Ombré Nails

I've come across some awesome nail art on Instagram and Tumblr lately , in particular the ombre effect. After searching around online a bit is seemed easy enough so I gave it a go. Here is my first attempt.

With terrible lighting at night.

In natural light.

I have to say I love it! I mean this is only a iPhone quality picture so doesn't really capture the true awesomeness that has me staring at my fingers constantly but you get the idea. 

Here is how I went about it, and I promise it is just too easy!

STEP ONE | Choose a base coat. You can't really tell but I have done two coats of Essie Au Natural which basically looks like 'your nails but better'. Next time I will step up the base coat intensity a notch. Wait for the base coat to be reasonably dry. 

STEP TWO | Choose a colour for the top of your nails. I wanted a sparkly natural/gold effect so I've gone with a BYS fine glitter gold polish which is opaque in one coat. You will need a paper plate ( or similar) and a makeup sponge. Pour a tiny amount of the polish into the paper plate and dab a bit onto the edge of the makeup sponge. At the very tips, gently sponge/ wipe on the polish being sure to make the coat quite thin. Wait for this to dry a little.

STEP THREE | Using the sponge, apply a little more polish further down the nail, covering the tip and extending further down. This will intensify the colour you've already put on the tops of your nails and subtly graduate down to your base coat. 

STEP FOUR | Choose your favourite flaky glitter nail polish. I used BYS Gold Glitter which is clear with gold glitter and flakes. I again poured a little onto the paper plate but only because I wanted to be able to pick up as much flakes as possible for the tips. I simply dabbed into the very tips of my nails and that was it!

See - easy! As this was something I did on a whim I didn't really prep my nails properly ( hello red polish stains) and some of the layers went a little too far down my nails but I already have plans for trying this again next time, possibly with a purple/gold combination.