Though it very much wasn't my intention and I didn't even really notice until several hours after finishing doing today's mani, I definitely inadvertently created a nail art that just straight up reminds me of the school picture day background of my youth. Don't get me wrong, I know it isn't a straight up recreation - that would be a bit of a stretch for something so unintended - but way the graphic lines and the shades in the gradient vibe together just completely makes me think of all of the absolutely tragic school pictures my mom has of me from over the years. Ugh. Anyway, I like the mani though!

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As I've taken to doing with gradients, I started with one coat of a pastel purple shade to all of my nails as a base for my gradient. I like to go with a pastel version of something in the color family I'm using for the gradient because it pops the colors without being stark if you see a little bit on cleanup (and also it's not white, which is forever the bane of my existence.)

When choosing the shades for my gradient, I really wanted to keep it cool toned and a smooth transition (although in the end, that didn't quite work out the way I hoped.) I went with a deep orchid pink, grape purple, a richer blue and a slightly less than neon turquoise. In the end, I did three passes to get the opacity that I was looking for, but there was a bit of an issue with the opacity of the blue shade and it didn't make for the most seamless blend. Still, it works and I need to be less of a perfectionist. 

When it came to the stamping for this mani, I knew that I wanted to add this leaf image to a couple of my nails, but I also felt like it needed more. I decided to go with this graphic line image stamped in a charcoal grey because I knew that it would show up and add interest and draw the eye without being too high contrast and busy. I applied the line image to all of my nails, alternating the direction that I placed it in, and then went in with the leaf image stamped in black and also alternated direction on my middle two fingers.

Once I was happy with my stamping, I sealed it in with a water based top coat and finished with a generous coat of quick dry glossy top coat and voila!

I'm having a moment right now of really, really love these darker, cool toned neons that I've lovingly named Nighttime Neons. They have that intense brightness, but also a really interesting depth. As someone who is... let's be honest, very much over summer at this point, sticking to these deeper tones for the end of summer just feels right. And, you know, even though this makes me think of my school photo background and all of the embarrassing memories that come along with it, I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for reading!