Deck The Nails With Pixie Dust

Deck The Nails With Pixie Dust.....Christmas Gradient!

For this manicure, I began with a base coat and a layer of Sephora X White Matter, a white polish, to create an opaque background for the gradient. Over that, I added one coat of the lightest color in this gradient, Zoya Tomoko. Next, I dropped some of Zoya Chita, Zoya Chyna, and Zoya Tomoko side by side onto a metal stamping plate. I then took a piece of cosmetic wedge sponge and dipped it into all three colors at once, and dabbed that to my nails where I wanted the gradient to be. I repeated this process, giving the layers time to dry in between dabbings, 2 or 3 times until I had the desired gradient effect.

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 30: Inspired By A Tutorial

The tutorial I have chosen as my inspiration is this Glitter Gradient Tutorial By Lucy's Stash

I began with a base coat and two coats of Nicka K Ripe Apple, and added China Glaze Twinkle Lights for the gradient. I covered that with one coat of Gelous gel top coat, and finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 10: Gradient

The 10th task in the 30 Mani Marathon is Gradient Nails.

To represent Gradient Nails, I began with a base coat and one coat of Zoya Purity (white). After the white had dried, I chose two holographic polishes, Literary Lacquers Laters Baby (grey) and Hits Ares (red), and dropped some of each color side by side onto a metal stamping plate. I then took a piece of cosmetic wedge sponge and dipped it into both colors at once, and dabbed that to my nails where I wanted the gradient to be. I repeated this process, giving the layers time to dry in between dabbings, about 4 or 5 times until I had the desired gradient effect. I sealed the manicure with a layer of top coat, and used q-tips dipped in polish remover to clean up around the cuticles.

Rainbows n' Glitter

Today's manicure is an alternating rainbow gradient design using Bondi New York polishes. 

The colors used are Horny Mistress, Chasing the Sun, Brick Road, Teal Magnolia, NYPD, and Uptown Girl.

I began with a base coat, and one coat of Zoya Purity (white). After letting that dry completely, I put small amounts of red, orange, and yellow polish side by side on the back of a metal stamping plate. Then I dipped a small piece of cosmetic wedge sponge into all 3 colors at once, and carefully dabbed that over the white polish on my pinky, middle, and thumbnails. I repeated this step until I reached desired opacity and gradient effect, then I did the same with the teal, blue, and purple polishes on the remaining nails. 

After giving the gradient time to dry, I topped it with 1 or 2 coats of China Glaze Snow Globe glitter polish, and a coat of Zoya Armor top coat.

Products Used:

One coat Zoya Anchor Base Coat

One coat Zoya Purity

Gradients of Bondi New York Horny Mistress, Chasing the Sun, Brick Road, Teal Magnolia, NYPD, Uptown Girl

1-2 coats China Glaze Snow Globe

One coat Zoya Armor Top Coat

Teal & Purple Leopard

Today's manicure is a mix of colorful gradients and leopard stamping. To begin, I applied one coat of Zoya Purity, a nice white polish. I like to begin colorful gradients with a white base, this gives the gradient polish something to *grab* on to, and makes the colors more vibrant. Taking a small piece of cosmetic wedge sponge, I then dabbed China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle diagonally across the nail, and Chine Glaze That's Shore Bright on either side, repeating this process until I reached the desired gradient effect. I then added a coat of Seche Vite top coat to seal the gradient. Adding top coat to a gradient also smooths and helps blend out the faded color effect.

To that, I used Bundle Monster stamping plate BM-221 and Konad special white stamping polish to create the leopard spots. I sealed the stamps with another later of Seche Vite.

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

One coat Zoya Purity

Diagonal Gradient of China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle & China Glaze That's Shore Bright

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

Bundle Monster Stamping plate BM-221

Konad White Special Stamping Polish

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

Diamond Studded

Today's manicure begins with a gradient of Sinful Shine My Kryptonite and Sinful Shine In The Limelight.

These are the steps I use to create a gradient. *Normally, I will paint one coat of the lightest color that the gradient will contain as a base color for the gradient polishes to grab on to (or a coat of white for a neon gradient). This time, however, I forgot to start with a base color, doh!, and just started with plain base coat.* Using the back of a metal stamping plate for a palette, I placed some Kryptonite and some In The Limelight next to each other. Taking a small piece of cosmetic wedge sponge (very lightly dampened with water and squeezed out), I dipped the sponge into both colors at once, and lightly dabbed it onto the nail keeping the lighter color toward the tips, and darker color toward the cuticle. Since I forgot the base color, the polishes didn't want to *grab*, and I had to repeat the dabbing 3 or 4 times for each nail (waiting a bit between dabs to let the polish dry) to reach desired opacity. I then added a layer of Seche Vite to smooth out the gradient.

Next, I used individual holographic glitter pieces from Sinful Colors Watch It Shine, stacked against each other to create a wavy pattern down the length of the nail.

For this step, I used the 'water marbling tool' from my Bundle Monster Nail Art Kit to fish the glitters from the bottle and place them in a stacked design. This was not as tedious as I had thought it would be, it took maybe 5 minutes to complete each hand. 

The diamond glitters have lots of pointy sharp edges, so it took 3 or 4 coats of Gelous gel top coat to smooth them out completely. When applying the Gelous, I kept it concentrated to the strip of glitter, rather than covering the entire nail with each coat. When they were fully smoothed over, I finished the manicure with a layer of Seche Vite top coat.

Below is a picture of the polish and materials used for this design, minus base and top coat.

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Gradient of Sinful Shine My Kryptonite and In The Limelight

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

Glitter accents from Sinful Colors Watch It Shine

Four coats Gelous Advanced Gel Top Coat (Concentrated to the strip of glitter)

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat