hand with beige and gold laurel leaf nail art for wedding manicure

Looking for a mani idea for the big day? Leaf nail art complements lacy bridal looks perfectly! For starters, the boho gold laurel leaves design mirrors the romantic patterns often found in lace. The gold leaves stand out against the soft beige base color and sparkle just like jewelry, or more specifically, your wedding day rings.

hand with leaf nail art design for fall wedding
Featured: Want You More Gold Rhinestone Ring

For the bride who loves lace or floral/botanical themes, these laurel leaf nails are the perfect combination of rustic romance and boho glam. Scroll on to get the full nail art tutorial!

Leaf Nails Design

hand with beige and gold laurel leaf nails design

Supplies:

  • Beige or cream nail polish (I used OPI Tiramisu for Two)
  • Gold mirror-effect nail polish (or any “chrome” effect nail polish in a gold shade
  • Thin nail art brush

Instructions:

Step 1: Paint clean, filed nails with one coat of your desired beige shade, like OPI’s Tiramisu for Two.
Step 2: Let the nails dry for five minutes, then paint another coat. If the color is still not opaque, paint a third, very thin coat. Allow 10 minutes for the base color to dry completely.
Step 3: Using a thin nail art brush, paint a vertical line on one side of your index nail, in a curve. This will create the center stalk of the laurel. Add leaves on both sides of the center line by turning the brush on its side and letting it form a leaf shape when pressed down. Pull the brush outward to create the point at the end of the leaf.
Step 4: Connect the leaves to the main stalk by painting a thin connecting line, to create a laurel branch design as shown in the photo. Repeat this technique to paint laurels on each nail, so that an overall wallpaper-esque pattern forms. (I painted one and a half laurel stalks on each nail.)
Step 5: To finish, let your laurels dry for a few minutes, then use a matte top coat and seal your leaf nail art design!

Did you try this laurel leaf nail art? Show us your rustic romantic nails on Instagram @Lulus using #lovelulus–and check out our Bridal shop for all things wedding-related!

Cassandre Banel is a Seattle-based nail artist.