Valentine's Mani

Happy Valentine's Week everyone! I hope you all have wonderful plans for Thursday with your special someone, or at least some great anti-Valentine plans with your girls! Either way, this mani will work!

I'm really excited about how this turned out, even though I'll explain a couple changes I plan on making the next time I do a gradient manicure. I could also call this an equal opportunity mani, because I used all my favorite polish brands! For the how to and the polishes I used, keep reading.

  STEP ONE:

I started with Orly Bonder (of course) and then two coats of Nina's 'Burst My Bubble.' I really enjoy this polish, both the color and the quality. One coat seems very sheer, but with two coats it becomes quite opaque!

STEP TWO:

You will need to get a make-up sponge and cut it into whatever shape is comfortable for you to hold. This is my first moment of future change. I highly recommend taping off your fingers! This was so messy and really hard to clean up! I know tape wouldn't solve the problem completely, but it would help!

Cover your sponge in the first gradient color. This is O.P.I.'s 'LA Paz-itively Hot.' You'll want to sponge about 2/3 of the way down the nail and try to cover completely across. I did one coat on each finger of my left hand, then did a second coat on the left before going on to the right.

STEP THREE:

Layer your next gradient color on a new side of the sponge. You will sponge this about 1/3 of the way down the nail. Here I used Orly's 'Sweet Tart.' This is the second change I'll make. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the color, it's so pretty, but it's more of a jelly polish and I found it difficult to sponge it on. At the beginning it wouldn't hold, and then by the time I got to my last nail it was very thick and goopy.

STEP FOUR:

Using a Q-Tip dipped in acetone, clean up around the nails. Like I said before, taping off my nails would have made this step so much easier! I was so excited about how my manicure was turning out, I jumped to my last step before taking a picture of my left hand at this point, so here's my right! You can actually see how thick the red was here as well.

STEP FIVE:

Ah China Glaze 'Fairy Dust'... how you make me smile! Seriously love this polish, it adds such a nice sparkle to every mani! I finished with Orly 'Sec 'n Dry' Top Coat to lock it down.

I hope you enjoy this manicure and my first tutorial! It's easy to do, so try it yourself! Please leave and comments or questions below! Have a royal day!

The Colors...