Glittery Cocktail Bling

Today I thought I would have another go at a glitter gradient.

I attempted a glitter gradient a couple of weeks ago with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls as a base and Ulta3 Confetti as the gradient, but I found it incredibly difficult to get My Boyfriend Scales Walls to level out, thus resulting in 3-4 coats and then the Ulta3 glitter was sooooo thick (this is BEFORE I bought a polish thinner) and the finished result ended up uber thick and it pretty much came off in one easy wipe.  I will definitely try that combo again, with the use of my polish thinner, but today I decided to use two polishes from my untrieds basket.

For my base I used Essie's Cocktail Bling, a gorgeous cool-toned grey lavender with a creme finish.  This colour is gorgeous.  In some lights it appears grey, and in other lights, almost a super pale lavender.  I love it.  It also applied beautifully.  I had a bit of balding during my second coat - though this is most likely due to my impatience and applying it before the first coat was dry - but it levelled out wonderfully by the third very thin coat.

I then applied piCture pOlish's Gene Doll using the dabbing method.  Maybe in hindsight this wasn't the best glitter to use.  It appeared quite sparse and was quite difficult to get a decent amount of glitter on the nail.  I managed to get an acceptable level of glitter in the gradient by the third 'dabbed' coat.

It is far from perfect. The finish is thicker than I prefer - but for a glitter gradient, that is to be expected!  The polish is also exceptionally thick (in my opinion) on my pinky.  But for a second attempt, I am still quite chuffed.

I was surprised by how much I loved the colour combination.  I often find it very difficult to come up with effective colour combos and often resort to google to see what others have used.  The gorgeous lavender/gray with the super sparkly violet of the glitter really contrasted well in my opinion.

I look forward to attempting other glitter gradients, especially with smaller glitters and with a sponge.  I find the effects of glitter gradients to be absolutely stunning and I can't wait to experiment some more.

xx