Purple Gradient Mani

   Hi folks.  First I'd like to say welcome back and thank you for reading.  I'm sure by now you're thinking "When is she going to get into actual content already?"  Well you're in luck.  That time is now.
   Recently I was browsing through Michelle's blog over at All Lacquered Up and found this entry on gradient manicures.  Or gradation as she calls them.  This inspired me to try one myself.  But I decided to find a buildable glitter in my collection that I had a matching base color for.  At this point I should mention that my favorite color is purple.  So a large portion of my polishes fall into that category.  Now does it surprise anyone after that announcement that the best matches I found were purples?  I didn't think so. 

   See the results after the break  

   I should probably also mention that I'm not very good at painting my nails and most times get as much polish on my fingers as I do on my nails.  If anyone has any tips to avoid this I'd love to hear them.  So please forgive the slight messiness of my cuticles and fingers.  That usually has more to do with my "skills" than with polish formula.

Final Result

   For a first attempt I think it turned out pretty well.  The tip wear you see is a little bit of shrinkage because I did this at midnight and forgot to wrap my tips at all.  Wear otherwise was very good.  I think I did these on a Saturday night and by Wednesday I only had a couple tiny chips that were barely noticeable.  This mani kept me entertained the whole time with it's sparkle.  Wanna see how sparkly it was?  Of course you do.  

Blurry Shot for Sparkle

   See how much that sparkles?  So how did I create the look?  I started with a base coat of Seche Rebuild followed by 2 thin coats of Preppy Purple by Icing, which is part of Claire's I believe.  This was followed by 1 layer of Tinsel by China Glaze to give the entire nail a glitter coat.  Next I started the gradient part by layering 3 coats of Electric Lilac, also by China Glaze, starting 1/4 of the way up my nail, then moving the start of each layer up 1/4 way.  Finally I topped it with 2 coats of Seche Vite to smooth out the glitter texture, and so it would be dry super quick so I could go to bed.  

Products Used

Layers

   What do you guys think?  Should I try this technique again or does it seem like too much work?  I loved the results and I think a silver and teal version could be awesome.  My only real complaint with it was the number of layers of polish required.  The glitter was a little clumpy at the tips by the end, but that might be more an application issue than a product issue.

   

Disclosure:  The bottle of Seche used in this post was sent to me by China Glaze after I won a Facebook contest they held in December, but I had purchased a bottle myself previously.