The Magical Gradient Effect

I hope you enjoy this photo because I had to grope a flower to take it.

Ooooooooh.

Gradient nails are like little flawlessly blended rainbows of customizable colour. They look pretty darn impressive, and they're actually really simple to do! Plus you can overlay all kinds of fun things on them to look even more awe-worthy. The other day, I created this mani with a mishmash of sunset-y colours and lots of dotticure. Cute, right?

It's suppoused to look at least kind of like a sunset. Maybe the black dots are meteors falling from the sky... or cheese wheels.

Here's how you do it:

1. Gather your tools, kids. You don't want to get stuck mid-mani without what you need, and risk messing up your wet nails! I used a makeup sponge for the gradient effect, and a sewing pin, orange stick, and touchscreen stylus for the dot pattern (but you can totally use a bent bobby pin and toothpick instead). Grab a brush or q-tip and nail polish remover for clean up. Trust me, there will be lots of clean up.

 
Here's a tip: some polishes don't work as well as others for this technique. Pick a low-viscosity polish, preferably a cream color, that still packs a punch in terms of pigment.

I forgot the white polish in this photo. Sorry white polish!

2. Paint on a thin layer of white polish. This will be your base! White really lets all the colours in the gradient pop. Topcoat can be added to prevent other wet polishes from messing up and mixing with the white, but it also makes it a bit harder for the gradient to stick to your nail. Try it out!

3. For easier clean-up, tape around your nail so you don't get polish all over the tip of your finger. In my Instagram tutorial I didn't do this because I am a dumb dummy, but I highly recommend it. Or, you can use craft glue (Y'know, the kind you can peel off your skin after it dries?). If you use glue, make sure it's dry before applying the gradient.

 3. Paint the colours you have chosen onto your makeup sponge. If you're feeling extra creative, you can do a vertical pattern, or even a round one. I like to use the back end of the wedge because its sorta nail-sized. Don't worry about overlapping the polishes, the sponge kind of does that for you. Just make sure there's enough polish on there, but not too much that it globs off the sponge, ya feel?

 4. Apply the gradient! I like rocking the sponge from one side of the nail to the other, instead of just smushing it all on at once. You're probably going to need to re-paint the sponge and apply again until the gradient has the opacity you desire.

 5. Once that's done and dry, add topcoat! Topcoat is essential - it smooths out the design and makes the gradient look seamless.

 6. For the dotticure, just use your available tools to create a pattern of dots that get smaller from the tip of the nail to the base. Also, try to stagger the dots and make them more spaced out as they get closer to the base.

 And there you have it, folks. Gourgeous gradient nails. Paint away!

 -Alice

 Comment below with your own gradient tips and tricks! Yeah, sharing!