Tutorial: Gradient Nails

Whenever I wear this style of nail, I always have people saying "how do you do that?!", so I figured I would show you all! I originally saw this technique in Amarixe's video. It's actually pretty easy and can be done with 2 or more colours. I find that 2 colours works fine for me. You may want to put some tape around the edges of your nails to make clean up easier as this can get quite messy!

I start with getting all my equipment ready, you will need a triangular make-up sponge, which can be found in any drugstore, a pair of scissors and your nail polish colours. I'm using Essie - Rock the Boat and Full Steam Ahead.

Cut the sponge to a size that will fit your biggest nail.

Barry M - Matt White

Start by painting your nails white, or the lightest colour if you have more than 2 colours. (optional)

Paint stripes of the polish on to the sponge, be sure not to use too much polish or it will just pull the bottom layer up.

Line the sponge up with the side of your nail and roll across. Dab around the nail and slightly up and down to create the blended gradient. Repeat until you are happy with the opacity. It took me about 4 coats.

After clean up:

Hope you like this nail look! I'd love to see your attempts! 

What else would you like to see?

Essie - Rock the Boat

Essie's Summer 2013 range has hit the shops in recent months and as soon as I saw the “Naughty Nautical” collection, I knew I wanted every single colour! I held off and so far only have my 3 absolute favourites, which I'm quite proud of! All the colour's in this collection have a hint of shimmer which makes for a lovely addition to the formula and doesn't make it difficult to remove, as so many glitter/shimmer polishes do (and which I was slightly apprehensive about when I saw them!).

 £7.99 from Boots

Rock the Boat is described as being light blue with a hint of periwinkle, and as periwinkle is one of my favourite colours I knew this was the one I had to review first!

The shimmer is subtle, however is still visible.

This nail lacquer is quite sheer and takes about 3 coats to reach full opacity. However, as you can see, once on the nail the colour is beautiful and whenever I wear it I get complimented! I found the formula to be easy to apply and wasn't messy or sticky. The first coat can seem a bit uneven but after putting a second on this evened out and I only added a third for complete opacity. After wearing this lacquer for 4 days I found that the colour had lasted extremely well, which is to be expected from Essie polishes and there were no chips (aside from general wear and tear!).

 I LOVE this lacquer and would recommend going and getting this before the shops take them off the shelves!!