Gradient Practice

I've expressed my love for glitter gradients before, and lit up Twitter with googly eyes over the Nailasaurus gradient tutorial, but my own non-glitter gradient technique hasn't quite found its rhythm yet. This week I practiced my gradients, and while it's still not perfect, I've made a little progress.

I started with a sparkly pink gradient that came out much better than I thought it would. I used two Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Champagne and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Rose Amore. Rose Amore is the perfect opacity and consistency for gradients, but Champagne wasn't a great match as far as texture, especially since it was an older bottle. The colors worked nicely together, though. Coming off of a massive fail on an ambitious attempt at the coveted nude/midnight blue gradient, the discovery that a dab of Champagne on the ends made a beautiful shifting gradient was a happy accident.




My second gradient didn't come out very well, even when I threw glitter at it- and I thought glitter could salvage anything. For this one I used two new colors (well, one new and one just new to me): Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Quick Sand and NYC In A Minute in Robin's Egg Blue. I've not been crazy about the In A Minute polishes I've tried because of the thin formula, but I figured this would make them fabulous for gradients, which was true. This one just didn't work out well, even with a sparkly ribbon of Julep Joelle to try to smooth out the look.

The last gradient is the one I was the happiest with. This round, I followed the Nailasaurus method faithfully. I gave Robin's Egg Blue another shot with a favorite, Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Lively Lilac. Robin's Egg Blue looked mint green in the store, and I still think it's too greenish for the name, but it's quite nice, which I couldn't tell so much in the other gradient. It is thin, so excuse my smudgy cleanup. I finished it out with a floral stamp (from plate to-12 at the link) using Julep Gayle, which stamps wonderfully.

I still need some practice before I can get the flawless gradients I crave, but we're off to a good start!