31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 10: Gradient Nails

If you've been in the nail art world long enough, you might notice there are some discrepancies between the terms "gradient" and "ombre." Personally, when I first got into nail art, I learned that a gradient is when the color transition happens on each individual nail and an ombre is when the color transitions over a series of nails from a lighter shade of a single color to a darker shade off that same color (one color per nail). There are some who swear ombre is what I think of as a gradient and vice versa. There are others who think the terms are interchangeable. If the nail art world can have an up in arms debate about something, it would be the difference between the two terms.

As an homage to this classic nail art argument, I decided to do a gradient look that also ombres - meaning, each nail has two colors that transition AND each nail color will go from light to dark - that way I can appease everyone's opinions! What can I say, I'm a people pleaser ;) 

I'm still trying to decide if I like the color combo I did for this look. It's a very hard transition and the purple I had hoped to achieve between the red and blue didn't appear as I had hoped it would. Regardless, I do think I like these. 

I used 10 colors for this look, mostly Zoyas (apparently I'm in a Zoya mood lately). From the thumb and starting with the red for each nail: 

Zoya Pepper

Zoya Natty

Zoya Livingston

Zoya Breezi

Zoya Maura

Zoya Robyn

Wet n Wild Heatwave

Zoya Yummy

China Glaze Surreal Appeal

Zoya Kristen

If you're looking for a gradient tutorial, there are several fabulous ones if you simply type in "gradient tutorial" or you can check out a Lulu*s tutorial I did a few weeks back that shows the steps I take for a gradient look. You can find that here. 

I also took a picture of the ombre that occurred before the gradient occurred using my red polishes. I really liked this ombre look on it's own :)

Where do you stand in the gradient/ombre debate? Also, final side note, I think I'm going to switch back to my dark background - thoughts between that and the white background?

Happy Polishing :)

An InLinkz Link-up