NOTD - Neon Gradient Nails

Hullo lovely readers! 

To help me get some summer vibes going on I reached for some neon shades & had my first go at sponged gradient nails, something that I've wanted to try for yonks & I'm so happy with the result. I think I may now be addicted to this form of nail art!

I've always been cautious of trying gradient nails as I'd assumed they were complicated but I couldn't have been more wrong! There are some easy to follow tutorials on YouTube but once I'd grasped the concept it really was very straightforward!

For this super summery gradient I reached for two shades from of the Models Own Polish For Tans Collection, Bikini, a pow wow yellow & Sun Hat, a hot neon pastel pink. Sorry lovelies but I was so stressed when trying this I totally forgot to take pics as I went along, but I'll do my best to explain the steps!

Before you apply the gradient you need to have a white base already on the nails as this is really what makes the gradient stand out & work. So using a simple white polish I applied one coat onto the nails.

Next grabbing my makeup sponge, which I had cut in half so the width was just larger than the size of my nails. I applied a stripe of each polish, next to each other on to the sponge, then doing one nail at a time, applied the colours to the nail in a dabbing motion, whilst also moving the sponge in an up & down and side to side direction so that the two shades blend in to each other.

Once all ten nails were done, I went in again for a second coat, applied in the same way. Depending on the colour & quality of the polishes, you'll need to apply the gradient a few times till you achieve a nice opaque blended finish. Once happy, clean up any polish that has gone on to the skin with acetone & a brush.

Now I didn't originally plan on the mani being this blingy. However once I'd finished my gradient, I got a tad over excited & ended up denting a few nails! After a little screeching episode, I calmed down & reached for some pretty pink rhinestones & simply added a few in different sizes to each nail. See how fab nail art jewels are? Not only do they look fab but they can also hide a multitude of mistakes! WIN!

Sealing those stones in with plenty of topcoat & my Summer Neon Gradient nails were good to go again! I've worn this mani all week & I cannot wait to play around with different colours & try more gradient manicures now that I know how simples they are!

Thanks for reading my lovelies!

Lotsa love to ya!