Purple Ombre Nails (Tutorial)

Ombre is one of the biggest trends this year. Whether it's ombre hair, ombre clothing, ombre eyes/lips. It's everywhere, so of course it needs to be incorporated on the nails as well :)

Here are my purple ombre nails. The key to a nice ombre is to use colors that are a few shades darker/lighter from each other. You can also create ombre nails from a blue to an orange for example, but the blending process will be a little harder since the colors aren't similar.

If you'd like to see how I did this, keep reading!

What you'll need :

Here I have a matte top coat (optional), 4 different shades of purple and a makeup sponge. From left to right : NYC- Matte Me Crazy, Essie- Nice is Nice, China Glaze- Spontaneous, China Glaze- Coconut Kiss and OPI- Siberian Nights.

Step 1: You'll need to apply a white or nude color on every nail as your base, this will help the next set of colors pop. Wait for this to dry completely. This is OPI- Sweet Heart (it was not shown in the picture above.)

Step 2: Dampen your makeup sponge and wring out any excess water. This will help your polish stay on the surface and not soak so far into the sponge. Take your polishes, and apply a line for each color, going from light to dark.

Step 3: Line your sponge up on your nail and press down. If you like where all of your colors are placed, you can then blend the colors by bouncing the sponge on top of the nail. Be careful. You don't want to over-do it or the sponge will start to pull your color up instead of laying it down.

Step 4: Apply the first coat with your sponge on every nail. By the time you're finished with your last nail, your first one should be dry enough for the second coat. Apply as many coats as you see fit. Here I've applied 3 coats. You'll notice that your sponge will leave a little bit of a bumpy finish (you can see in the picture) But don't worry. Once you add your top coat, it'll even everything out.

Step 5: Clean up time! I like to pour a bit of acetone in the bottle cap and dip my cotton swab into that. It's much more convenient.

Step 6: Once your nails are all clean, you can then add a top coat. As you can see, the nail texture has evened itself out.

Step 7: You can stop there or choose to add a matte top coat like I did. It was hard for me to decide what finish I liked better, so I just ended up sticking with this one!

And the second tutorial has been created by Abby: 

You guys.  I’m obsessed.  I don’t know what it is but I’m all of a sudden in love with nail art.  I was really nervous to try the ombre because well, I’m not super skilled… yet haha!  I thought it looked really hard and I knew for sure I was going to be all sorts of frustrated with it.  WELL HOLY CRAP.  IT’S soooooooooooooo EASY!  If it weren’t for the fact that you have to re-apply polish to the sponge after each nail, it would literally take less time than painting your nails a solid color.  Because you’re using a sponge and allowing air into the paint, your nails dry SUPER fast.  No waiting around with this one- I love it!  What do you guys think?!

You’ll need::
1:: a base coat — I’m really loving this one.  It has a hint of white to it so it helps the colors pop.  Using a base will help the color stay on longer
2:: white polish — I bought this one from China Glaze.  I haven’t decided if I love China Glaze polish or not.  It’s really thick so it can sometimes be hard to put on, but the color is really great
3:: three coordinating colors.  Mine are, from lightest to darkest, Sinful Colors Easy Going Hazard and Thimbleberry
4:: a top coat.  BUY THIS ONE.  You won’t regret it.  It’s amazing.  Dries super fast, keeps the nails looking crisp for DAYS!
5:: Makeup sponges
6:: Scissors
7:: Vaseline (optional)
8:: Cuticle Oil (optional)

::STEPS::

1:: Apply base coat – let dry

2:: Apply one coat of white – let dry

3-4:: Cut a makeup sponge to fit your nail

5:: Apply vaseline around your nails, it’ll help the nail polish 

come off your fingers

6:: Get your three colors ready and then apply a row of the lightest 

color onto your makeup sponge.  You want there to be enough that

 it looks wet

7:: Apply the next color to the middle

8:: Apply the darkest color to the top

9-10:: Blot the makeup sponge onto the nail a few times until 

the entire nail is covered.  You’ll see how easy it is once you’re doing it!

11::  Finish all the nails, re applying color after EACH nail

12::  Once it’s all dry, apply your top coat

13:: Dab a q-tip into some nail polish remover and clean up 

the cuticles.  Apply cuticle oil if desired

Hope you like them!You can always get more ideas here: Pinterest~Ombre Nails

XoXo, 

N&M