Ahhh, raise your hand if you knew I was going to add to the dots. I didn't even wait 10 minutes before hitting post before getting my polishes out. Yea, I have no self-control.
Still, I think it turned out pretty cute. I showed my husband the before and after pics, and he likes the dots-in-dots best. He thinks there's more energy to them. Personally, I think they're just more fun this way!
Adding the smaller dots was really easy. I pulled out the three colors I'd used in the gradient along with the mid-sized dotting tool and my palette. I added a drop of lavender, put a few dots here and there, then repeated with the pink and the blue. Once I'd done all three colors, I went back and filled in any leftover dots with whatever color I thought would work best.
It was pretty random, and went really quickly. I'm enjoying the look a lot... every time I see my nails, I grin. The only thing that would make this even better would be some glitter, but even I think that would be a bit much. At least... for now. ;)
I have to admit, though... now that I've figured out an easy way to do gradients I may be doing LOTS of them! I have so many ideas bouncing around in my mind!
So what do you think? Is this a design you'd wear? Leave me a comment and tell me how you'd style this, or how you'd change it!
Why yes, I think I AM losing my mind... how kind of you to notice!
Ever have a day when you see something that totally changes how you look at something? Yea, that was me last night. I was browsing nail stuff online (as I so often do) and came across people doing a sponged gradient in a totally different way. (See here and here for examples.) It looked much easier than the tutorial I just wrote, and it looked just as good (if not better)! I had to try it out!
And that's it! You cut a piece of sponge the size of your nail (or just paint an area the size of your nail), paint stripes of the colors you're using onto your sponge, then pat-pat-pat the sponge over your nail all at once. The gradient basically forms itself, and you're left with a very messy gradient that goes all over your fingers!
I sent a link to my friend, needing to share my excitement over this find. She didn't believe that it could look so smooth and pretty. Then she did it- she challenged me to prove to her it could look that smooth and soft. What could I do?
I pulled out my China Glaze Electropop collection and started painting. I only did one nail, as a proof of concept, and WOW was it messy. There's really no way to avoid getting the polish everywhere unless you tape off your fingers like you would do for a water marble. I'll have to try that next time...
Still, the one nail I did turned out beautiful. This wasn't enough for her... she didn't think it looked smooth enough, so I added a layer of topcoat over everything to meld it together.
Even though I know how much topcoat can pull a manicure together, I was still blown away at just how smooth this gradient was! It was so easy, and so pretty. That's one stamped coat of rainbow goodness on my index finger there, and it's absolutely gorgeous.
She was pretty gobsmacked too. She couldn't believe how fast and easy it was to get a gradient look like this. She's definitely looking at her ombre nails kit differently now.
So of course, I needed to do a full manicure like this, but I was too lazy to deal with 5 colors like I had in my test run. I ended up sticking with three pastel shades- I'm fairly sure I used Dance Baby, Sweet Hook, and Kinetic Candy.
As you can see, it worked beautifully. The stripes on the sponge really didn't look all that soft and gradienty, but on the nail? Gorgeous pastel softness. I'm just blown away at how smooth the transition is!
Cleanup was an utter nightmare, much like trying to clean up a water marble is. I used cotton swabs, brushes and acetone, and still had a horrible mess to clean up. Still... it's SO worth it!
I can just see doing all my nails in rainbows. You could also do angled gradients or vertical gradients, based on how you apply the colors on the sponge. I really am in love with this look!
Although now I'm thinking it would be fun with a pattern over it- I'm thinking zebra stripes, or maybe leopard print. My husband laughed when he saw it and said my nails look like easter eggs.
So, what do you think of this look? Would you wear it? Would you change it? Would you put a print over the top of it? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it...
You know, I wrote about the Dr.'s Remedy Summer 2011 collection a few days back, but the press release photos just did NOT do these beauties justice! Once I got these in my hands, I couldn't wait to put them on immediately!
Unfortunately, the metallic colors didn't fare so well over the deep color I had on already, so I had to take it all off and start over. Awww, shucks, such a shame... more time playing with my polish! *wink* Don't worry, I ended up with lovely shots of all the colors, and I'll share them all with you after the jump!
Click this photo to see a close-up view of
the loose, painterly quality of the print.
Another update for animal print week! (Also, animal print week may carry over to next week, since I seem to be failing at updating daily!) Today's how-to is a somewhat painterly approach to a zebra print.
Instead of making a zebra print with very crisp lines, I wanted something a bit more loose and zebra-inspired. Because of this, I didn't even bother to look at any photos of actual zebra print. Instead (since I've painted zebra print quite a few times) I just started in painting.
Exact polish colors and brands aren't really important here. Instead, pick out three or four shades that you think will go well. I went with a bright almost-neon warm red-violet, a cool lavender, a very pale grey and white. These colors are similar enough to work together, and yet different enough to really stand out. The cool lavender really pops against the warm background.
I began with my standard base coat (Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator), then 2 coats of the red-violet background color. Once this was grey, I loosely painted in the base stripes. I then added the lavender bottom lines on, then the white at the tops of the stripes. A quick coat of Seche Vite then leveled the art out, making everything seem pulled together.
Click this image to see it full-size!
Tell me- do you prefer a sharp, crisp zebra print or do you like my looser, zebra-inspired print? Let me know in the comments!
Til next time!
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