Challenge Week 8 - Green Nails

Green nails are hard.  Also, I'm on a varnish buying hiatus (apart from the new Barry M Gelly Shades which I have to wait until March to buy now anyway).  I'm allowed to buy essentials (top coat, base coat) but aside from that - nothing.

So I was limited with the very rubbish green shades that I have.  A light green from Avon, Spring Green by Barry M (which turns my nails yellow even if I use a base coat) and then Barry M Gelly Watermelon which stains everything.

But I'm actually quite impressed with my attempt.  Stuck with a design but with a whole afternoon of nail painting ahead of me, I thought I'd get a little more gradient practice in.

I love gradient nails, they look so effective and professional and they're so easy to do:

1. I take a cheap make-up sponge and cut the tip off to make the edge a little wider.
2. I paint 3 stripes of nail varnish, going from lightest to darkest and overlapping each stripe a little and press it quickly against my nail.  
3. Once it's dry, I do it again and again until I get the colour to my desired opaque, moving the sponge up and down a little to "mix" the colour edges.
4. I match the paint with a glitter coat to hide any rubbish bits.
5. Then finish off with two layers of top coat.

I used Lac Attack's Felix Felics which is a beautiful gold glitter that comes with a lovely gold sheen then two layers of Sally Hansen insta-dry.

It took me a while to clean up the mess but I love the final result and people have been commenting about my nails all day in work, which makes me extra happy!