Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "10. Ombre"

As I mentioned in the post about #7 in Plasma Plays in 21 Ways, I'm still not clear on the difference between a "gradient" and an "ombre".  So, I'm going with "gradient" is with different shades of the same color, and "ombre" is different colors. 

As I also mentioned previously, I'm not so crazy about the whole sponging process to get the polishes to fade into one another.  It results in TONS of layers that don't dry.  WELL, in doing my research (aka drooling over gorgeous nail art pics on the net), I found two things that made me feel better about this whole process:

1. I saw the Eastern Night Cocktail's pic
2. I figured out that the sponge should be WET

That last bit of news was a total "DUH" moment.  My sponge kept soaking up my polish, rather than patting onto my nail like everyone else's, and I couldn't figure it out.  Thank God for YouTube!  :-)

So, that mani is like, totally gorgeous, right?  And I am loving the matte finish more than I should.  So, here's my version:

The first and last are without flash.  I really like the gradient effect under the matte finish!  This mani looks waaaay better in person.  I used China Glaze "Seduce Me" and Sinful Colors "Let's Talk" topped with NYC Matte Top Coat.  After I added the normal top coat dots, I regretted them, and I should have left them off...I need more dotting practice!  Live & learn!

Speaking of learning, this time after I polished my nails with the red, I polished a layer of purple on the top part of my nail and let it dry.  Then I sponged (with a WET sponge) purple a little further into the red.  Then I took a little polish on my polish brush and "pounced" on the obvious line between the polished-on purple, and the sponged-on purple to even things out.  This technique worked MUCH better for me, and made the whole process bearable.

YAY for matte ombres!!