Spring Gradient with OPI Euro Centrale

I was excited to pick up some nail mail from Parcel Motel last week - it contained some OPIs and China Glaze polishes I had ordered from some of their most recent collections, and I was dying to try them out!

I decided to crack out the OPIs first. I thought the two colours would look good together, and thought that I might as well have a stab at doing a gradient with them.

The colours I got were from the brand's recently-released Euro Centrale collection; I got Can't Find My Czechbook (the greeny-blue) and You're Such A Budapest (lilac). To start off I applied three coats of YSAB to my nails. I found it a bit streaky, but in hindsight, I think I applied this while my basecoat was still a bit tacky, so that could be the reason. Once that was dry, I applied the gradient by dabing with a makeup sponge painted with a bit of CFMC and YSAB onto my nails, using an up-and-down movement to (try to) blend the colours a bit better. I topped it all off with one coat of Seche Vite to smooth it all out at the end.

I'm pretty happy with my first full non-glitter gradient. Some nails are a bit patchy, and they're not exactly uniform, but I like them. I think my thumb turned out the best, so he gets his own picture for being so cooperative :)

I was going to add some stamping over this as well, but I decided against it in the end (mostly because it was 11:30pm and I was tired). This is the plainest manicure I've worn since I started getting to nail art last July; I think they look really bald with no design on them, but I think I need a plain day every now and again to help reset my mind and get some new ideas going.

I really like the look of this collection. I'm going to try wearing YSAB again and see if it's still as streaky. I hope it's not, as I really like the colour, and it has a faint shimmer that I didn't notice in the bottle which is lovely. I'm looking forward to using CFMC again, I think the colour is lovely and, as far as I can remember, it's unique to my stash. I have my eye on a few of the other shades that I'll pick up after next pay-day; I'm dying to get my grubby little mitts on Polka.com and I Saw...U Saw...We Saw...Warsaw (this one screams TARDIS Blue, I NEED it!!)!

I've ordered some new nail swag this week which I'm dying to get my hands on, so stay tuned for some cool art coming over the next week or two!

Thanks for reading!
Ciao for now x