Polishes & Tools
Basecoat: Maybelline Express Finish 40Sec (£1 - Poundland)
Base layer colour & stramp: Sinful Colours - Snow Me White #101
Gradient colours: All from George at ASDA £1.99ea
Pale - No.69 Smarty Pants
Mid - No.9 Cloudless Sky
Dark - No.71 Boom
Top Coat: Seche Vite
Plate: Konad M83 (Amazon - £1.60)
Other tools: Allura foundation sponges (£1/bag Poundland)
Method
Paint one layer of base, followed by one layer of white.
Paint three lines of your chosen colour in order onto the foundation sponge as you can see in the photograph. Let it settle for a few seconds and gently dab it onto another sponge to remove any blobby excess. Dab the sponge onto the nail *gently* on-off-on-off with the light colour at the cuticle and the dark to the top. Adjust the placement of dabbing slightly further up the nail to improve the gradient, however, you will see where it needs altering and be able to adjust accordingly. Don't worry how messy you get, it all gets cleaned up in the end!
If it starts to pull the first coat of white underneath off, *don't panic*. The idea is to build a couple of layers of this so just move onto the next nail and let it dry. If the foundation sponge begins to break or stick bits to the nail, the varnish on it has become *too dry* and tacky, yet when it is 'too wet' it risks smudging the layers under it so getting used to the dabbing technique takes some practice. If moistening the sponge with varnish doesn't solve this then it may be that the foundation sponges are of the wrong quality to use for this. I had a batch ages ago which were horrible, but these Allura ones have been just fine.
Once you've done the base gradient repeat the process again until you are satisfied with the outcome. Remember the layers you are building are very thin and so you can afford to do 3-4 if needed.
(I have an alternative guide to gradients on my blog here: http://www.nailingtons.com/2013/04/how-to-guide-gradients.html. I assure you it's not a drive for user traffic, just possibly a more in-depth guide if needed.)
Let everything dry! When you have your gradient don't worry if it looks a bit blotchy. Take your *base coat* or clear varnish and paint a layer from cuticle to tip, quite slowly so that it gently smudges the varnish layers up, improving the transition of the gradient.
Let it dry. When I'm waiting for a nail set to dry I tend to see that as *'primary clean-up time'*. So, take a cotton wool bud with high-strength acetone remover or pure acetone and sweep round the edges. For even sharper cleaning, a small, flat square or angled nail art brush (99p set on eBay) can be used to clean around the cuticle area.
Once that's all dry, then fish out the Konad plate (M83). I painted on the Sinful Colours #101, quickly scraped, gently pressed down on the plate with the stamper then rolled it over my finger from right to left or top to bottom.
Waited for that to 'set' before applying a thick layer of Seche Vite top coat. Clean round the edges with the nail brush again and voila!
Hope this may have been of help to someone :)
Best wishes,
Sophie
~Nailingtons
(Sorry for typos - hope it makes sense, its late and ..zzzz :))
#nails #notd #nailart #nailpolish #nails2inspire #thenailartstory #craftyfingers #nailbling #lovemanicure #instafashion #amazing_pretty #prettynails #nailartwow #diynailart #naillove #nailitmag #nailartobsessed #nailaddict #ignails #nailswag #nailjunkie #nailbling #weloveyournailart #nailpromote #iinailsart #xmasnails #christmasnails #christmasnailart #nailarttutorial
Paint three lines of your chosen colour in order onto the foundation sponge as you can see in the photograph. Let it settle for a few seconds and gently dab it onto another sponge to remove any blobby excess. Dab the sponge onto the nail *gently* on-off-on-off with the light colour at the cuticle and the dark to the top. Adjust the placement of dabbing slightly further up the nail to improve the gradient, however, you will see where it needs altering and be able to adjust accordingly. Don't worry how messy you get, it all gets cleaned up in the end!
If it starts to pull the first coat of white underneath off, *don't panic*. The idea is to build a couple of layers of this so just move onto the next nail and let it dry. If the foundation sponge begins to break or stick bits to the nail, the varnish on it has become *too dry* and tacky, yet when it is 'too wet' it risks smudging the layers under it so getting used to the dabbing technique takes some practice. If moistening the sponge with varnish doesn't solve this then it may be that the foundation sponges are of the wrong quality to use for this. I had a batch ages ago which were horrible, but these Allura ones have been just fine.
Once you've done the base gradient repeat the process again until you are satisfied with the outcome. Remember the layers you are building are very thin and so you can afford to do 3-4 if needed.
(I have an alternative guide to gradients on my blog here: http://www.nailingtons.com/2013/04/how-to-guide-gradients.html. I assure you it's not a drive for user traffic, just possibly a more in-depth guide if needed.)
Let everything dry! When you have your gradient don't worry if it looks a bit blotchy. Take your *base coat* or clear varnish and paint a layer from cuticle to tip, quite slowly so that it gently smudges the varnish layers up, improving the transition of the gradient.
Let it dry. When I'm waiting for a nail set to dry I tend to see that as *'primary clean-up time'*. So, take a cotton wool bud with high-strength acetone remover or pure acetone and sweep round the edges. For even sharper cleaning, a small, flat square or angled nail art brush (99p set on eBay) can be used to clean around the cuticle area.
Once that's all dry, then fish out the Konad plate (M83). I painted on the Sinful Colours #101, quickly scraped, gently pressed down on the plate with the stamper then rolled it over my finger from right to left or top to bottom.
Waited for that to 'set' before applying a thick layer of Seche Vite top coat. Clean round the edges with the nail brush again and voila!
Hope this may have been of help to someone :)
Best wishes,
Sophie
~Nailingtons
(Sorry for typos - hope it makes sense, its late and ..zzzz :))
#nails #notd #nailart #nailpolish #nails2inspire #thenailartstory #craftyfingers #nailbling #lovemanicure #instafashion #amazing_pretty #prettynails #nailartwow #diynailart #naillove #nailitmag #nailartobsessed #nailaddict #ignails #nailswag #nailjunkie #nailbling #weloveyournailart #nailpromote #iinailsart #xmasnails #christmasnails #christmasnailart #nailarttutorial
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