Lazy 15: Gradient

Hello out there! Happy Monday... just kidding. No such thing ;) Today I'm back on the challenge bandwagon!

Today is gradient nails. Now... let's be honest. I haven't gotten this technique down. I tried really hard... but for some reason, my gradients barely are showing up when I sponge them on. So I tried, I really did, but you couldn't even see the gradient on my white underwear. I need some more practice. Not to let you down, I did a gradient of dots in the same colors I'd chosen for the gradient originally (no, there's no picture, because it just looked like white nail polish with sponge-shaped dents in it).

I started with a base coat of Hits Hello Kitty Sweet, which is a perfect coral-orange creme. (I have 6 of these Hits and I love them all, so you'll see the swatches of these as I use them for underwear for manis throughout this challenge.) 

Because I can, here's a bottle shot to show how RIDICULOUSLY cute these are. I love Hello Kitty!

Then I added a gradient of yellow-purple dots using Barry M Lemon Ice Cream (yellow), Orly Frisky (blue), and Barry M Berry Ice Cream (purple).

Once I was done, I added matte top coat and this was the final result:

What do you think? I'm a bit disappointed I didn't do a "normal" gradient but... call it going outside the box! I loved it matte!




xoxo,
Amanda

More Christmas Nails...

Two days in a row?! I admit, I'm cheating: I wrote these two posts in a row. But STILL. Give me some credit for trying ;) This mani was intended for a party with my friends from school and we exchanged secret Santa. I liked this idea more in my mind and it looks sort of funny until step two... Also, please ignore my cuticles which are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo drrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I'm sorry.

Anyway, step one: Nubar Reclaim (green holo!) and OPI Log on to Love accent:

Check out this gorgeous linear holo... yummmy!

Then I did a gradient over the Nubar with China Glaze Snow Globe using my Orly Smudge Fixer (basically, drop a dollop of a glitter polish and then paint over it with the Smudge Fixer and voila! gradient). And thennnnn I added China Glaze Ring on the Red over the OPI (sheesh, that's a lot of brands!). Here's what I got:

As you can see, I'm obsessed with Snow Globe. I got a backup bottle from my nail secret Santa and I'm so relieved - I was hoarding my bottle (seen here) and refusing to use it as often as I'd like. Now I will be using this wellllll into the summer, probably year round, calling it Sand Globe or Snow Cone or something so that I can justify it...

xoxo,
Amanda