Dreaming of Summer with a Neon Gradient

The other day I showed you some new polish babies. After wearing my Green Tea manicure for a day, I took it off and went to my new neon polishes. Holy crap do I love these colors. They make me happy. I want summer to be here soooo bad. It's been in the 40-50s here and it's mid April. Mother Nature needs to get her freaking act together. 

I started off just swatching these to see the colors. I started off with a base of China Glaze White Out as a base for both of these colors. Here you see 3 thin coats. This polish is finicky. The pay off is good, but it is a giant pain in the ass to make look good. It's all streaky and patchy. 

After getting a good base of white down, I started off with Studio M's Orange Sunset. This polish is so bright and yummy. It was also incredibly hard to photograph. At first I was worried about this brand since it was new to me, but boy did it pay off.. Orange Sunset applied easily and took one coat over the white. The brush was easy to manipulate. Overall I really like this brand so far. 

Next up, I have Studio M Thunderbolt. This neon purple isn't as in your face as Orange Sunset, but I still love it. All the good things I said about the orange polish, apply here too. It is applied over a base of China Glaze White Out. 

After swatching these, I decided I wanted to do a fun gradient with them. I added in China Glaze Pool Party a bright neon pink, between Orange Sunset and Thunderbolt. It was the perfect color, it really helped the gradient flow smoothly between the two Studio M colors. It took two "stampings" essentially to get the colors as bright as you see them here. 

I topped the gradient with coat of Seche Vite and it smoothed the colors out nicely. I loved the gradient so much. I should have left it alone. Did I? No.

I decided to stamp it up with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep and Bundle Monster plate 316. I actually really like the stamping on it. I think it adds something fun. I did decide to do the inverse stamp on my ring fingers as an accent, and I wish I had just done the same stamp on all 5 fingers. This is one of those times, where not having an accent nail is better. I need to get better at recognizing those moments.

Are you wearing any polishes and dreaming of warm weather lately?

Enjoy & Until next time, Amy Lee