My First Gradient Mani

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have something entirely different than what I'd planned for you this morning, but I couldn't help myself.  I woke up this morning and went downstairs to get yesterday's mail (the doorman sorts the packages and lets us know we have one overnight), and I was happy to find I had a package.  It was one I've really been looking forward to, a gift from my friend sarhibar, who told me she was going to send me a bottle of gradation liquid.  She sent me *two* bottles, plus several really cool polishes.  What great women I know!!!

Just so you don't have to go Google it, gradation liquid is an Asian product that is used for a gradient mani - polish is applied to the tip of the nail, then the liquid is used to smudge it down toward the cuticle, making a gradual effect of intensity of color from cuticle to tip.  Since it's an Asian product, it's not readily available here, and I don't know how sarhibar got it, but she did and I'm grateful to her!

It took me at least 4-5 tries to get this right, since I couldn't find good English directions for it anywhere.  I ended up applying a thick coat of color to the tip of the nail, waited about ten seconds, used the gradtion liquid to smudge the color downward, then moved on to the next nail.  My right hand turned out better than my left, as I got better at it as I went, so I have pics of both today.  I used OPI's In Sync with Pink for the color with no base coat, then added two coats of Essie's Big Dipper for some sparkle (I wanted to have the most Asian mani an Irish woman can pull off...).  I was so excited at the outcome that I forgot to apply Seche Vite until after I took the pics, so it's even shinier in real life.  Here's how it turned out.

 

I'm absolutely thrilled with this - it's exactly what I hoped for, and even better than I expected it would turn out on a first try.  I think I see a new phase coming on for me...

So that's my very first gradient mani, which I'm sure will be the first of many.  Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!