Nail Art Alert! How To Get Ombre Nails At Home
Before you start, make sure you have everything you need and that
it's easy to reach from wherever you're sitting. It's also a good idea
to make a quick trip to the bathroom. There's nothing worse than
creating an awesome mani and then ruining it because you didn't plan
ahead!
What you'll need:
Two color polishes and a topcoat. You can choose colors
that compliment or go bold and pick two that clash. Experiment with
different combinations and see what works.
A sponge, a plastic sheet and toothpicks. I bought a
big bathroom sponge and I just cut sections off when I need them. The
sections don't have to be perfectly cut, as long as one side is flat it
will work. You can use absolutely any sponge - a makeup sponge, washing
up sponge or any other kind of sponge you can find.
If you don't have any of these plastic wallets in the house, raid the kitchen cupboards for some foil or baking paper.
The Fun Part!
Step 1: Using the lightest of the two colors, paint your nails and wait for it to dry completely.
Step 2: On a flat surface, paint a generous amount
of the colors right next to each other on to the plastic. Make sure
they're just about touching at the edges.
Step 3: Using a toothpick, swirl the two colors
together in where they meet. The area where they mix will determine the
length of the graduation. So if you want a long graduation, mix a bigger
section of the colors, if you want less of a fade, just mix them
together a tiny bit.
Step 4: Take your sponge and dab it directly down on to the polish a few times.
Step 5: Dab the sponge directly down on to your nail. Keep dabbing lightly and moving it very slightly up and down your nail.
You can repeat this step as many times as you need to. Just make sure
each layer is completely dry before sponging again otherwise you will
start smudging the bottom layers and ruin the whole thing.
Step 6: Add a topcoat. Or two or three! The sponging
makes this mani very bumpy so you may need a couple of topcoats just to
even out the surface.
Step 7: Clean up all the excess using a brush dipped in
acetone or polish remover. I use a Q-tip dipped in remover for the big
bits I can reach on my skin, then a small brush in pure acetone as I get
closer to my nail and to make a crisp line near the cuticles.
All finished!