More Rainbow Nails!

Yep, as the wonderful Katie told you yesterday, I am another year older. Here is something she didn't tell you: I really like my birthday. A lot. I usually start counting down to my next birthday around, oh, the day after my most recent one (for example: there are currently 364 days until my birthday). So I am always looking for fun ways to celebrate the day. When I started painting my nails, birthday manis seemed like a foregone conclusion!

Since I like bright colors, rainbows are always involved in my birthday manicures somehow (last year it was each nail a different color with, of course, Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday on top). This year, I decided to do something a bit more adventurous. Read on for my first experience with sponge gradients!

Rainbow Birthday Nails posing with my current top coat of choice, Butter London Hardwear!

The hardest part about this mani, as it turned out, was picking colors that looked good together. I was drawn to the spring-y pastels in my collection for the most part, but that is hard with a red. At first I picked Zoya America, thinking it looked good lined up with the other colors I had chosen, but it looked far too dark when I got it on my pinky and attempted the light blue gradient on top. In the end, I chose Zoya Elodie for a reddish coral alternative. (Which is funny because Elodie normally looks traffic cone orange on my pasty skin, but worked great in the gradient!)

Zoya Elodie, Zoya Arizona, Zoya Creamy, China Glaze Entourage & Zoya Yummy.

I painted each finger on my hand with a single color (number of coats varied based on opacity) and then allowed that to dry. Thank goodness for online video or I would never find the patience for projects like this, Nailfighters--watching paint dry, indeed!

The gradient effect looks awesome and complicated, but it is actually really simple. I painted a small amount of the color I wanted onto a disposable cosmetic sponge from the drugstore and then just dabbed that right onto the tip of my nail. It definitely takes a few coats but it is easy as can be. (Tip: Do Not Worry about making a mess of the skin around your nail, you can clean that up super easily with a Q-Tip later!)

I am so, so pleased with the results! I've been getting dozens of compliments and had my nails compared to Easter eggs, candy, popsicles, and My Little Ponies. As far as I'm concerned, those are all super positive associations!

Here are a few more pictures:

I'd love to see your attempts at rainbow nails! If there is anyone out there reading this, show me your rainbow manis in the comments. Or, alternatively, tell me how you like to do your nails for your birthday!

DFTBA!