Challenge - Animal - Nudibranch Nails!

Meet Mr. Chromodoris roboi.
He can grow as big as 26mm! (We're really impressed)

I'm a teensy bit too excited about these! I pinterest stalk nudibranchs pretty hard and it came to me that they could make for some amazing nail inspiration. The hard part was trying to narrow which tiny color bomb could be done justice in polish! I couldn't hope to capture it completely since they are such ethereal, surreal little things.


In my pinterest "research" (If I call it research I can procrastinate doing the dishes guilt free, right?), I came upon this little guy who reminded me of reverse gradients.  I formulated my plan based on that idea.

First, I laid down a coat of OPI My BF Scales walls and topped it with Julep Bess. Then, I sponged a gradient using F21 Earl Grey to about three quarters down the nail and covered it all with a topcoat.  Next, I cut irregular shapes out of tape using an xacto knife and placed them on my nails to mimic the pattern on the nudibranch.  I sponged a gradient of Julep Nina, Lucy, and Cleopatra over this (careful to line up Bess with the Lucy/Cleopatra gradient), removed the tape and popped on another topcoat.

 

 I love the outcome! Reverse gradients are one of my favorite techniques. What are some of yours?