NOTD Aug 18/11 and steps on how to do it!

Hey guys! I am really happy with this glitter gradient mani I just did tonight, partly because I think it looks great but also partly because it was so freakin' easy! This mani could seriously not be more goof-proof! I didn't take step by step pics, but I'm going to post the steps to getting this mani below the pic - it's seriously so easy you don't really need pictures!

My camera didn't even really capture the full glory of it... I may try and take another picture of it tomorrow in daylight to see if it captures better there! New picture added!

Here are the steps to getting this!

Products used:

• Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Black Out
• Nicole by OPI in Nicole's Nickel

Steps:

1. Prep nails with a base coat, let dry.
2. Place french manicure guides or a piece of tape to leave about 1/4 or a 1/3 of your tip at the top (depending on how long your nails are - the longer your nails, the bigger the tip can be, but even if your nails are shorter you don't want to have a skinny teeny little tip)
3. Paint the tips black, pull off the tape! Don't worry if the line isn't totally straight or looks a little jagged, that's fine!
4. Let it dry - I just painted a coat of quick-dry top coat over the tips to speed this up.
5. Take a latex (or non-latex!) makeup sponge and rip the edge so it's a little jagged. Dip this in a glitter polish that has silver glitter and a semi-opaque grey/black base (like Nicole's Nickel!) and sponge it on just over the black tips to start.
6. Then go back and get a little more of the glitter polish on your sponge, and this time dab it so it overlaps not only the black tips but a little bit further down on your nail. This will create a gorgeous gradient effect!
7. Optional step - if you want the gradient to be a little more dramatic, after you apply the glitter polish, go back with the sponge in a tiny bit of the plain black polish, and veeery lightly dab that on the very tips of the nails (I'm talking the last millimetre here!) and dab the sponge several times to blend it out well.
8. Add some top coat to seal it and voila! Gorgeous glitter gradient! You could definitely try this out with other colours too for a different look! Enjoy!

Thanks for reading lovelies! :)