Monday Blues: 3-color Gradient

Happy Monday, all!

I couldn't decide if I should cut my nails before this mani or keep them longer.  I am a violin player/teacher, so I can never have my nails (at least on my left hand) too long.  But, I figured I'd leave them longer for just one more mani before chopping them! :-)

I am so so excited to be posting my first official "Monday Blues" mani! I am so happy to be a part of this group of lovely ladies...so excited that I ran out and bought two new blue polishes! :-)

Since my last gradient post was such a hit, I decided to do another gradient today! But I tried something new: I used three different colors instead of two. And I LOVE how it came out!

finished product :-)

I'm not sure why the thumb looks like it is all dinged up in this photo...it's not like that IRL, I swear! Instead of my usual Rimmel base coat, today I used something I picked up from the drugstore.  I am always so nervous my nails will tear or break because they are somewhat thin, and I read recently about a great Sally Hansen product: Green Tea + Bamboo Strengthener.  It went on very smoothly, and I can't wait to see if it really does what it claims to do.

Once that was dry, I used two coats of Revlon's 410 Dreamer.  The bottle is a little bit weird because it doesn't have any brand or description on it, but it's such a pretty color, so who cares!?  Here is a swatch of just this light blue color:

Two coats of Revlon's 410 Dreamer with no top coat.

I also picked up Essie's apricot cuticle oil this morning, because as you have probably noticed from past posts, my cuticles get very dry.  I saw a review of it posted this morning by Liz over at Liquid Jelly, so I grabbed it for myself -- and so far, so good! (note to self: next time wash oil off of fingertips before typing a blog post - now my whole keyboard is oily!)

Holding one of the new polishes I got this morning :-)

For the gradient, I followed this tutorial, but altered it so that I had three colors instead of two. From light to dark, the colors are:

Revlon's 410 Dreamer (my base color)

Sally Hansen's Xtreme wear 420 Pacific Blue

10 Professional Nail Lacquer 465 Starstruck

I think all three colors work SO well together.  However, I can't say that this is my best gradient... you can see a lot of the sponge marks, and it just did not blend as well as my last gradient, which you can view here.

A closer (kinda blurry, sorry about that...) look

To add a little something to the manicure, I pulled out my Bad Moon Rising by Lac Attack.  It is a really pretty mixture of red, green, and blue hexes in a clear base.  I fished out the blue colored hexes using a toothpick, and applied them around the outline of each of my ring finger nails. (ugh, I just looked down at my keyboard again... it's a cuticle-oily disaster!)

My mani, pre-glitter hexes

And, as always, I topped my mani off with a thick coat of NYC In a New York Minute Grand Central Station top coat.  This top coat is starting to really thicken.. I think it's time I splurge and get a new $2 bottle...

I can't wait to see everybody else's blue manis today!