Experimenting with a Star Gradient

I've been exploring Pinterest lately and it really is a good place to find different ideas for nails, not to mention bunnies in hats.  This particular mani I saw the other day particularly caught my eye, namely the contrast between the sparkly foil gradient and the flat white star accents.  With a little time on my hands tonight I thought I'd give it a try.

First up, I applied two medium coats of a persistent favourite, Sally Hansen Celeb City.  It always seems to be tagging along in my posts but this is the first time I'm featuring so prominently.  Celeb City is a really pretty silver foil and is so sparkly it's practically a glitter.  Given I can actually buy it at my supermarket, how could you go wrong?  
     Next up, I sponged on a thin coat of Love & Beauty Royal, a blue foil.  This turned out to be a good choice for a gradient as it's quite thin.  I had a problem at this stage though that the transition from silver to blue was not smooth.  I fixed this by sponging on more silver but waiting for it to turn slightly tacky before applying.  This meant less polish went on the nail and helped ease the transition.
   Finally, I touched up the tips using my favourite blue foil, Orly Sweet Peacock.  This one has a thicker consistency so helped me get a stronger effect on the tips.  Once done, I added another tacky coat of Celeb City to ensure the transition was as seamless as possible.  On with a coat of Seche Vite.

I thought long and hard about what to do about the stars.  I have a good stamp for stars but I'm not happy with any of my white polishes for stamping at the moment.  Given I've had a few glasses of wine tonight, I decided to just wing it with Sally Hansen Whirlwind White (my current white go-to) and a nail art brush.  I'm actually pretty happy with how the stars turned out.  They're not perfect by any means but they create close enough of an effect.

I love this close up shot, by the way :)

The Verdict:  This is one of my first attempts at a non-glitter gradient and I'm really happy with the results.  I should note that I used an eyeshadow sponge for the gradient application and it was actually pretty good for it.  I'm going to have to keep experimenting with gradients, I think.  I also have to thank a fellow blogger for the idea.