Nail Tutorial: Ombre Nails!!

So ombre is a huge trend this summer. It's everywhere- hair, clothes, shoes, and now, my nails!!
This is the first time I've ever done ombre nails, so this is not going to be the high tech tutorial ever. But I thought I would just share my method for doing them!

So if you want to see how I got the look below, keep on reading!!

Ok, yes I am aware this isn't the best looking ombre ever, but for a first attempt, I'm pretty proud of it. Alright, let's jump into the "tutorial"!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

The Polishes:

Ok, from the left, I have base coat and top coat, obviously. Then the third polish is what I'm using for a base colour. I would highly recommend using a white or light cream/pink polish to use as a base for your ombre, because that makes all the colours pop a lot more. I'm using OPI's My Vampire Is Buff.

Then the last polishes are my ombre colours. The colours blend more smoothly together if you use three colours instead of two, and the ombre looks more gradual. I stuck with colours in the same colour family for my first try. For the lightest colour (third from the right), I'm using China Glaze Hopeful. My medium colour (second from right) is China Glaze Flirty Tankini, and my darkest colour is China Glaze Make Some Noise.

The Tools:

You will also need some clear tape and a makeup sponge to paint the colours on.

HOW I DID IT:

Step 1:

So first and foremost, you can paint your nails with base coat, if you want to use it. I always do, it's just a habit.

But then you're going to paint on your white/cream/pink base. Side note: if your lightest colour is a white/cream/light pink, then you can just use that as your base. 

Don't worry if it's not completely opaque.

my base colour- OPI My Vampire is Buff

Step 2:

Once your base colour is completely dry (it needs to be dry so your ombre will stay on), take your clear tape and tape around each nail until the skin around each nail is covered by tape. This is a really messy process and the polish will get everywhere, so this step just saves a lot of cleanup.

So I covered the sides, bottom and top of my thumb. Sorry if this is kind of hard to see. But basically when I press the sponge down on my nail, the polish that isn't getting on my nail will be getting on the tape.

This is an incredibly awkward angle, but I just wanted you to see all my fingers taped up. I did it one hand at a time, so I taped one hand, then did the ombre pattern on that hand, then taped the other hand.

Step 3:

So now we arrive at the fun part. So your base colour is dry, and you're all taped up. So take your makeup sponge, and depending which colour you want at the base of your nail, paint the polishes on accordingly. In other words, if you want the darkest colour on the base of the nail and the lightest on the top, the paint a stripe of your darkest colour at the top of the sponge. 

I wanted the darkest at the base of my nail, so here's how I painted my sponge.

The darkest is at the very top of the sponge, so when I press it on my nail, it will go at the base of my nail. 

Wait a second or two to lets the polishes sort of absorb into the sponge and blend better together.

So angling the sponge so all your colours line up where you want them on the nail, press down and make sure you're getting all your colour on there.

This is one coat of the ombre. After each nail, I repaint all the colours onto the sponge so it will be freshly painted for the next nail. I did two coats of ombre for every nail, because after only one coat, the colours aren't super strong. 

So this is one hand after two coats of ombre and BEFORE clean up!!

Told you it gets messy!!

Step 4:

Clean up time! Peeling off the tape gets rid of most of the excess polish, but depending on how precise you were with your taping, you might end up with some polish around your nail. When that happens, I take a nail polish remover pad and put some nail polish remover in the center. Then I fold it in half, and use the folded edge to remove any leftover polish. 

And here's the finished look!!

Sorry for the chip on my index finger, I accidentally hit it when I took the tape off. 

But anyway, I hope this tutorial was helpful! I know I'm not a nail art expert (that can be clearly seen), but I thought I would share how I did this anyway.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa