Author: Lavanda Beauty Studio
One of the most common ways to decorate nails is the universally recognized ombre manicure 2022. Creating such a gradient creative work at home in familiar conditions will not be difficult.
Having emerged not so long ago, in a short period of time it has managed to become a priority species for literally any season. The explanation for this success is simple.
Just after looking at a small number of photos of ombre-type manicure, you involuntarily begin to admire both the variations of its independent executions and admire the additional decorative elements, which include rhinestone inclusions, painting, and stamping.
Essentially, it consists of applying a soft transition from one color scheme to another. Organically, in this way, you can combine two, three and four varnishes, but no more, so as not to lose a certain charm and aesthetics due to excessive flashiness.
Its undeniable advantage is considered to be an amazing opportunity to visually lengthen nails, so this option of ombre manicure for short nails is for those with short nails.
It has several names. In addition to the concept of gradient manicure, there are also stretching, degradation and ombre.
What is recommended to use for application?
To perform the ombre gel polish manicure technique, it is most convenient to use a sponge, which can be found on sale.
- These sponges with fine grains are produced in different shapes.
- This is very convenient in order to simplify the creation of color transitions as much as possible.
- Even a simple sponge designed for cleaning dishes copes with this task quite adequately.
First you will need to cut it into a couple of convenient pieces that you can simply do the work with. They must be commensurate with the size of the nails. To prevent dust from ruining your work, you will need to wash it in advance and then dry it well.
Choosing good color combinations
When making a choice, you need to be guided by your own feelings.
- Someone is guided by the time of year outside the window. For example, bright spring and summer colors differ from warm autumn or calm winter colors.
- Before going on vacation, I want a nautical theme.
- Before a hike or picnic - greenery, nature, naturalism.
- Many girls like to change colors depending on their mood. There are lovers of pastels, and their opposites are extravagant adherents of catchy colors.
Advice! The ideal base for any color scheme is plain white. But if you took two varnishes from the same line, and one is lighter than the other, it can be used as a base.
From gray to white
From mint to peach
Stretching shades of red
We suggest looking at the most interesting options that are most in demand lately:
- The spring theme involves combining white with all the options of pink, blue, soft green;
- Blue harmonizes well with pale pink, light yellow, lilac, black, light green;
- The trend is black and red or black and silver. The latter is ideal paired with a trouser suit or a fitted dark dress;
- A rainbow looks stylish and fun;
- The autumn palette includes all types of yellow, brown, purple, red, green;
- Traditionally, blue, blue, white, silver, metallic, gray are considered winter.
Beige + orange
From black to blue
Pink and white
Don't be afraid to experiment. Sometimes two opposite colors intertwine surprisingly harmoniously on a nail. Especially if you are wearing matching clothes or accessories.
How to do an ombre manicure
At the stage, which is common to all techniques, the surfaces of the nails are processed, the cuticles are removed, and the length is equalized to the same shape. It is recommended to apply a base underneath the varnish to protect the nail surface from pigmentation.
Then a light palette or white polish is applied to seal the finish without allowing the natural nail plate to show through. You need to make one thin layer to avoid bulkiness later.
You can use the technique you like most from the three offered:
- Do the work with a sponge;
- Use the foil surface for convenience;
- Perform a degrade manicure immediately by applying it to the surface of the nails using a sponge.
A little about the application features
When working on a gradient manicure using a sponge, you often encounter some difficulties. The skin around the nails may become dirty, the varnish may become covered with bubbles, and the desired transition cannot be achieved.
To avoid such unpleasant moments, you should use some clever tricks.
A manicure can be done quickly, efficiently and accurately if:
- To protect the skin, stick tape around the nail or apply a large amount of rich cream that is absorbed for a long time. In this case, special protective equipment that has been on sale for a long time helps. They are simply removed at the end of the manicure, taking with them all the varnish marks;
- Using a fine-grained sponge will reduce the number and size of bubbles to a minimum. Along with this, a method of preliminary applying two or three prints on foil or paper is considered a very effective measure to prevent their occurrence. Do not forget that the number of bubble formations decreases due to an increase in the number of layers;
- If it is problematic to obtain the desired transition, you should first familiarize yourself with the rules for selecting the most compatible compositional solutions. Increasing the number of layers with prints always helps smooth out the transition. To level the surface, the finishing varnish is applied transparent.
In addition, you should definitely take into account the fact that such a manicure requires a considerable amount of varnish, especially in the case of a coarse-grained sponge.
Combined decor
When used alone, a gradient manicure looks chic, subtle and graceful. For variety, it is often combined with popular techniques. Fortunately, it perfectly harmonizes or absorbs most of them.
Matte coating
Matte manicure looks very beautiful and unusual. Its appearance completely eliminates glare or glossy surfaces. The plate does not reflect light, it looks like suede. The decor is also called plush. The option with a gradient transition of undertones on a velvety nail turns out to be very expressive and catchy.
Matte manicure looks very beautiful and unusual
With French
Lunar, traditional or reverse French is a permanent classic in the nail industry. They resort to it when style, romance, conservatism, tenderness, purity, and grace are required. A light or bright tip emphasizes the beauty of the fingers and the well-groomed appearance of the plates. It attracts attention with its gracefulness, which is why it is so popular. Stretching is also performed on the main nail, or the tip itself is graded along an arc. By the way, this is a super fashionable trend of the last season.
French stretch
With rhinestones
Shiny stones will decorate any design. They are able to turn an everyday manicure into a work of art. They come in different sizes, colors, and are laid out according to the client’s wishes and the artist’s imagination. They perfectly highlight ombre, focusing attention on beautiful hands.
Shiny pebbles will decorate any design
Coating with natural texture
Have you seen nails painted to match the texture of natural stone? For example, marble, with its curls and relief. Malachite, granite, and also wood are popular. Now imagine that this art is also flavored with a soft, barely noticeable gradient!
Ombre marble
Note! In order not to overload the design, you can highlight just one or two nails. The rest can be done without complex design. This way the image will be more appropriate for everyday life.
With rubbing
It is performed in dozens of ways, using a variety of compositions, from sand to glitter and acrylic powder. The nail shines like a mirror and shimmers with a rainbow, which is very bright and impressive. Rubbing can also be combined with the technique in question. Just apply different powders to the sponge in strips and walk over the plate.
Ombre rub
With drawings
Geometry, flowers, ornament, artistic pictures. The pictures are varied. There are thousands of options for artistic themes on the Internet, which are selected depending on the time of year and a specific event. Meaningless abstraction, geometry, flowers, ornaments, hieroglyphs and much more are in fashion. Transitions are especially effective when combined with geometric shapes such as rhombuses, spirals, and ovals.
Watermelons
With voluminous patterns
This is a festive theme that is addressed before a celebration, wedding, or anniversary. Three-dimensional figures are sculpted from acrylic powder, various elements are glued to the nails, and the surface is decorated in any way.
With voluminous stones
Techniques of a different kind
Fashionable ombre manicure can be mastered using other techniques.
For example:
- By stretching using glitter, when they are partially applied to a plain varnish coating. There may be significantly more of them at the end than on the rest of the surface. To do this, they usually use glitter varnish, directing it either from the tip to the center or from the cuticle. Small sparkles with an uneven border look more impressive;
- Take advantage of the thermal varnish, which will independently complete the desired gradient thanks to the thermal effect. Just before using it, you should carefully study all the intricacies of working with such material according to the instructions;
- Perform a manicure using acrylic paints and a fan-type brush, when after applying a light tone to the very tip of the nail, it is then distributed in decreasing order over the remaining surface. After this, another tone is superimposed next to it, which slightly overlaps the first one. This creates a uniform transition. Then apply exclusively the second color independently, covering the common part. The remaining flaws, if present, are refined using any of these two shades, which must be drawn over the entire nail. After all the procedures, you can make some kind of drawing or simply coat your work with varnish on top.
It is worth carefully studying the color selection in order to be able to choose the most organic combination of the color palette.
White ombre design depending on the shape of the nails
White ombre looks great not only on long nails, but also on short ones. The advantage of this technique is that it optically lengthens the nails and makes the hands look elegant.
This will work especially well if you apply a more saturated shade at the base, and closer to the edge it will be lighter. A gradient will give an unusual effect when the color palette changes colors when moving from one finger to another. For medium and short length nail plates, a French manicure is suitable.
On too short nails, ombre looks unattractive and even funny.
For short nail lengths, it is advisable to take into account the following recommendations:
- cover 1/3 of the surface height with varnish, while making stretch marks in certain places;
- add sparkles to highlight them;
- perform the coating in smooth transitions;
- decorate with small glitter, and do not use large rhinestones.
Those with long nails are lucky:
- French looks beautiful on any plate shape (oval, sharp, square);
- you can use diagonal or vertical color stretching;
- It’s easy to realize the most daring ideas on an elongated surface.
