glitter gradient

I wasn’t going to do another challenge for a while but this one sounded really fun, so I’m going to participate in at least a few days of it. I’m a couple of days late starting but I’ll catch up.

The Ten Days of Couture Nail Art has been organised by Just Another Nail Art Blog and I love the idea of taking inspiration from some of fashion’s top designers.

The first on the list was Marchesa – after getting distracted by their fabulous bridal collection and wishing I could have a Marchesa gown for my wedding, I finally found this stunning diamanté dress which seemed like it would translate perfectly to nail art in the form of a glitter gradient. I’ve tried a glitter gradient once before and it was a partial success, so I was keen to have another go at this technique. I like the gradient effect better over a dark base colour so I think this manicure was more striking than my previous attempt

I used: Wanna Say Hello – Essence, Electric Avenue – Nails Inc, Devonshire Street – Nails Inc

You can see the list of Couture designers that will be inspiring us here if you feel like joining in.

After trying the textured nail polishes which looked like glitter (but are waaaay easier to remove) I realised I hadn’t done anything glitter for a while.

I decided to try a kind of glitter tips/glitter gradient with three different glitter polishes and a nice pale pink base. I was hoping it would look bright and spring-like, but I wasn’t all that happy with it in the end.

After the pink base I started with a thin layer of fine silver glitter which I painted long streaks with, then layered a thicker coat of a pink/purple blue over it and finished off with a chunky blue glitter.

Somehow, the multicoloured glitter didn’t look as nice as I’d hoped it would and it really depended on the light. Sometimes it looked beautiful (mainly in direct sunlight) but more often it just looked a bit dirty…

Maybe I’ll try this design again and choose different colours to do it with, but it’s not one I’ll be rushing to do.