Feeling Purple

I went to bed last night with the polish laid out for a pattern inspired nail design. However, I woke up today feeling ... purple. Instead of going for my fallback of matte purple I decided to attempt my first gradient.


How hard could this possibly be, I asked myself? I've watched videos and read blogs about this topic before. It seems pretty impossible to screw this design up.


I should know better by now than to ask what could possibly go wrong. My feeling purple day has left me feeling pretty blue.


I instantly picked up my new sponge and began dabbing the color on. Everything was going great. I was a bit disappointed that my two dark purples were hard to differentiate, but that was okay. There was enough of a color difference along the entire nail to make up for that. I let it dry a bit before I went to work with an old clear polish. The colors started their typical watercolor effect, as they always do when I use a sponge, but that was what I was going for this time. Great, right? Except that not all the color was blending and not all the color was staying on the nail. The color was picking up in places leaving the light base purple where there should be dark. Other places just weren't blending. It was like a train wreck. I couldn't look away, and I certainly couldn't stop once I had already begun. I finished up and decided to add some sparkle to the tips with a purple/blue glitter. Maybe this would act as a disguise. Well, it didn't ... but the glitter made me feel better.


Overall, this wasn't a complete disaster. I'm just such a drama queen perfectionist if I don't reign myself back that to see such a splotchy, streaked design leaves me cringing slightly. That said, most people in everyday life don't look at my nails through a microscope. The gradient effect is in full force and looks stunning from far away. However, my perfectionism makes me all the more determined to perfect my gradient making abilities so that the design looks just as stunning under a microscope.

I welcome hints, tips, ideas, and requests. I can't promise to do every request, but I'll certainly try my best. All I ask is that you be polite. :)


Polishes Used

• Sally Hansen Double Duty
• Sally Hansen nailgrowth Miracle in Loyal Lavender
• L.A. Colors Color Craze unnamed purple (BCC 590)
• Revlon in No Shrinking Violet
• Sally Hansen in Deeply Violet
• L.A. Colors Color Craze unnamed glitter (BCC 582)