Hey guys! I'll admit that I struggled to figure out how to achieve what I wanted to achieve with this week's #CBBxManiMonday inspired by the #summernails hashtag on Instagram. I had been seeing a lot of these multi-coloured pastel baby boomer nails and I kind of fell in love with them, but all of the mani's I saw were done by nail techs and I couldn't figure out how to get the technique right. In all honesty, I ended up trying a few different techniques that just absolutely didn't work and ended up being taken off right away (my poor cuticles!) before I started again. BUT in the end, I got exactly the look I wanted and I'm kind of in love with it. Seriously, can't stop looking down at my nails. 

Keep reading to see how I got this look!

Ultimately, the problem I had the first few times was that I was trying to do my gradient using a nude polish for the lower half of my nail and it just wasn't giving me the look I wanted. Ultimately what worked and gave me exactly the look I wanted was to pair the pastel polish at the tip with a clear polish at the base to get the blend that I wanted without adding any actual colour other than the one at the tip. Because the pastel polishes I ended up using weren't necessarily as pigmented as I might have wanted and I didn't have an opaque base to build on, this did take a lot of building but it ended up giving a really smooth gradient from completely naked into opaque.

Initially, I was planning on keeping these nails matte, so once my gradient was done, I applied one coat of Sinful Colors Matte Top Coat (pictured below in the macro). After a couple of hours, though, I decided that I really didn't love the matte finish on them, so I added a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Clearly Quick and I ended up enjoying the final product a lot more!

All Products Used

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Clearly Quick

Color Club - Meet Me At The Rink

Color Club - Get It, Girl!

Color Club - Can You Not?

Color Club - Like A Boss

Sinful Colors Matte Top Coat

Triangle Makeup Sponges

e.l.f. Concealer Brush for clean up

Ultimately I'm just so thrilled that I figured this out - evidence that sometimes tenacity is what really gets the job done when trying to recreate a nail look you've loved. I'm really glad that I figured out what works best to get boomer nails done. Who knows, this might end up being something I try out in different styles and vibes!

As always, be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof, See The World in PINK, and Tea & Nail Polish today to see what #summernails inspired them for #CBBxManiMonday!

Thanks for reading!