Rainbow Ombre Effect

You might (or might not!) be happy to hear that I have handed in all of my MA work, except my dissertation. Therefore I will have a little more time to blog in the evenings as I plan to spend 9-5pm researching and writing my dissertation until it is due in September. So, without further ado, on to today's post!

The picture above shows my first attempt at rainbow gradient nails. Yes, my 'ring finger' nail broke right down the other day as I caught it whilst going to reach for uni books on my shelf! Tore the thing off, which hurt badly. As a result, this nail is tiny to compare with the rest. I don't have fake nails to put on it and I'd rather not risk wrecking my natural nails. Here is a brief run through the steps I took to achieve this look, in case you want to replicate it!

1. Apply a base coat to protect your nails.
2. Place a make up sponge in a bowl of water whilst you carry out step three. An optional step would be to put tape around your nails to avoid having to use a cotton bud / Q-Tip to remove the excess polish on your fingers at the end.
3. Apply a white polish to act as a base. I tried it without this step but my natural nail just showed through, so it is an essential step to get the colours looking opaque.
4. Wait for your white base to dry. Now your sponge should have soaked up a good amount of water. We carry out this step as otherwise the sponge will merely suck up your polish and waste it! Squeeze it out and paint the colours of your choice directly onto the sponge in lines. Don't worry about blending them as the sponge will naturally do this for you! Just stripe them on, leaving no gaps.
5. Then use the sponge to essentially 'stamp' the colour onto your nails. You might not get an even finish the first time, so leave the first layer to dry. Then simply repeat the process - don't panic about it spoiling the gradient, if anything it actually helps to blend the colours if they aren't placed over each other exactly.
6. Once you're happy with the opacity of the colours, apply your favourite top coat and you're done! If you didn't put tape on your nails, now is the time to take a cotton bud / Q-Tip and remove any polish that strayed onto your fingers. 

Enjoy! I applied this to my nails, then decided to try and replicate the look on my eyes. This is how it came out: