Summery gradient with a stamp

Hi everyone,


the temperature has dropped to a more comfortable level (for now) so I'm really enjoying the sunny weather at the moment. And what goes better with summer than a yellow-orange-pink gradient? That same gradient with a stamp on top of course :)

indoors, no flash

I started out with OPI Natural Base and two coats of OPI Alpine Snow to have a white base that would make the colors pop. After that I used OPI The "It" Color (yellow), OPI A Roll In The Hague (orange) and OPI Girls Love Ponies (pink) to make a gradient on all of my nails.

indoors, no flash

While this screamed summer already, I wanted to do a little more (if only to cover up some parts where the white base peeked through). I went through my plates searching for an image that looked interesting but wouldn't cover up the gradient too much. I chose a pattern from UberChic plate 1-03 and stamped it using the absolutely marvellous Hit The Bottle As Black As Night. A coat of Seche Vite to seal it all and my nails were ready to be admired ;)

These are the polishes I used. Doesn't it look like a lovely gradient with just the bottles next to each other?

OPI Alpine Snow, OPI The "It" Color, OPI A Roll In The Hague, OPI Girls Love Ponies,
Hit The Bottle As Black As Night

I really like my nails. I think they look like miniature sunsets. During the day I kept wondering what this would look like with holographic polishes in the same colors I used, so I might try that one day... summery gradient 2.0 :)

Oh, one more thing. I read a post by Megan (The Mercurial Magpie) on how she does her swatching and photographing and it was like a light bulb was turned on in my head... she rotates her pictures to get that pose where she's holding a bottle! I tried to do that pose so many times but I couldn't do it without making my fingers and wrist ache while twisting my poor digits like a mad contortionist and I'm not even mentioning trying to push the button on my camera... So I put a thick towel on the table that holds my light box (just in case I would drop the bottle... yep, been there, done that, not a pretty sight) and tried again but in a more comfortable pose that I thought would look good when rotated. A little help from Photoshop and tadaa! I might turn into a real nail blogger yet ;)

indoors, no flash

What do you prefer, the bottle holding pose or the way I've always taken my pictures with just my nails? And, more important, what do you think of my summery manicure? I hope you all have a great day and remember, it's almost weekend!! :)


Hit The Bottle As Black As Night was bought from Hypnotic Polish.