NOTD: Glitter Gradient Nails

I love gradient nails but solid colours seem a bit intimidating to me so I figured I'd start off with a glitter because it's so forgiving. So here's just a quick how-to for these nails. And I'll work on doing a solid colour gradient.

For this look, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Fashionista Orange but any colour works. Black is especially cool but my nails were already orange when I decided to do this so that's what I went with. I'm pretty sure this colour is discontinued, but Crushed is a good (though not exact) substitute.

Oh, and one last thing before I get started: I used fake nails for this tutorial for two reasons: they are a million times easier to photograph (and to paint, come to think of it) AND I love being able to look back at different looks I've done when I'm feeling in need of inspiration and photos aren't enough.





What You'll Need To Get This Look

Base colour (any colour will do but dark colours tend to show the glitter better)
Glitter polish (I actually use two-Strobe Light and Disco Ball. Using two different sized glitters helps get the gradient without doing tons of coats)
Top/base coat (I rarely bother with this since I change my nails everyday anyway)





First, paint your entire nail with your base colour 2-3 coats. Then, paint just the tip with your bigger/darker glitter polish (Strobe Light). Now, just do a couple more coats with strobe light, going a little bit farther down each time. Once you get about half or two thirds down your nail, switch to the smaller glitter (Disco Ball). Again, move closer to the base of your nail with each coat and paint up to the tip.

Obviously, how much you do with each coat depends on how long your nails are and how gradual of a fade you want. I usually divide the nail into quarters, using strobe light for the top half. If you want to only use one glitter polish just do more coats toward the tip so the difference is more noticeable.

I really want to try doing solid colour gradients, so if anyone has any tips, leave a comment.