Saturday, November 3, 2012

Strawberry and Cream gradient manicure

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Hi there, ladies! I have a treat for you today. Nailed It is one year old and is hosting a nail art contest to celebrate. Do a manicure using only two polishes with no stamping, decals, rhinestones, loose glitter, etc. Pretty easy, huh? The best part is that it is fun too. I LOVE nail art contests, seeing what inspires other polish enthusiasts, trying to do something pretty and creative myself. So much fun!

Anyway, that is what I am showing you today. This is the manicure that I am submitting for the Nailed it contest. I decided to use Revlon ColorStay Buttercup and Jade Seducao Rosa. I thought that the creamy opaque yellow would work wonderfully with the bold holographic pink. I did a gradient manicure to highlight how well the colors can blend, how the holographic effect is muted, somewhat glittery pink when blended with the creme polish and bursts back into radiance as the creme polish fades away.

I began this manicure by painting my thumb and index fingers with two coats of Buttercup and my ring and pinky fingers with one coat of Seducao Rosa. I then dotted my middle fingers with both polishes and blended them together with a nail art brush. I sponged over the basecoats with the two polishes, melding the colors by rocking the makeup sponge. I did three layers of sponged on colors. Lastly, I added dots of both polishes for pops of the pure color against the gradient.

On these grey days of autumn, having such a bright as sunny manicure does my spirit some good. Here is one last picture, a close up. This last picture is in daylight and shows the polish colors the best. Sorry about my dry cuticles and the little fuzzy on my nail; I forgot to moisturize before taking the picture and I always find little hairs in my pictures while editing. So annoying, but I'm getting off track here.

 So, do any of you plan to enter a manicure in the contest? I hope so. I'd love to see what you come up with!

I have a crazy list of old manicures to show you and one of my best friends gifted me a Birchbox subscription for my birthday (yes, she absolutely rocks!), so I want to show you some of the things from that. I fell in love with an eyeliner and can't wait to show you how amazing it is. But til then, enjoy the weekend.


~Alexis