DIY- Ombre Nails

When I used to teach and not have children, I would always pamper myself with a pedicure once every other week.  That luxury is gone, but I don't miss it.  I actually really enjoy painting my own nails now.  It's quite self-therapeutic after a long day.  I recently tried ombre nails on myself, and here's how they turned out.

If you want to try at home, all you need are the following:

1. 3 different shades of nail polish, all in similar colors of course.

2. Q-tips

3. Nail polish remover

4. Make up sponge

5. Top coat

After you've cleaned up your nails and cuticles, here's what you will need to do.

1. Choose the lightest color of the nail polishes.  Some websites suggested painting your nails white first, but I didn't have white nail polish, so I chose the lightest one as my base.  Use two coats and wait for your nails to completely dry before going to the next step.

2. Dampen your make-up sponge.  I ran it under the sink and then squeezed the excess water out.  This will be the tool you will use to create the blended ombre effect on your nails.

3.  Paint the nail polish onto the make-up sponge with the lightest color being at the edge of the sponge.  

4.  Tap the make-up sponge onto your nails in a slow up and down motion.  The lightest color will be closest to your cuticles and the darkest color will be at the top of your fingernail.  You can cut the make-up sponge to be smaller to create less of a mess around your finger nail.

5.  Clean up any excess nail polish around your fingernails using the q-tip and nail polish remover.

6.  After your nails have dried, paint a top coat.

I won't lie, this took a little longer because it is absolutely important that you wait for your base polish to dry. Otherwise, it may get ruined while dampening your make-up sponge and/or it will definitely not look good when you actually apply the make-up sponge onto your nails.  I didn't mind the time though because the kids were down and it was my time to vegetate.

Have fun and let me know how it goes!