On Wednesdays We Wear Pink (plus a bit of purple...) Gradient + Inspired-By + Tutorial. *Warning: Picture-heavy post!*

 Whew! That was a lengthy title! Anyway, hello! I didn't do last week's OWWWP post so I figured I'll give you a bonus today: a tutorial! That's right. My very first pic-torial (heh.) so please forgive me if the pictures are not very good. I had to take pictures by myself and I only have two hands... Haha.

Anyway, I know it's supposed to be only pinks but I cheated a bit today and used a purple. I know, I know... "You can't sit with us!" But hey this is my blog and I make the rules here. :P I was actually running out of ideas for nail art til I got inspiration from a small pouch that came with a box of sanitary pads feminine products. It had a gradient of some sort plus white stars, and I've been itching to do gradients lately so I thought it would be perfect for today.

This is a picture-heavy post so be warned, it WILL be lengthy!

Let's start the tutorial, shall we? :)

These are the materials I used:
1. White polish for base (I used OPI Alpine Snow)
2. Two colors of your choice. I used Pure Ice Gossip! (pink) and Last Chance (purple)
3. Cuticle oil or cream (I used lush Lemony Flutter; I transferred some in a sample pot)
4. Makeup wedge sponge (You only need half of the wedge)
5. Nail polish remover and cleanup brush and q-tips

Step 1: Paint your nails a white base. Some prefer to use the lighter of the two colors, but I personally prefer a white base. Make sure it's completely dried.

Step 2: Put some cuticle oil or cream around your fingers. You can use tape, but I found that cuticle cream works better, plus it's extra moisture! :)

Step 3: Take your sponge and paint the color you want closer to your cuticles on the top part of the sponge.

Step 4: Paint on the second color, making sure they overlap in the middle. This step is important, because the overlapping is what creates the gradient effect.

See the part in the middle where the two polishes overlap?

Step 5: Dab the sponge on your nail, with the top part of the sponge near the cuticles. (In this case the pink is what is on the top part and what I wanted closer to the cuticles.) Dab the sponge sideways and up and down (but not too much, or you'll end up mixing the colors instead of just creating a gradient in the middle!

It should look like this:

Step 6: Repeat step 5 two to three times or until you get the desired depth of color you want. I did three to four for this mani. Also repeat steps 3 and 4 as necessary if the polish has absorbed into the sponge.

Step 7: Repeat step 6 on the rest of your fingers. It should look like this: (Don't worry if it's messy, we'll clean it up!)

Ok this is where you can interchange the steps. It's totally up to you if you want to do 9 first before 8, but I personally like to do 8 first.


Step 8: Take your q-tip and dip it in polish remover, then clean up the sides and other stray polish. Use a clean-up brush to clean around the cuticles and the nooks and crannies of the side of your nails.

Step 9: Take your top coat and place top coat on all fingernails. Top coat is necessary as it helps with blending the gradient more and making it more fluid and smooth.

Your mani should look like this! :D

And there you have it! That's the tutorial part of the mani. I actually added white "stars" to this mani, but didn't include a tutorial because basically it's just taking a toothpick and white polish and making tiny tiny cross-shaped things that resemble twinkling stars. Here are some (more!) pictures of the whole mani, plus the inspiration behind it.

The inspirational pouch behind the mani

A rare shot of my whole hand

Gradient with the stars

And there you have it for this week's On Wednesdays We Wear Pink post! I hope you'll join me again next time. :)

*I bought these polishes with my own money. Pure Ice polishes can be purchased at Walmart for $1.99 each. I bought the OPI online on Amazon for about $7.*

*Disclaimer: Due to variations in screen displays and resolutions, polishes may appear different to each reader. I try my best to capture colors as accurately as I can, and if I can't, then I try to describe the color/s to the best of my ability.*