I’m probably only ever going to do this trend the once. It is super-fiddly and unless you have a very sharp eye for colour, actually rather difficult. The look of this trend that has apparantly been spotted in LA on celebs is to gently graduate your nail colours to an ‘ombre’ effect. I think it is achievable if you literally grab five nail polishes from the same brand that are a nano-shade away from each other – kind of as they’d sit in the colour charts. But, muddling through your own nail collection to gather together colours that ‘merge’ is nigh on impossible – and I’ve got a LOT of colours!
Next time I have a mani I might ask for this if there is a really good collection of shades, but it is a faff to do at home. Here’s how I got on.
I started with this line up, but decided the Chanel was just too pink based (although if you put it among pinks, it looks too orange based).
Then, the Nubar shade wasn’t quite fitting right so I swapped that for Essie again..which then made the OPI look wrong. So I changed that for the new Bourjois that’s out in June, which meant that actually I only used four shades in the end.. keep up, keep up.
So the line up, starting on the thumb is: Chanel Inettendu, Nars Orgasm, Essie Brazilliant with a coat of Orgasm over the top (it’s not yet out and is part of the summer range), Essie Brazilliant (nothing on top) and Bourjois So Laque Ultra Shine Orange Creation (out in June).
What do you think? Could you be bothered?
And, here’s the aftermath:
NB: Since I posted this a few people have commented on Twitter and here wondering why I didn’t just add white polish to a standard colour, blend in a paint palette and graduate it that way. I’m wondering why I didn’t as well! *Smacks head*
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11 comments
God no, far too much bother. But nice if someone did it for me
I completely agree with Disneyrollergirl. Wouldn’t bother with it unless someone else was going to do it for me.x
I do love it, but it is a LOT of work! One simply doesn’t have the time dear! Do it for me? x
Since finding co-ordinating colours is hard I imagine you could do it like this: pick 2 colours in the same family, from light to dark. Paint the first nail on each hand with the lightest colour. Then pour a small amount of the light colour into a container, add a couple of drops of the darker shade, blend, and paint onto the second nail. As you do each nail, keep adding more of the darker colour. Probably just as painful to execute using this method, but might solve the issue of finding colours that graduate perfectly.
I barely have the motivation to paint my nails a single colour, let alone five so I think I’ll pass!
Has anybody tried releasing an ombre set with five coordinating shades? That would take out all the guesswork and would likely be pretty fabulous.
I like ombre nails but it can be a pain 🙂
I created this look just as Star_Violet suggests. I took two complementary colors and mixed them to get the middle hues. I used Illamasqua Milf and Rescue Beauty Lounge Orbis Non Sufficit. They both had a greyed undertone that worked well together.
I’ve also done ombres the way you posted about and it is difficult to find five colors that make a nice progression but if you can find the right combo it looks so fun.
I wrote a piece about it last year and it took a while to find five pinks, oranges, blues and neutrals for the four ombre manis I did.
Oh i love them! might try this…the polish will most likely end up everywhere but my nails haha x
I would totally do it. I did a similar mix of oranges here:
http://nomadic-d.blogspot.com/2011/03/spicy-nails.html
Not quite ombre, but still, I love the idea of using different colors. I think mixing polish in a palette would be too much trouble for me though, gotta draw the line somewhere!
http://nomadic-d.blogspot.com/
Nice nailpolishes!