DIY Ombre Nails

I've seen a lot of amazing ombre nail designs online as well as a good number of tutorials. I tried a few of them and found which worked best for me. Thought I would share it with you. This is currently my favorite go to nail design. Easy to do, with a lot of impact.

Scroll down for photos and detailed tutorial.

DIY Ombre Nails

1. Paint all your nails the lighter color polish. This will be the color at the base of your nail in when finished.
2. On wax paper, place a short line of each polish next to each other. Using an extended paperclip, mix them together, just where the touch. Note: you will want a decent amount of polish on the wax paper, but not a runny pond. This will last 2-3 nails.
3. Like a stamp, press the sponge into the polish. I found it easiest to align the top of the sponge with the top of the lighter color (see photo).
4. Press sponge onto nail multiple times, sponging as you roll the nail from side to side to cover the whole nail. (I align the top of the sponge with my nail bed.)
5. Clean up the fingers using nail polish remover or acetone, with a q-tip or small paint brush.
6. After drying apply 1-2 layers of top coat.

Tips for choosing colors for your ombre design:
I found that if the colors were too close to each other there wasn't much impact, so look for two with some contrast. Also, I had bad results with nail polish that wasn't very opaque, so if you aren't sure do a test on one nail first.

Tips for using the right sponge:
Look for a sponge that is fairly porous (ie: the sponge holes aren't too small). One site online suggested using a makeup sponge. I found it too too dense though, and was disappointed in the results. I also used some older sponges that started falling apart on me, woops, so don't do that.

Colors used
Yellow: SinFulColors, Pull Over
Orangy Red: SinFulColors, Big Daddy

Any questions? Just post them in the comment section.

Tried this? Take a photo and share in the comments.

Purple + Green Ombre Nail Art

After a bit of trial and error, I've gotten the hang of gradient / ombre nails. I've been trying a bunch of different color combinations, some work better than others. For details on how I did the ombre check out the tutorial I put together.

Green: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Ivy League
Purple: Julep, Kylie

pink and glitter gradient

A quick and dirty glitter gradient. Easy to do but elegant.

Glitter: Julep, Oscar
Pink: Cover Girl Nail Slicks, Ice Blue Pink

gradient dots - nail stamp

Fun, bold and elegant.

Products used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color - Celeb City
Julep Nail Polish - Marisa
Nail Art Plates Bundle
Konad Nail Art Double Ended Stamper And Scraper

    

Ombre Nails

I don’t think this photo does a good job of showing how well this turned out. This was my third or fourth attempt and I think I have found a technique I really like, so I’ll share with you how I did it.

What you need:

• base color (not too opaque)
• darker tip color
• makeup sponge

1. Paint the entire nail with the base color (once or twice).
2. Place a few drops of the darker color on a piece of cardboard.
3. Take the makeup sponge (I cut them up into smaller pieces, so I get more use out of one sponge), dip it into the polish and dab onto nail, starting on tip.
4. Work toward half way up the nail, applying less polish as you move towards the nail bed (depending on the look you want, I’d suggest using the darker color on only 1/2 or 2/3 of the nail)
5. Continue to add layers of polish at the tip, so the color there is opaque.
6. I then put on layer of the lighter polish over the top, to help create a smooth gradient. It’s not necessary to go to the very tip.

(I usually use an additional base coat at the beginning and a quick-dry top coat)

Some good tutorial photos can be found on Going West.

I’d love to hear if anyone tries this, and how it works for them.

Christmas Nails

Green with gold & glitter tips.