Rainbow Nails and my gradient technique!

Today’s nails were inspired by my inner child!  When I was a little girl (back in the 80’s) I just loved rainbows!  Rainbow stickers, rainbow spiral notebooks, rainbow earrings… pretty much anything that had a rainbow on it caught my attention.  Too bad it took me 30+ years to discover this rainbow gradient technique!  Well, this mani is dedicated to you, little Jacqui from the 80’s!  I know you would’ve loved these nails. 🙂

My first attempts at gradients were total fails- until I came up with this very effective way of using makeup sponges.  Here’s a pic of how I use my sponge for a gradient:

I start out with a standard cosmetic application wedge and use sharp scissors to cut it into 4 or 5 long skinny pieces.  I take one of the pieces, fold it in half, and dab it into a drop of nail polish on my work surface.  Then I sponge it onto my nail to create the gradient effect.  I think these folded over sponge strips work well since their surface is slightly curved, yet small-so you can dab, dab, dab away to get the paint just where you want it.  I use a different sliver of sponge for each color.  The small surface area of the sponge worked great to get the skinny lines of color for today’s rainbow gradient… but it also works well for a larger-scale gradient (like this leopard design where I only sponged on one color).  I think this technique is less messy and it’s fool-proof!!  I haven’t screwed up one gradient yet since I started doing it this way !

WHITE BASE ♥ one coat of Sally Hansen Teflon Tuff in French White Tip

RED ♥ Zoya Carmen

ORANGE ♥ AVON Orange Creamsicle

YELLOW ♥ AVON Inspire

AQUA ♥ Wet n wild I Need a Refresh-mint

PURPLE ♥ Nicole by OPI I’m a Belieber

This mani makes me happy on this beautiful friday!!

Do you love rainbows as much as me??

Yellow Sponged Tape Mani

Day 3 of the Nail Challenge is today… and the theme is yellow.  I had to brainstorm a lot for this design, mostly because the majority of my yellow polishes suck!!  They are not very opaque and do not work well for nail art.  Why does yellow always have to be like that??

I decided on a white base coat of NYC Nail Enamel in French White Tip.  Then I taped some random criss crosses onto my nails using striping tape.  Then I sponged some different shades of yellow on top using little pieces of a cut-up makeup sponge.  I like cutting my makeup sponges into much smaller pieces because it’s less messy and easier to apply that way.  After I peeled the tape off I was left with this cool white and yellow cross hatch design.

I was inspired to do this mani by viewing this: Wacky Laki- Striping Tape and Gradient.   If you are into tutorials then you will love this page of hers… it’s chock-full of pretty stuff!

Here’s the yellow polishes I used:

China Glaze ♥ Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Wet n wild ♥ The Wonder Yellows

Sally Hansen ♥ Mellow Yellow

Nicole by OPI ♥ My Favorite Gold

View the other participants designs here! 

purple dream giveaway entry

I’m entering a polish giveaway that Luchessa is offering!  Her blog post entitled New Purple Dream Giveaway explains it all.  Basically to enter the contest I must post a purple nail design … and on Jan 21st the random winner will be announced.  Thank you to Luchessa for the chance to win!  Here’s the purple design I came up with….

I enjoyed using all purple polishes!  Who doesn’t love purple?  In real life this mani sorta has a 70’s free-love hippie feel.  Here’s the colors I used along with a makeup sponge and a dotting tool:

♥ OPI- Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI? as the base

♥ Sephora by OPI- It’s Hippo To Be Square for the sponged area

♥ Wet n Wild Megalast- Through the Grapevine as the flower petals

♥ Sephora by OPI- I Don’t Bite as the center of the flower

Good luck to all the other entrants!