Tutorial: Stamping vertical lines over a gradient

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Hello!

I'm back with that nail art I promised you, using Barielles Gentle Breeze collection (click here to see my review if you missed it). I'm thought I'd do something a little different today; I'm going to show you the manicure first, and then explain it in the form of a tutorial this time, since it's a combination of techniques I love and use on the blog together often.

Here's the mani, which I'm calling Starflash:

Starflash! (Does anyone else hear the theme song from Flash Gordon?)

Now let's talk about how I did it...

1) Choose two complementary colors to make a gradient. For mine, I chose Heaven Sent, the light blue creme from the collection, and Under The Sea, the teal shimmer:

Barielle Heaven Sent

Barielle Under The Sea

2) Paint your base polish as the lighter color, in this case, Heaven Sent. Some people start off with bare nails for their gradients, but I find when I do that, I get too much random pulling, which results in bald spots.

3) Put each shade together on a non-porous surface next to each other, and swirl the edges together with a dotting tool or orange stick like this:

Layout for your polishes

I learned this technique from The Nailasaurus back in the day. This is certainly not a trick I originated! :)


4) Using a bit of make-up sponge, apply the polish to your nails. Move the sponge up and down in the direction of the gradient; lift your sponge of the nail when you move it, don't try to slide it up and down the nail. In other words, you're going to do this: dab-move up-dab-move down-dab-move up, etc.

Dab on your polish, moving the sponge up and down in between dabs.

(Hey Michelle! What is that purple stuff you have on your cuticles there? Is it Liquid Palisade? No, but it's something very similar. You put it on to mask off your skin when you're doing messy nail art, then just peel it (and the excess polish) off when you're done. I will review it for you next time. In the meantime you can always just clean up with a brush and acetone, or try putting scotch tape around your nails before you do your gradient. :) )


5) Clean up your cuticles, and you'll have a gradient that looks something like this: 

6) Stamp your image on top of your gradient. For my mani, I used the lower-right portion of Pueen 61, and stamped with Barielle Gray Sky:

So here's where things get tricky. the design I've chosen is the kind that, if not stamped perfectly straight, is going to look all crooked and weird. How do you stamp stripes, or stripe-like things like this, so that the lines don't warp? Excellent question! The trick is, rather than stamp across you nail from side-to-side like you normally would, stamp down your nail, from cuticle to tip, like this:

Stamping vertical lines/stripes

I place the stamper at the base of my cuticles, and look to make sure the lines are running the direction I want them to run. Then, I roll the stamp down my nail to the tip. Now, you may have to practice it a time or two, but it will come to you quickly.

Here again is the finished mani, for your viewing pleasure:

Starflash, the sequel

Starflash claw

And here is a pin-able tutorial graphic, should you want one. :)

Hope you're having a great week!

M.