Black Gel Polish with a Glitter Gradient

Between reviews and swatches lately, I’ve hardly had time to play with nail art!  I’m hoping that will change in October since my schedule is lighter and I’m almost done swatching Fall colors.  I’ve been having a glitter craving lately, so I decided to do a relatively simple black manicure with a loose glitter gradient.  My nails are nice and sparkly now so this should hold me over for a short while!

I applied two coats of DIY Hard Nails Black Cat (opaque in 2 coats), and then applied purple ultrafine holographic glitter from ArtsyFartsy Crafts into the tacky layer of my gel polish.  I dabbed the glitter onto the curved end of the nail and then pulled it toward the tip several times to create the gradient effect.  I pressed the glitter flat with my fingertip and then added a layer of top coat.  Then I repeated the process with a teal glitter mix called Peacock (not sure if this one is still available for sale since I can’t find it).  I didn’t pull this one quite as far so the purple still showed through.  Again, I pressed the glitter flat with my finger and applied a layer of top coat and cured.

If you’re interested in learning more about this technique, I have a video on how to do a gradient with gel polish and loose glitter here.