Positively Polished - 30 Manis Marathon #10

30 MANIS MARATHON
MANI #10 - GRADIENT
      

As of this mani, I am only three manis behind now! Huzzah!.....no? Ok, well, I shall catch up! Yesterday was an excellent start to my week, so I'm feeling confident and motivated to get some stuff done! The past few weeks have thrown me for a bit of a loop! I know some of you are probably thinking....Cookie, your Rainbow Mani WAS a gradient, why didn't just you that?! ::ahem:: What can I say? I love to make life difficult ::coughcoughcheatingcough:: ::grin:: Haha, I jest, I jest. No, honestly, I've actually had this mani in mind for quite some time and I really wanted to put it to the test. When I think of bright gradients, I think of sunrises or sunsets, so what better way to play off one than add in a contrasting and classic cityscape? I LOVE cityscapes! My living room, in fact, is a black and white with teal accents modern cityscape theme. I have modern black and white architectural artwork, along with a bar that has a black cityscape decal on the wall above a shelf with rows of martini, champagne and cocktail glasses sitting in front of it to make it look like the glasses are part of the buildings. I also have a huge round charcoal rug with a light grey eiffel tower on it. Did I mention I love cityscapes? (Are you sick of it yet?)....and metal framework building statues (1' tall) vertically shelved on 1' x 1' shelves one above the other up the wall......ok, now I'm done. I know it seems very edgy and cold, but I soften it all up with teal velvety curtains, teal velvety throw pillows, a soft teal rug under the coffee table and a teal plush blanket drapped on the couch to snuggle with. Did I mention I love teal as well? Oh...you already guessed as much....heehee. 


Here are the polishes I used for this mani!....
    

From Left to Right:

• Bondi New York - Fuschia-istic
• Bondi New York - Uptown Girl
• Bondi New York - Blue Skies
• China Glaze - Frostbite 
• OPI - Black Onyx
• NailGirls Colour - White#1

Not Shown: Bondi New York - I'm Vers (base & topcoat)

I followed the same basic pattern as the Rainbow nails....one coat of I'm Vers for a base, then two coats of White#1 for my base color. Then I used a makeup sponge (Ulta brand) for the gradient....

Swiping across each color two times before applying the first time, I used Frostbite for the top, Blue Skies under that, Uptown Girl and Fuschia-istic for the bottom. Unfortunately, I forgot how short my nails are and didn't realize how much the building would eventually cover up Fuschia-istic. Next time, I'd definitely pull that color up higher. 

I then used a small detail brush to apply Black Onyx for the buildings, just randomly selecting heights, etc. as I went along. Once that dried I used my tiniest dotting tool to apply the white dots for lighted windows on the buildings with White#1. I finished it all up with I'm Vers as a topcoat!

Just reached the end of COLORS and we'll now be moving on to PATTERNS next time with the first patterned mani: POLKA DOTS!

Happy Makeuping and Polishing!

     

Just a reminder! I'm having a giveaway to celebrate reaching 300 Facebook Fans as well as passing my 100th Blog Post! Enter now to win a 6 month subscription to Bondi New York's Bondi Box!

Click HERE to go to the giveaway page and enter! The giveaway ends October 8th, 2013