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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Ombré Nails

Okay so today I decided to take pictures of my nails as I did them so y'all can follow along if you're interested. I'm a bit of a nail polish freak. I paint my nails at least every two weeks just to keep it spicy. Different people have different hobbies, and painting my nails relaxes me so I love finding ways to work it into my schedule.

Today I will be sharing how I do Ombré Nails, which is a design I love doing because it's super easy.


For this design you're going to need:
  • Cotton balls (if you currently have nail polish on that you will need to remove)
  • Nail polish remover
  • Q-Tips (these aren't in the picture below but you WILL need them. If you don't have any you'll just have to do your best with cotton balls)
  • White nail polish
  • 2 or 3 other colors (similar colors in different shades look best)
  • Base coat
  • Top coat
  • 1 makeup sponge
  • Optional fine detail paint brush


I don't really buy nail polish for the brand, usually all I care about is the color, but if you have a brand preference that is totally okay. As you can see I didn't even buy consistent base and top coat brands. To me it doesn't matter at all.

The colors I used today:
  • Snow me white by Sinful Colors 
  • Bikini so teeny by Essie (this is actually my favorite nail polish brand, but I think it's just because I love the look of the bottles. The nail polish itself I find to be a little too thin for my liking.)
  • Pacific Blue by Sally Hansen I tried to do my best to find this color online but I believe Sally Hansen may have changed up their pigments a little because it took forever to find this online. Wasn't aware the color would be so rare... I believe this link will take you to the right one, but I'm judging by the online photograph so I don't know 100%
  • My base and top coats are by Revlon and OPI


Alrighty. Let's dig in.

  1. Remove any nail polish you had on prior so that your nails are clean. I always like to wash my hands with warm water and soap after using nail polish remover (and I use non acetone) 
  2. Paint all of your nails white
  3. Let the white dry completely before you continue (check Instagram, listen to a song, cry, whatever floats your boat)
  4. Now take your makeup sponge and unscrew the caps of the nail polishes you intend on using after shaking them to stir up the color. Keeping the caps unscrewed as you work allows you to work more quickly
  5. Paint a line across the bottom of your makeup sponge with your darkest color
  6. Paint a line across the middle of your makeup sponge with your middle color. I tend to make this line thicker (about twice the width)
  7. Paint a line across the top of your makeup sponge (or wherever you are on your makeup sponge as long as the lines overlap slightly. You probably won't reach the TOP) with your lightest color. Don't worry there are pictures below
  8. Dab the sponge lightly on your nail with the darkest part at the bottom of your nail and the lightest part at the top. If you just press and release you will get more definite lines and it won't look faded. If you dab ever so slightly you can blur the lines between the various colors. If you need to adjust a color (the bottom isn't dark enough or the top isn't light enough) just add more of that color to part of your sponge and dab carefully with just that section of the sponge. Repeat this step with all of your nails, reapplying color to the sponge after each one.
Okay I promised pictures.




Now you're probably thinking "Ew this looks so messy. What'd I do wrong?" Yes it looks messy, but you've done everything right if your nails look like mine. This is where the nail polish remover and Q-Tips come into play. 

  1. Dip your Q-Tip in some nail polish remover (I like to pour a little into the cap, and dip my Q-Tips in the cap) and use it to wipe off the nail polish on your skin
  2. If you don't want to do any patterns or polka dots or anything extra then add a top coat and you're done! Congratulations on your beautiful nails :)

Personally I felt like taking it a little bit father, because I love my accent nails. On my ring finger only I used a fine detailed paint brush to paint white zig-zag lines horizontally across my nail. There's not much I can say to help you as fine detail nail work comes with practice. I have no special talent or skill (I swear- my artistic capabilities are so depressing) but I've been painting my nails like this for over 2 years. Patience, and you'll catch on. 

So this is my finished product. I absolutely love the way that it looks because it reminds me of the ocean, and water, and beaches, and SUMMER. Happy summer everyone! Comment if you're interested in more nail tutorials.



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