Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Gradient Challenge Day Four - Pink Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everybody! It's day four of the Summer Gradient Challenge I've been doing with Esme from Nail Addict. I feel twice as productive since today's challenge color is pink. At least that's what the picture told me to do :P


For today's gradient I wanted to try a new technique. Normally I either paint directly on my sponge or I use the Nailasaurus method. But hey, it's a challenge so why not challenge myself to try something right? So I got out the lonely lonely fan brush and attempted this tutorial from Neverland Nail Blog. I still don't know how I feel about it but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained.





Polishes used:

  • Seche Rebuild base coat / Seche Vite top coat
  • Essie Blanc (base under the colors)
  • Sally Hansen Salon Manicure I Pink I Can
  • Sinful Colors Dream On
  • Red Angel stamping plate RA-107

This was.... an experience. I am in total love with how my middle finger turned out, it is such a smooth gradient and I adore the subtle brush strokes that give it a painterly look. The other fingers, eh. I think there were a few factors to this hit and miss. First, I just need practice :P The fan brush I used was actually for normal acrylic paints and not a nail art brush and it did NOT like having polish on it, I think that was a very big factor. The bristles were way too stiff to begin with and they threw a fit and clumped up with polish. With a brush intended for polish I think this would have gone so much more smoothly. After a few do-overs though I kinda got the hang of it I think. Clean up was a big pain but again I blame the brush for not being flexible enough and I had to press down on like half my finger. After the gradients were done they felt kinda plain so I stamped on some leopard print with Dream On. I kinda like the stamping, it stands out more in person on the dark half of the nail than it does on camera for some reason. Well, it's pink anyways. I'm kinda glad this color is over.

Want to see what a nice pink gradient looks like? Go see what Esme did with pink for today! She is so much better with pinks than I am, I think we should all go visit and put mine out of mind >.<

17 comments:

  1. This is lovely, your gradient's turned out brilliantly.

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  2. It's really gorgeous, the colors blend so well together :)

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    1. It was almost hard to photograph, it almost just looked like shadow from my fingers.

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  3. Gorgeous colors, and a very unique effect. Beautiful!!

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  4. hmm i never knew that a gradient was possible with a fan brush! i'll have to try that sometime! this looks gorgeous! i love how subtle that stamp looks (one of my favorite techniques, well not really a technique but whatever lol). Stunning!

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    1. I didn't either until I read that tutorial, it was pretty easy you should definitely try it! I was just happy the stamping showed up haha.

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  5. gorgeous! love how you did this, such a great idea!

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  6. I think this is a lovely gradient, and I especially love it with the stamping overtop. Nicely done!

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    1. Why thank you, I think I will be trying this method a lot more.

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  7. The gradient is amazing but the stamping brings is all together in a giant explosion of super amazing!

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    1. Haha thanks, in person it WAS kind of an explosion of pink.

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  8. Hello! I just awarded you the Liebster Award for your cute nails! You can check it out here: http://misscandy-nails.blogspot.fr/2012/08/liebster-award.html :)

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    1. Thanks so much for thinking of me! (Holy crap I love your Missoni Zig Zag nails!!!)

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  9. These look really lovely! I can not, not at all gradient with a fan brush lol.

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