Tropical Gradient

I couldn't wait to do my nails any longer. I am also really in the mood to blog, so I couldn't even put this post off any longer (I did it yesterday)! Haha!

I started out with a coat of Essie Protein Base Coat. I then applied two coats of Sally Hansen Hard to Get, a white polish. After that was dry, I applied a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly so the stippling motion of the sponge wouldn't pick up my base color. I then took a makeup sponge and painted on five different colors. I overlapped each one slightly so they would blend into each other. I had to reapply the polish to the sponge multiple times. Starting at the cuticle, the colors I used were Revlon Dreamer, Essie Borrowed & Blue, Avon Sunshine, NYC Spring Street, and Rimmel Stiletto Red.

I stippled on the color until I was happy with how vibrant it was. I then applied a coat of Sally Hansen Diamonds, a very fine, iridescent glitter, over top so I could have a subtle sparkly effect. (I LOVE this polish! It isn't even hard to get off because the glitter is so fine!) After sponging, I didn't wait very long to apply it because if it smudged the manicure, it would just blend the gradient together even more. I then took a while to clean up my fingers with a Q-tip dipped in acetone and then a nail art brush dipped in acetone to clean up closer to my nails. Then I applied two coats of Dries Instantly. I cut off the painted end of the makeup sponge with a large pair of scissors so I can get many uses out of the same sponge.

Candy Corn & Black+White

I decided to do my nails very festively today:

I will start with the black and white nails.  My inspiration for these is black and white movies.  I know, they don't look like movies...but they are black, white, and grey.  ; )  I guess it sort of looks like static.  I used Essie Chinchilly as my base color and put a coat of Claire's splatter effect glitter on top.  I then applied a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

For the candy corn nails I first painted on two coats of Avon Sunshine (the yellow) by my cuticles.  I didn't even bother painting that to the tips of my nails because I was going to cover them with other colors.  When the yellow was dry I took a small nail art brush and painted on the orange stripe in the center with NYC Spring Street.  I then used the same nail art brush and painted on the white tips with Sally Hansen Hard to Get.  Then, when that was all dry, I applied two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

I cleaned up the small bit of polish that got on my skin with a nail art brush dipped in pure acetone.