Let’s skip the boring intros and whip to the FUN!
If you’ve been eyeing painterly nail art techniques, (the kind with actual brushstrokes, sculpted depth, and drama you can feel under your fingertip), you’re gonna want to know how to use OILWHIP gel properly.
This is not your average art gel. It was made for artists who treat the nail like a canvas and aren't afraid to leave a little texture behind.
The Texture That Changes Everything
Sure, miss OILWHIP is thicccc and dimensional. But she’s also whipped. Like mousse. Like frosting. Like your brush dreams in 3D.
Where traditional art gels smooth out or level away your detail, OILWHIP holds every stroke and swirl. Its sculptural gel paint consistency means you can actually layer texture without the fear of it melting away mid-cure.
Peaks... petals... palette knife ridges, oh my!
It's matte. It's blendable. And it dries with zero stick, so what you sculpt is what you keep. No topcoat needed. Unless you want it.
Build Your OILWHIP Toolkit
Before you dive into a full-blown nail art texture tutorial, grab the right tools.
Brushes:
- Filbert Brush → Ideal for painterly petals, frosting-like sculpting, and curved strokes
- Flat Brush → For smooth pull-throughs and bold blends
- Detail Liner → Your go-to for sketch lines, outlines, and definition
Mixing Tools:
- A painter’s palette or glass tile
- Spatula or palette knife (metal or silicone)
- Silicone tools for controlled sculpting
F(VEX) Tools to Try:
5 Painterly Techniques to Try
Stroke + Sculpt
Use a filbert brush to push and pull the gel into dimensional movement. This works beautifully for petal designs, frosting textures, and anything that calls for volume.
Stipple + Swirl
Tap the gel with a flat or round brush to create cloud-like blends, soft abstraction, or blooming gradient edges. Swirl two colors for a dreamy marbled effect.
Blend on the Nail
No palette? No problem. Use the nail itself as your mixing surface. Lay down a base shade, then blend in your accent color while the gel is still uncured.
Best collections: Pastel and Sunbleach for soft fades, blush effects, and painterly ombrés.
Mix Like a Painter
Use your palette to custom blend colors before applying. Think: adding Titanium White to soften brights, or Burnt Umber and Graphite Gray to create moody neutrals. OILWHIP was made to be mixed.
Dry Brush Detailing
Use a nearly dry brush to drag pigment across cured layers for whispery textures or subtle surface effects. This adds that gritty, painterly edge, like sketch lines or texture on a weathered canvas.
Cure with Confidence
No flash-cure panic here. OILWHIP holds its shape and dimension, even as you layer. When you're ready:
- Cure for 60 seconds (LED)
- No wipe
- No topcoat needed (unless you’re feelin’ glossy)
Your strokes stay put. Your matte stays matte.
Nail Art Is an Art Form… Treat It Like One
You’re not decorating. You’re creating. Experimenting. Get weird, get wacky, unleash your inner Van Gogh.
Pigment is pigment. Whether it's on canvas, a wall, or an almond nail tip. Your work deserves tools that respect the process. OILWHIP is for the ones who want their nail art to actually feel like art.
More Ways to Explore OILWHIP
- Meet the full OILWHIP collection breakdown color by color
- Shop all of our OILWHIP Gel collections
- Learn how and why we created OILWHIP, the first of its kind
Let Your Nails Be Your Sketchbook
No rules. No perfection. Just pigment and instinct.
Tag us @functionofvex with your painterly nail sets. We wanna see the textures, the blends, the glorious mess. OILWHIP is what you make it, so make it wild.
