Spring Ombré Nail Tutorial

Ombré is pretty hot in nail fashion, and I'd never given it a try until this week.  Ombré is just a fancy word for shading.  Light to dark.  There are a couple ways to do this, and I suppose I took the route that required more polish, less tools.  There is a spongeing technique that I will inevitably investigate, but this way is more magical, I think.  Ignore the white flowers for now--that's a whole other tutorial!

Pink ombré with white blossom stamp.

The polish:  You need bottle of clear and a bright red.  I like Wet 'n Wild's Clear Protector, and Spolied's I Tripped On The Red Carpet.  That red's got a little shimmer, and is a predictable, bright red that looks nice even under fluorescent light.  Anyone who works in an office like mine, sees their red polish change from candy apple in the sunshine to maroon indoors.  Drop 10 drops of the red into the clear bottle.  Shake well and get ready for the magic.

The technique:  5 layers of polish, plus a base coat.  After a good base coat, paint just the top 20% of the nail, like a French manicure.  Dry.  Next layer, start at the 40% line.  Paint right over the first layer.  Dry.  Then paint 60% of the nail.  Dry.  Then 80%.   There should be a nice gradient effect going.  It will be very pale pink near the cuticle, and get brighter toward the tip of the nail.  If you like the look, throw a clear top coat on and be done.  If you want a little more pop, paint over 100% of your nail with your transparent blush polish.  You can do anywhere from three layers to six or seven, depending on how patient you are with dry time.  

The white flowers are from the Konad stamping system.  I'll explain that in another blog.  Happy polishing!