Gray gradient with stamped accents

Hi everyone!


Yesterday the four holos in the brand new a-england To Emily Bronte collection made their way to my desk (thanks mom!!). The two grays looked like a perfect combination, standing next to each other on my desk, and since I had absolutely nothing planned for today, I decided to give my nails some extra TLC and a manicure using my two new beauties. This is the result of my lazy afternoon:

indoors, no flash

I started out with a layer of OPI Natural Base Coat and painted all my nails with two thin layers of a-england Cathy, a gorgeous pale gray with lavender undertones, beautiful blue shimmer and a very subtle holo. The shimmer and holo show up under direct light but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't capture it in a picture. You just have to trust me when I say it is absolutely exquisite (or you can google for swatches by people who know what to do with a camera instead of just shoot-and-hope-for-the-best like I do ;)

After that I used a-england Wuthering Heights and Cathy to make a gradient on all my nails. Wuthering Heights is a stunning medium gray holo with purple undertones and a lovely scattered holo, and it is a perfect mate for Cathy. Using Sammy's tutorial, some pieces of sponge, a plastic sheet and a toothpick I managed to create a gradient that I'm actually quite proud of :)

I already decided I wanted to stamp on the gradient but I didn't really know what image or what color. I didn't want to cover up too much of the gradient, that much I did know. When I saw the swirly image on UberChic plate 5-01 something clicked. I grabbed my go-to black stamping polish, Hit The Bottle As Black As Night, and stamped my middle and ring finger. At first I intended to stamp all my nails but I'm glad I stopped after two. A layer of Seche Vite to give my nails a glossy finish and voila... done!

These polishes were used:

a-england Cathy, a-england Wuthering Heights, Hit The Bottle As Black As Night

I love the way the black stamp contrasts with the soft gray gradient. I thought about adding a black dot on my index and/or pinky but even though my manicure looked very simple, I didn't want to add anything else. I can always do it tomorrow if I decide it looks too simple ;) What do you think? Should I have stamped all my nails? Should I have added the dots? I would love to hear your opinion :)



a-england Cathy and a-england Wuthering Heights were bought from Pretty Polish.
Hit The Bottle As Black As Night was bought from Hypnotic Polish.
UberChic 5-01 was bought from She Sells Sea Shells.