ombré effect is swiping on your base colour — then, you're almost halfway there.

You can get creative with the number of colours and the directionality of your ombré; lighter near your cuticle with a darker shade towards the tip, or vice versa. The fun part is adding your secondary shade with a makeup sponge (like that unsalvageable BeautyBlender you've been meaning to toss), which sheers the colour and makes the tonal transition super-soft.

"First, dip your makeup sponge in acetone to dilute the polish," Kandalec says. "Then paint nail polish over the surface of the sponge and dab the colour right over your base polish, almost like a stamp." And there you have it: two-toned ombré colour, and winter's trendiest nail art for zero dollars. Now that you know how easy it is, we've rounded up the chicest examples of the trend on Instagram for your colour inspiration, from neutral tones to glitter-dripping tips. Ahead, the ombré nail-art looks sure to inspire your lazy Sunday DIY project.