Hello ladies,
Today I am wearing Nubar Sapphire and Tiara as a gradient manicure. These polishes are part of the Royal Gems collection now available at bynubar.com. I am besotted with Sapphire. If I didn't love you ladies so much, I would be tempted to wander away with Sapphire on my fingertips for days.
Here, Sapphire is shown in low light. The gradation with Tiara is clearest without the strong solar reflection.
Behind the polish bottles, you can see a hint of the garden and the start of the University City section of Philadelphia.
Little butterfly, big flower.
This is my first attempt at a gradation manicure. I am really pleased with it. Reading wixology, I realized, though I lacked the requisite gradation liquid, I do have Orly Smudge Fixer on hand as a substitute. Thanks wixbetty for this wonderful idea! I recommend reading her tutorial. I used a slightly different method. Tiara is a fairly thick glitter polish. I painted the French at the highest part of the tip. Tiara has enough concentration of glitter to be almost completely opaque. I used what was left on the brush to paint another French arch right below. I brushed on Smudge Fixer from the tip to just above the moon of the nail. I wiped off the excess Smudge Fixer on a paper towel. Then I lightly bumped the brush against my nail in a downwards motion to gradate the glitter. I added Tiara to each nail individually, did the gradation and then sealed the nail with Nubar Diamont topcoat before moving to the next. I also painted a layer of topcoat between Sapphire and Tiara to protect the base color from the movement of the brush.
Now I need to speak of Nubar Sapphire. If I had to make a top ten of favorite blue polishes, Sapphire would rank highly. Blue micro glitter floats in a stunning royal shimmer base. The glitter is omnipresent on the nail. If Tiara weren't included in the set, I would have worn this color alone, not because of time constraints but out of the sheer love for this polish. You all know how I favor embellishing my nails. Sapphire is quite lovely on it's own.
The application of Sapphire was perfection. It was easily opaque in two coats. If you haven't tried Nubar polishes, please do. If the others available come anywhere close to the quality application of Emerald and Sapphire, then I feel secure you will be as pleased with them as I am. They seem less like nail polish and more like high grade paint.
Tiara was included in the Royal Gems Collection as a glittery topping. If you want to wear it as such, I would recommend using an extra thin coat. The glitter is concentrated enough it could easily be worn alone. It has the perfect consistency for creating a glitter French. If you have wanted to try painting a French freehand, Tiara would be a favorable choice.
Happy painting ladies!