Choi's nails

What I did:
As usual I applied my The edge base coat
Painted two coats of Essie’s Splash of Grenadine
Using the cosmetic wedges I sponged ¾ of the nail with Essie’s Haute as hello
I then sponged the tips with Essie’s Blanc

I’ve never worn Haute as hello as a full manicure alone because it had that semi-matte plastic looking finish which I hate and the application was terrible but for gradient nails the shade looked quite good.

I didn’t like the results though; the sponge marks are just way too obvious for it to look good. I still haven’t figured out whether it’s my technique I need to brush up on or it’s the sponge’s problem. No matter how much I sponged it still looked the same so I continued with the next colour and the top coat to see if things will be smoothed out after. It didn’t really make much of a difference to me.

Even so I kept this design on for a good five to six days; it still didn’t grow on me. Throughout the whole period my nails felt like duck nails because of my lack of concern for the shape and maintenance of my nails at the time. I didn’t file my nail beforehand which is a mistake I make a lot of the time and the way I sponged my nails made it look and feel like the tips were wide as if they were duck nails.

Have you ever tried gradient nails? How did your first attempt turn out?

I removed my previous water marble manicure (not shown on this blog) as it didn’t turn out how I wanted it to but that didn’t stop me from wanting to do more nail art. Just this time I opted for something much easier something I’ve tried before, nail stamping.

I used Essie’s going incognito with the BM image plate 210 using Essie’s Blanc. Poor Blanc, whenever it comes to nail art it’s always the first polish I go to because it’s the safest option and the only white I have. Pretty sure I’ve used it and abused it so many times.

Essie describes going incognito as a ‘deep emerald green’, fairly accurate description. It’s deeper in photos than I actually think it is in person. My camera just refuses to picture how it really looks. It’s slightly, just a little lighter. It looks more like how it is in the bottle.

Even being such a deep-ish green it still needed two coats. One thick coat might have done the job but it’s always been two and above for me. I added a top coat after, just before I started stamping in case I made any mistakes which I did in the end.

I chose the leafy looking image because I felt it would have been most appropriate considering going incognito reminds me of a tree. Essie’s Blanc wasn't thick enough so image didn’t transfer properly and fully so I had to use cotton bud (Q tip) to lightly remove the part that didn’t look so good.  

I added four light green rhinestones I bought from Ebay at the tip of the leaves. After almost a week three out of the four still remain on my accent nail, I’ve even attempted to pick them off but stopped after I thought my nail might break before it comes off.

I can’t figure out if I like this shade or not. I think it’s alright but nothing special. I guess me and greens just aren’t the best match. 

How’s everyone feeling recently? What’s your current NOTD? :)