OK so here is my failed first attempt at a gradation mani. Why am I showing you a failed attempt? Well, I think the colors I used look amazing together, so you may want to experiment with them yourself. Also, I have some vague idea of why this failed, so I can share that with you and maybe try this again successfully. I think first attempts at nail art never come out that great, so bear with me here!
For this gradation, I started out with two coats of Sally Hansen Black Platinum. I let those coats dry completely before starting the next step. I read a gradation tutorial that recommended waiting for the base color to dry, but I think this would have come out better if I had done the next step when the polish was wet.
Next, I started about 1/3 of the way up the nail and did a coat of NARS Desperado. I let that dry also. I went up a bit more on the nail and did another coats of Desperado. I let that dry. Then I coated the tips of my nails in Desperado and let the whole thing dry (but obviously not for a long enough time as the color is pushed back at the tips a bit). I picked up a cat hair in the middle nail somewhere along the way, lovely.
So, my main problem with this gradation is the presence of the obvious lines where I started each coat. The tutorial I read said that a coat of top coat would blur those together. That obviously did not happen. The next time I try a gradation, I am not letting any of the coats dry. I think the polish will blend together much better if I do all of the coats while it is wet. Maybe even just do one nail at a time, so the polish is really fresh and moves around more.
My other problem is that this takes a LONG time to dry. I didn't use a fast dry top coat with this, obviously I will next time. It ends up being about 6 or 7 coats of polish at the tips, that doesn't dry very quickly!
Have you tried a gradation before? How did it work out? Is this color combo sick, or what?
(I'll have a full review of NARS Desperado up later in the week, by the way!)
