Nail Design: Green Reverse-Gradient Leopard

A little over a week ago I saw a mani on Instagram by ModNails and knew immediately I had to recreate it. The mani that inspired me can be found here. I'm loving gradients right now and leopard print is always fun...and easy. So when I saw this reverse-gradient look, it was love at first sight! The hardest part was deciding on what colors to use. I changed my mind quite a few times, but eventually settled on a subtle green gradient. I definitely think I'll be giving this another go in the near future. Perhaps next time I'll pick two colors with more contrast.

I love everything about this mani, but I think I may have blended the two shades together too much. It can a little difficult to see the two colors. I was afraid I would get a harsh line, but I think after I completed the leopard print it would have appeared less harsh. I still love it, though! 

Photographing this mani was difficult! I couldn't, for the life of me, get the true colors to show through. The first picture is the closest to their true color, compared to the other photos taken with my camera. The second photo was taken with my iPhone, which shows off the gradient effect better than the rest.

Nail Design: Neon Gradient Stripes

Man was this a tedious mani! This one involved a few "first" for me. My first time doing stripes with tape, using my new sponges, and doing a neutral/neon combo! I've been wanting to use this color combination for quite some time, but couldn't decide how I wanted to execute it. 

I cut up some painters tape to make my stripes, which took more time than I expected. Aside from that though, it wasn't too difficult. In fact this mani was pretty simple, it just took a lot of time and patience. I also bought new sponges awhile back to use for gradients and they work much better than my old ones. 

I didn't want all the stripes to go in the same direction, so I did a mix of horizontal and vertical stripes. In the end I loved the vertical ones, but not so much the horizontal. Guess I'll know for next time!

Immediately after I applied my top coat, I bumped my left hand, which is my best hand, and it smudged the design in a few spots. However, I was able to pose my hands just right so the glare helped hide the smudge. ;)