31DC2013 Day 02: Orange Gradient Chevrons

It's day two of the #31DC2013 and the theme is orange nails. I had a hard time getting inspired by this particular prompt! I tried pulling out some orange shades to see if staring at them would help me come up with an idea... Unfortunately, it didn't.

So off I went to my Instagram "Photos you've liked" page to see if anything there inspired me. Luckily, this tactic yielded better results than my first one. I saw a beautiful gradient chevron manicure tutorial by Storm and Stars and knew I just had to give it a go.

For my version, I used Essie Blanc as the white base, China Glaze Sun Worshipper as the lighter orange, and Orly Melt Your Popsicle as the darker shade.

Ultimately, this is a tape manicure, so you will need zigzag craft scissors or pinking shears to cut the tape. I checked out the craft scissors at Michael's first, but wasn't really impressed. They seemed pretty dull! So I moved on to the sewing section and picked up some pinking shears from Loops & Threads. They're a little more expensive than the craft scissors but they are super sharp and worked great. Don't forget to use a coupon!

The original tutorial uses scotch tape, but I opted to use painter's tape myself. Be sure to stick it to wax paper while you are cutting it -- it makes the tape much easier to work with. I applied the cut pieces to my nails and then sponged a gradient over the top of them. A few minutes of cleanup and I was finished!

I'm super crazy about how well these tape chevrons turned out, and I'm glad I invested in the more expensive shears. I know I will be using them a lot in the future!

Again, for more details on how to achieve this look, visit Storm and Stars' tutorial.

More 31 Day Challenge
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My orange nails from 2012!
My orange nails from 2011!