Hello Nailphiles, and Happy Father’s Day!

… So I know I promised last post that today would be sharing the China Glaze – Off Shore collection.. Sadly, I had ANOTHER fatality resulting in nubby nails. So instead of a swatch post using my ugly nubs, i’ve brought you my newest dot and gradient mani featuring OPI Brazil collection.

As much as I liked last week’s mani, it was a bit of a pain to explain that they weren’t just really poorly painted flames (even though I do need a lot more practice with hand-drawn designs), and almost no one had ever heard of Marimekko… So this week I decided to go with something a little simpler, but still bright and summery. I also needed something that would help hide my poor injured nail among my nubs, and I think the gradient did a good job.

I’m still totally in love with the colors in the OPI’s summer collection. They’re bright, fun, and great for summer. These polishes also played great together in the gradient, which was an added bonus! I’m still a little bothered by the almost-jelly formula of Red Hot Rio; I love the polish, but it feels a bit out of place in this lovely line of cream polishes.

For this mani, I started with 2 coats of I Just Can’t Cop-Acabana on my pointer, pinky and thumb, then I did a gradient using I Just Can’t Cop-Acabana, Where Did Suzi’s Man-Go and Red Hot Rio using a foundation sponge. Then on my middle and ring, I started with 2 coats of Don’t Bossa Nova Me Around, and using varying sized dotting tools with the gradient colors. If you’d like to check out a tutorial on gradient nails, click here. You don’t have to start with a white base coat, but you do want to start with at least one coat of your LIGHTEST polish. I also like to put down one top coat between your base color and your sponged gradient. I find it comes out a little nicer that way. And… Voila! here is my finished dot and gradient mani.

Overall, i’m very pleased with this mani. This was my first successful gradient, and that was VERY exciting for me. I love the colors together, and it helped disguise my damaged nails quite well. I’m hoping that my nails will recover in time to finish the promised China Glaze post next weekend! I hope you all have a great day celebrating with your fathers!