Gradient Pattern Strip Nails

What you need:  Three contrasting nail colours it is easiest if two are lighter colours and one is very dark.  For the pattern you will need a piece of tin foil/plastic, a cosmetic sponge, some striping tape, a cotton wool bud and some nail polish remover.  It is a good idea to use a top coat for this design.  

To see my striping tape tutorial click here.

I painted a base coat on my nails of Nails Inc Mayfair Mews and let that dry.  I only used one coat as it was quite thick and this design required a lot of layers.  I then put a few drops of MaxFactor, Max Effect polish in Intense Plum onto a piece of tin foil.  Dip the tip of the cosmetic sponge into the darker colour and just dab it onto each nail in a gradient style. 

Note:  You can use other types of sponges but cosmetic sponges tend to be quite dense and spread the product nicely! You can re-use your cosmetic sponge for this technique by cutting off the part you used with scissors.

It does not matter how perfect the gradients are or which direction they go in, it is up to you but I chose to do mine at all different angles.  If you are messy like me you will need to use a cotton wool bud dipped in nail polish remover to get rid of the polish that ends up on the outside of your nails.

The gradient should look something like this.  You could just stop here if you wanted to but I did these very roughly as they would be under the next coat.

Wait for the polish to completely dry before starting this step.  Attach your striping tape in whatever design suits you and then put on your third colour.  Click here for a link to my striping tape tutorial for this step. Click here for my second tutorial on nail striping tape.

I used Rimmel London polish in 416 night flight.  Annoyingly this polish was quite dried up despite the fact I have only used it a couple of times and have not had it for too long.  I am not a huge fan of Rimmel products because I find they are generally quite bad quality and overhyped.  Because I had already painted the first nail when I realised I had to persevere but it really did ruin the effect of this design which I think was a shame.

I did not have a normal clear top coat at uni so I used Rimmel's matte finish top coat.  I still quite like how they turned out and they lasted for a good couple of days.  They just ended up looking so messy because of my silly decision to use a dried up nail varnish.  At some point I will try this technique again with a better polish and see how it goes!

The finished result!

Princess Quilted Nails Tutorial

Photo 1: What you will need

Photo 2: Arrangement of the striping tape 

Photo 3: Close-up of the pattern of the striping tape

Photo 4: Painting over the striping tape and nail

Photo 5: Peeling off the striping tape

Photo 6: The result after peeling off the striping tape

Photo 7: The result after peeling back the striping tape

Photo 8: Gold foil effect paint - Cuticle Stick

Photo 9: Finished Result

Photo 10: Finished result

Previously I created a guide on how to use striping tape so click here to see that part in more detail

What You Will Need/What I paid

You need two contrasting nail polishes, striping tape and a pair of tweezers makes it easier.  I chose two pink colours which were Barry M Gelly in Dragon (£3.99) and O.P.I Liquid Sand paint in Pussy Galore (part of the James Bond 007 set of 4 mini nail polishes £13).  I chose the liquid sand paint because it contains tiny grains of sand that give it a raised 3D effect, this is quite difficult to see in the photographs though.  You could choose any colours you want for this of course, just make sure they are contrasting or the effect will be lost.  I used striping tape that I bought for 99p off ebay. (Photo 1)

If you want to continue to add the dots to your pattern I used Barry M's Foil Effect Polish in Gold which retails for £3.99 and a cuticle stick which came in a set of 10 for 99p.  If you don't have a cuticle stick you could use anything with a point e.g a pencil.  You might also want to get a little piece of plastic just to protect your surfaces.

Design How To

Note:click on images to enlarge them

- Firstly you need to paint on your base colour and then allow it to completely dry.  Mine was Barry M's Gelly in Dragon, I used two coats because one was too sheer, normally I have to do three coats of this polish but as most of it will soon be covered by another layer I didn't bother.

- Once the base colour is dry, cut strips a bit wider than your nails of the striping tape and stick them to the edge of the table.  I needed 6 strips for my thumbs and 4 for each of my other fingers, so 22 strips per hand. That seems like a lot but it took me only a min or two to actually cut. (Photo 2)

- Place 3 strips on each diagonal for the thumbs and 2 on each diagonal for the other fingers as shown in the pictures above.  (Photos 2 and 3)

Remember that when you remove these strips you will have to remove the ones you applied last, first.  This stops the first strips underneath being pulled away early.  I always apply the diagonal left stripes first and then the diagonal right ones ones.  Then peel the diagonal right ones off first, and then the diagonal left so I don't get confused.

- Once you have applied all of the striping tape strips, you need to paint over the whole nail.  I used OPI's liquid sand in Pussy Galore for this stage because I love the textured effect but you don't have to use a textured polish.  (Photo 4)

Do one nail at a time because as soon as you have painted over the strips you will have to remove them very quickly before the polish starts to dry. Don't use a fast drying polish for this step unless you are a very speedy person and can rip off the strips quick enough.  Remember to rip the strips off in the opposite order you put them on.

I don't use my fingers to rip the strips off because it is too messy although I find the striping tape sticks to the tweezers and prevents me ripping the next one off fast enough.  So after I rip a strip off  pinch it with my thumb and pointing finger.  (Photo 5)

- After this stage you could just stop because you already have a really pretty quilted effect pattern! (Photo 6 and 7)

- If you want to add some dots to the pattern you can continue with these steps...

- Find a small piece of plastic to protect your surfaces.  I actually used a piece of the packaging of a loaf of bread I bought just because I was making a sandwich at the time I thought about it and that was what I grabbed.  Get a blob of your third colour on the brush it came with and dab it onto the plastic so you have a little pool of it.  I used Barry M's gold foil effect paint but it can be anything that contrasts with your other colours and you know is pigmented enough to show up. (Photo 8)

- Take your cuticle stick/pencil/anything with a point and dip it into the varnish. Then lightly dot it onto the points of the pattern where the diagonal striping lines cross. (Photo 9 and 10).  You could finish it off with a top coat although with liquid sand polishes it would ruin the texture so I didn't.

- Let at all dry and it is finished!!! (Photo 9 and 10)

Colour

I really like these colours together even if they look slightly tacky.  At some point I will probably try this with the Barry M gold foil effects polish as the base colour and a dark colour over the top because I think that would look quite fun.

Texture

The textured polish looks great with this design! I was unsure about how I felt regarding the liquid sand polishes on their own but they are a great addition to nail art. 

Smell

As with all polishes open the window/do this outside as the fumes can be quite strong.

Overall Reaction 

Looks a bit tacky but I don't care because they are really fun!

10/10