Pages

Thursday, 18 April 2013

Tri Polish Challenge 2 - Gradient + Dots

Hi Goddesses



Today is Day 2 of this month's Tri Polish Challenge, where the colours are pink, orange and turquoise.  Today I'm wearing just 2 of those polishes, together with white as my base.




My mani is a variation of some nail art I've had pinned for the longest time.   It's such an utterly simple design, and whilst I didn't copy this exactly (with ever decreasing dots), it was my inspiration.




I learnt something too doing this mani.  My turquoise is China Glaze Towel Boy Toy.  It's fabulously shimmery ... and therefore quite sheer.  So, epiphany of the year - if you want to practice / start gradienting, a semi-sheer polish makes it SO much easier.  It lands on the nail much more softly, and so it's much harder to create that block / hard line of colour that is so common to early gradienting attempts.




This gradient was achieved with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and then TBT on top (only TBT on the sponge).  Because it's so sheer, it does half the job of the gradient for you - you just have to make sure that each time you add more sponging to your mani (I did 3 layers), you start nearer the free edge than last time.   Seriously, if you're itching to try a gradient, this is the most effortless one I've ever done.




I then dotted with Purple Panic which is my pink, using both ends of my dotting tool.  PP is a neon, and what I found really amusing is how on camera (but NOT to the naked eye), the pink took on a purple tinge at the edges of each dot, and in some lights.




All in all, I LOVED this nail art.  The possibilities are endless, and I'm sure I'll be creating some super easy summer looks in this same style.


Enjoy xx :)