9-Day Challenge Day 6: Gradient

Howdy y'all!  I hope you had a cool Valentine's Day if you celebrate it, and if not, well, I hope you at least got some chocolate on sale!  Because this is a scheduled post, being written on the 13th, I can't say how my V-day was.  I know I've got two services to do, which makes me so EXCITED.  I love doing nails and just did a service on one of our massage therapists today.  Her nails turned out so cute, I was so happy.  It does me good to hear happy squeals from my clients!

So today's theme is gradient nails.  I was going to do some pretty rainbow gradient nails...but then I saw THIS:

I'm an avid visual kei fan.  This guy is Shou, from Alice Nine.  The moment I saw his jacket I thought "That would make a neat mani!".  So today, as I browsed through my nail inspiration folder for ideas for my client, I saw this and a light bulb went off.  Instead of doing my rainbow gradient, I decided to put this jacket on my nails.  If I could find this and buy it, I'd wear it all the time.  I just love leopard print, mainly if it's on black and white or if it's on rainbow.  As soon as I got home, I got some food, watched "Adrift in Tokyo" (a VERY thought-provoking movie), and got started on these nails.  I have to give myself time in between the moment inspiration hits and when I do it; otherwise, I'll end up being overly critical of the finished product.

And now...on to the nails!  I used China Glaze White on White as the base, sponged Orly Goth at the half-moon and free edge, then sponged Essence Gray-t To Be Here, then sponged more White on White in the middle.  I took an OLD Pure Ice brown polish in Frosted Ice Velvet and dotted random areas in the white, then took Finger Paints Black Expressionism and outlined the dots.  Topped it all with Gelous and here we are:

I love it!  It came out so much better than I expected!  This is the first time I've done a manicure that's come even CLOSE to what I envisioned.  I don't want to take this off, not at all!  I wish I had a gel top coat and LED lamp so I could protect my manicures.  They always come off when I'm doing services because we use acetone, and that stuff RUINS my manicures.  Boo!

The background is my leopard-print skirt that a classmate tried to steal...while I was wearing it!

I hope you've enjoyed this manicure!  I can't wait to see what the other participants have come up with for the gradients!  Be sure to stop by and check them out, and leave a lovely comment :-)