Monday, January 20, 2014

Challenge #6: GRAYdient (aka FAIL!)

When I saw "gradient" was one of the inspirations for this challenge, I cogitated for awhile, mentally pouring over all the different creme options I had, or maybe even a holo gradient, but I kinda already did that this past summer... And then KABOOM!, outta the blue, I knew exactly what I should do: a GRAYdient!!!!!!!  Puns and plays on words are totally my thang, so don't that just beat all! :D  LOL

I laid down two perfect, smooth, shiny coats of Cult Nails Tempest.  Seriously, I was rubbing my nails ALL DAY.  Now that I've used it for a full mani, I would recommend it as the  ultimate white creme. PERFECTION!


And then I grabbed my grays; note that the night before I did this, a perusal of Wal-Mart's beauty aisle endcaps rewarded me Pure Ice's Kiss Me Here, which I'd been looking for since I saw it on my friend Essie's blog last spring!  Who woulda thought that a Pure Ice polish would be so stinkin' hard to find?!  Well it was, and it also happened to be the perfect gray to complete the GRAYdient!  'Twas meant to be!


Or NOT.  Uhhhh...NOPE.  Just no. :(  THIS LOOKS AWFUL!


Why did mine look more like color bands than a smooth, melty blend?! And patchy and ugggh... Well, for some reason I thought you were supposed to take a tiny piece of sponge and sponge on the colors one at a time.
After some research & consulting experienced nail art blogs, I discovered you're supposed to use a wedge makeup sponge & paint all the colors on in strips and use it rather like one big foamy stamp! DUH.  Oh well, I am now "in the know" for the next time I attempt a gradient.  But for now, I'm going to chalk this up as a learning experience and move on to the next mani!


BUT first... 
after that horror, I will give you a nice gray to feast your eyes on:


GRAY HOLO!!!  :D  This is Hit Polish Pewter Goblet.  Not a strong linear holo, but very purty nonetheless, and it satisfied my desire for Too Fancy Lacquer's Silent Night at a much  lower price!  Unfortunately, Hit Polish closed up shop as of a couple weeks ago due to a new business venture for her & her hubby.


This is one coat Pewter Goblet over two coats Kiss Me Here.  PG is a tad sheer on its own, and KMH really is the PERFECT MATCH to go under it.  Polish serendipity, I tell ya!  These photos are without topcoat - it's just that shiny. :)  PG actually felt a bit thick and gloopy to me, but a thin-medium coat was perfect, dried fairly quickly, and obviously, produces a nice holo effect.  


And I happened to be wearing a gray sweatshirt, so hey, why not do a good ol' Essie "sweater shot?!" :D  Except I'm clearly not her, so it didn't really turn out... I'm blaming it in part on the fact that I was operating the camera with my non-dominant hand! lol




5 comments:

  1. Hi Emily, first things first: I agree, Tempest is THE perfect white cream. And then that grey holo - awesome!!! I love a good grey any day :-). I use a different technique for gradients - but then I mostly do glitter gradients, I use small eyeshadow applicators. Their sponge tips have only tiny holes and the small size makes a controlled dabbing very easy I find. It worked also well with textured polishes. And you have no mess to clean up around your nails ;-)

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    1. Hi Christine!! :D I a-grey! (hehe) Grey seems to be one of my favorite shades...in fact I JUST added KBShimmer's Turbulence to my cart before I started typing this! Have you seen that one?! LOVE it!
      Thank you so much for the tip on how to do gradients!!!!! What an ingenious idea! :D I'll for sure give it a try next time I do a gradient. Uhh yeah, I HATE clean up so reducing the need for it is at the top of my polishing priority list!

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  2. Well I'm sure glad your hunt for Kiss Me Here was worth it. I just love that grey polish so much. And great sweater shot....you are making me miss blogging :) Hope you are doing well!

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    1. TOTALLY worth it! That's probably the longest & hardest I've ever looked for a drugstore polish. :P Which grey polish are you referring to? The holo, I'm guessing? :) It IS very purty! I got a deep berry pink for a friend of mine, and she loves it.
      Hehe thank you! Like I said, the sweatshirt shot is nowhere near as good as yours, my dear! Maybe you should try a post once a week or every other week, or something... ease back into it?! :D

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    2. I was talking about Kiss Me Here, but I love the holo too :) We'll see about easing in. Perhaps I will get bored during maternity leave and post a few ;)

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