Gradiated Freedom

Freedom, friends!

She is a sweet gift.
I’ve made it through my last term as an undergrad!
So what do I do to celebrate? Well after 2 exams at 8:30 in the morning on two consecutive days (why??!!) I came home, ate some biscuits, drank my second cup of coffee, and painted my nails while watching hockey (By the way – I thank the hockey gods for letting me actually watch the afternoon game. I suppose there are benefits to having an exam early in the morning…hmm..).

I reached out to the Facebook world for some help with this one.
My brain was numb so I was hoping someone would trigger an idea.
Thankfully I got a little push to go in a “textured” direction & then I just rolled with it.

For this mani I used Zoya – Godiva (the colour that’s peaking through) as my base.
Then I slapped on some stripping tape, grabbed OPI – Get Your Number  

& Can’t Let Go (both liquid sands) and did a gradient.

I love how both of the liquid sands I used still seem like part
of the same collection yet they both have a little something special.
Can't let Go (the purple) has some really great large glitter pieces
that you don't have to fish for in the bottle,
& Get Your Number (the aqua) has great holographic glitter.

I had one strange issue with Godiva – it seemed to suck up some of the colour from the stripping tape (which in this case is purple). It’s likely I just didn’t wait long enough for it to dry before I got impatient but it’s still something to consider when using it.

I think it would work better if it was over the tape not under it.
I took a picture with harsh flash (below) so you could see.

Now, I also sort of broke a little rule I was sticking to:

I was refusing to top coat my Pixie Dusts & Liquid Sands because I really like

the textured polishes and I figured a top coat just defeated the purpose.
But…once I pulled off the stripping tape I hated how muddled the lines looked

& that my beautiful Godiva wasn’t popping even a little bit!

So I caved and used my Seche Vite.
& you know what? I’m glad I did. It’s much crisper and I still get all the sparkle I wanted.

Maybe next time I won’t be so harsh on my top coat.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!
D