Glitter Gradient Nails

Tonight I'm going to a wedding of two people I don't know.  In case you don't know me, I. LOVE. Weddings.  Doesn't matter who's getting married, doesn't matter where it is or what food they're serving.  I love them all.  If I had a little more nerve, I would have totally hung out with Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers.

In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd try painting my nails with a glitter gradient, something I've seen floating all over Pinterest.

Their way:

Oooh, Shinies! 

via Pinterest

My way:

It turns out this look is really easy.  I used Essie Lady Like as the base color and then Milani Disco Lights for the glitter.  To make sure they would look good layered together, I first painted them both onto a sheet of paper (I also then held the paper up to my dress to make sure everything would match).  I keep reading about sponging, but frankly, I didn't have any sponges and Walgreens is a whole two blocks away, so I painted on the gradient instead.  

First I did base coat (again, Essie, which is my favorite) and then two coats of Lady Like.  I let this dry for about 10 minutes, and then started the gradient.  I took the Disco Lights and wiped the brush so there was very little polish on it, and painted starting about three quarters of the way down the nail.  Then I went back with more polish on the brush and did another coat from about halfway down the nail.  Then I painted just the tips again to really cover that section, and finished with Essie top coat.  You can see in the picture that I got a little bit of glitter on my skin on my ring finger, after washing my hands once or twice that went away.  

This look overall took about 20 minutes (or one rerun of The Hills) to finish.  Now I just need to do some hair and makeup and I'll be ready to go!  Alternately, I could continue laying in bed and watch another episode or two of Lauren and Heidi fighting...