Forest Gradient

When I sampled the China Glaze Capitol Colours polishes that I bought the other day, I painted my left pinky with a gradient of Mahogany Magic and Agro. I didn't spend too much time on it because i was just testing the waters. It ended up being a favorite, so I decided to do all of my nails with the design. 

The first time, I applied the gradient to a blank nail just to see what it looked like. This time, I started with a clear base coat followed by a coat of my base color. I used the Agro as the base color and gave it plenty of time to dry. For the gradient, I used a combination of techniques from tutorials I've seen.

I started by moistening my cosmetic sponge with astringent. I did this for two reasons. First, I cleaned off my nails since I had been running my fingers through my hair. Second, I noticed that pieces of sponge stuck to my nail the first time. I was hoping the moistened sponge would help prevent that issue. And it did!

I then painted patches of the two colors right next to each other. I made sure that there was enough polish in each patch. Then I swirled the border together just a little bit so the line wasn't hard. I soaked up the polish with the sponge and rolled the color sideways onto my nails. I did this two or three times on each nail to achieve a good blend. I didn't bounce it, as that didn't seem to place very much color. To finish up, I painted a patch of just the Mahogany Magic to roll onto the tips for added opacity and added top coat.

My favorite part of this manicure is the blend of the metallic green and creamy brown. The mixture of textures is very pleasing. I usually see it with the metallic at the tip, but I thought the green base would pop a little more. I hope you like the manicure! Please feel free to leave your thoughts below.