Hello, hello, sweeties! How are you doing with this beautiful weather?!
It's been a wonderful sunny week in Italy, and very hot! Weren't you thinking I was going to abandon my 40 Great Nail Art Ideas challenge just because I'm enjoying such wonderful summer vacation with the family, were you? Of course I'm not! I have nail art photos to keep feeding this challenge for very very long time, haha. Today's prompt is "nude + colour" and this is what I came up with...


I chose to combine nude polish with pink, and my personal prompt was "reciprocal gradient". Wow, this sounds very difficult, right? But it is not so much. A reciprocal gradient is a combination of gradient and tape techniques. You are supposed to paint a gradient, then using tape cover some part of the nails and then do a second layer of gradient in the opposite sense. Well, trust me it sounds much more difficult than it is!

Instead of using regular masking tape, or striping tape, I chose to use stencils, because I've been dying to try these "swirl shaped" stencils from Born Pretty store, and this seemed the perfect 
occasion!




Here is how I proceeded: first, I painted my nails in nude using Zoya Chantal, then I sponged gradients in different directions on each nail using Zoya  Chantal, Zoya Laurel and Zoya Wendy polished. Then I waited for it to dry really well. It is necessary to wait until all layers of polish dry well if you intend to use sticker stencils or vinyls, otherwise, these would rip off your nail polish. 


Once everything dried, I applied the swirl stencils, which wasn't very easy, because they tend to stick to themselves pretty easily, so you have to be extra-careful and peel them from the sheet very slowly, trying to put it together as you peel it. I'd said that was the trickiest part!


Once I placed my stencils on the nails, I proceeded to sponge the gradients in the opposite direction. Then I peeled the stencils carefully and sealed the design with one coat of topcoat. That's all!

What do you think of this mani? Do you like this reciprocal gradient nail art? Have you ever tried on your nails? I think it's fun, but the gradient effect is a little weird with the swirl stencils :P

Don't forget to pay a visit to my challenge mates here below!

Have a lovely Weekend!!
Love,
Nati
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