tutorial: gradient/ombre nails

Ah, such impatience the period of almost-summer and end-of-the-semester brings. Being stuck in limbo where you know your work is almost over, but you still have finals to finish. It's like waking up on a sunny morning, getting out of bed, and getting punched in the face. Yeah. Well, I'm in that period where I'll find anything to do besides study. Besides, why study now if you can study the day before the final? I retain information better that way, anyways. ;)

So when I saw a picture of a gradient manicure, I thought, "Wow! Looks time consuming! Challenge accepted!". And I did it. I've posted a lot of different color combinations of this mani on Instagram. But here's how I do it!

Gather up your cast and crew. Take the makeup sponge and run it under some water for a sec, then squeeze out the excess (preferably in a towel - it'll help it be more dry). Try to stick to 3 to 4 shades, and choose shades that will transition into one another easily. If you need help, think of ROYGBIV. And note: I like to have my lightest color be a jelly polish because I find it really blends in nicely with the natural nail. From here, apply base coat as usual.
Polishes used (L to R):
OPI Dutch Tulips
Essie Vermillionaire
Zoya Maya
China Glaze Pink Underground

Paint somewhat thin strips of each polish on the now damp sponge. Try to overlap each color slightly.

Bounce the sponge up and down on some paper. This will help take off the excess polish, and it also helps blend the colors a bit.

Then press the sponge on your nail (darkest color at the tip). Bounce it up and down a bit, like you did on the paper. It will be very sheer. If you want more a of 'stain', you could leave it at this, but I prefer bolder colors so I like to let the nail dry for a bit, and then take the sponge (without having added any more color) and continue dabbing it on my nail. So basically, I like to 'build up' the color.

Repeat steps 2-4 on all nails.

This is how your nails should look right now.

Clean up the cuticles with acetone.

Apply topcoat (it helps blend the colors even more) and you're done! Beautiful!

Thanks for looking. Check out my instagram (claralhotak) to see the other color combinations I've done!

my polish stash

Highly anticipated!
I haven't updated my spreadsheet in a while... so I'd say I have roughly 400 polishes. My collection has been amassed over the past 3 years.

Overview:


China Glaze/Color Club:




OPI:




Orly/Zoya/Essie/Random:




And my overflow (Helmer) bin:


If you have any questions, regarding the name of a polish, etc, feel free to ask! Thank you for looking!

Eyeko London

Hi everybody! I hope everyone's having a great December and an overall wonderful holiday season! I'm trying to get back into posting makeup looks/tutorials, but I'm dry of inspiration- please, PLEASE if there's anything that you want to see, let me know! It can be a tutorial of a look I've done, any type of makeup look, or a tutorial of just any look you want to see. Don't be shy!

Anyways, I was contacted by the UK brand Eyeko a while back. They asked me to review their nail polish and a couple of other things (for another post!). Here's part 1: the nail polish.

Let's get to the first part: aesthetics. Aren't the bottles adorable? I love the cheeky labels. However, the shape of the bottles isn't very practical. They're extremely easy to tip over.


Eyeko Saucy Polish
My favorite of the bunch! A vivid, crisp red creme. Lately I've been really into these bright red cremes, and this one did not disappoint! Very flattering. This was two coats, and it had the best formula of the bunch. However, is this polish necessary to own? Not if you own one of these red cremes:
OPI's Vodka & Caviar is almost identical- but it's more of a jelly than a creme. Closer is Essie's Limited Addiction which is a 3 coat creme. OPI Color So Hot it Berns is quite different- I don't know why I included it, haha. So if you own V&C or LA, you don't need Saucy.


Eyeko Rain Polish
Unfortunately, this had the worst formula out of the bunch. It was thick but runny. A big glob of polish threatened to drip on the table any time I took the brush out of the bottle. However, I like the color a lot. This was 2 coats but after looking at these pictures, it needed 3.

Eyeko Tea Rose Polish
My second favorite! A beautiful dusty yet vivid (what a contradiction!) rose colored polish. I love these types of grandma polishes. The formula was so-so, and this was 2 coats. I should try this on my toes sometime!

Eyeko Petite Polish
A pretty yet basic sheer pink. This was 3 coats with the same runny but thick formula. I like this polish- it'd be perfect for my work (our nails have to look really clean, preferably no polish but I make do with "my nails but better" colors :P).

Eyeko Posh Polish
Your standard taupe/greige color. Pretty but nothing unique. This also had a so-so formula. I used 2 coats. Do you need this polish?
According to my crappy comparision, yes. But all in all, I don't think you do. OPI Over the Taupe is more warm while Posh is more cool. I included YDKJ because pretty much everyone knows what that looks like! There's so many taupes out there, I'm sure you could find a dupe for Posh that's easier to find.

So overall, Eyeko gets points for their adorable bottles/labels but gets knocked down a couple points for the bottles' impracticality, (most of) the polishes' bad formulas, and lack of originality.
The last statement is debatable- Eyeko sent me typical, overdone colors but on their website they have some awesome colors. For example, I love their Military Polish, Vintage Polish, and Coral Polish.
While Eyeko's polishes may fall flat, their makeup is much more superior. One of their products is actually my HG for my face makeup! You'll have to wait and see what it is :)

Big thanks to Eyeko for sending me these products and letting me try their brand!