My first ever sponge gradient using W7 white and Barry M polishes; prickly pear, blossom and greenberry

Hi! I'm just doing today's mani, so while I wait for my base coat to dry, I thought I'd share with you my first attempt at a sponge gradient mani! I hope your week gets off to a great start!

What I used in todays blog post

Base coat - OPI matte nail envy

Colour coats - W7 white

Top coat - Duri rejuvacote

Nail art - Barry M polishes; prickly pear, blossom and greenberry

Where I bought what I used

OPI matte nail envy - http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/vlnailsupply

Duri rejuvacote - http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/buydailydeals?_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2754

W7 white polish - This was sent to me for review and that review has previously been posted, please see my disclaimer page for more info

Barry M polishes - http://www.superdrug.com

Sponges - Poundland

Other places you can get what I used

OPI matte nail envy - http://www.opiuk.com/store/nail-envy/matte-nail-envy-boxed-

Duri rejuvacote - http://www.duricosmetics.com/duri-cosmetics-rejuvacote-05-05.html

W7 white polish -  http://www.w7cosmetics.co.uk

Barry M polishes - http://www.barrym.com

First I used two coats of the W7 white polish as a base for the gradient, so that the colours would show up properly. This W7 polish is my favourite white! 

I then used a cosmetic wedge sponge to do the gradient. I got a big bag of cosmetic sponges in all different shapes and sizes from Poundland so I could try this out, there are a few round ones but the majority are wedge sponges. I used the rectangle part of the sponge to paint on my gradient. 

I have absolutely no clue why the sponge shows yellow at the top - on my photo it doesn't appear until I upload to blogger! I have read some other people complaining of this so I will look into it but I didn't use yellow! *Edit I think I've fixed it but I've now deleted this photo (Clever Tara) 

To apply the gradient to my nails, I painted one coat of each polish onto the sponge and then left it a few second and painted on another coat of each to try and blend the colours together better. I then worked one nail at a time and rolled the gradient across my nail like you would when stamping, so working from one side of the nail and gently rolling the sponge across and up at the same time.  I repeated that twice to give a stronger colour.

I top coated using Duri and here is the finished design!

I will be practising using other colours and various brands etc so hopefully I'll improve and have perfect gradients soon!

Tara x