Blue and Purple Gradient Nail Art

OPI Get Your Number

Hi guys! Today I have some simple yet stunning (in my opinion) gradient nail art with a chevron accent. For this mani I used OPI Liquid Sand colors from the Mariah Carey collection, the blue is Get Your Number and the purple is Can't Let Go. I created the chevrons with nail vinyls from Glam My Mani that where sent to me for review. I have more pics including some macros/close-ups and a picture tutorial after the break!

I want to start off by saying that Get Your Number is just an amazing color! It's a blue jelly just full of different glitters, including holographic ones. I picked this up just a few days ago (actually, my mom bought it for me, Gracias Mami!) at TJMaxx and I'm really glad I did. This color came out in the Spring of 2013 but I think it's a perfect winter polish.

The second color I used is OPI Can't Let Go, a textured purple. I color corrected the picture to try to get it to look as close to real life as I could but it still looks a little more blue than it actually is (and my hands looks way more white than they are too). Purples are really hard to capture accurately. Anyway, this is a textured glitter polish just like Get Your Number but without the holographic glitters. I've owned this one for a while.

You guys ready for my macros? I'm pretty proud of them, I got a new tripod and switched over to my Nikon Coolpix instead of my phone.

The gradient, the purple didn't come out that purple in this pic either. But look at the texture! Look at the sparkle!

The chevron accent. This is almost close to being color accurate, at least my skin is close to it's actual color, even though the purple is still looking too blue.

So...what to know how I did it? I used my nifty new tripod to create a simple picture tutorial, I hope to make more of these (and better ones) and maybe videos in the future.

1. Unless you don't mind doing a ton of glitter clean-up, I highly recommend putting down a layer or two of glue around your cuticles. 
2. Apply two coats of the blue.
3. Wait for it to dry! Super important.
4. Apply the two colors to a piece of make-up sponge. Because of the way I hold the sponge, I put my base color on the tip and the 2nd color below it.
5. Create your gradient by lightly dabbing the sponge on your nail. You will have to repeat step 4 and 5 several times until you're satisfied.
6. Apply 2 coats of Gelous or your favorite thick top coat. I did this because I wanted it to look smooth and shiny. Wait for it to dry.
7. Once your nails are dry, on your accent nail (that doesn't have a gradient), apply the chevron vinyls. Press down on the sides and make sure there are no gaps.
8.  Apply your 2nd color on top, just 1 coat in this case.
9. Quickly peel off the vinyls before the 2nd color dries. This is why you have to make sure your nails are completely dry before placing the vinyls. If they aren't, the vinyls will stick to the base color and pull it up. If that does happen, don't despair, just take a little brush, dip it into your base color and carefully fill in the missing spots.
10. (No picture, my toddler woke up from his nap in the middle of this) Apply 1 coat of Gelous to smooth it out. Follow with your favorite top coat on all your nails and you're done! Now you gotta wait for it to dry, which will be a while because of all the layers. Grab a book or settle down with a movie...or in my case, cuddle a toddler. 

That's it! What do you think? Should I go back to using my phone for pictures or keep using the Nikon? I gotta play around with the settings a bit more, maybe put my LED lamp farther away so my fingers don't look so white and everything else so blue. 

I purchased these polishes myself (one was a gift). The chevron nail vinyls where sent to me for review by Glam My Mani. You can find them at www.glammymani.com, on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Google+.

Stalking is encouraged! Go follow Mama Hearts Polish at Bloglovin, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!