Sunrise and Sunset - Study in Gradients

I have been planning to try a gradient manicure for some time now, and since filing my nails so short I've been looking for deigns that would visually elongate my nail bed. Seemed like a great time to try!

I've tried twice now, both times inspired by the colors of sunset. The first was a yellow to red fade with shimmer and the second a deep blue to purple, like the sky just after the sun disappears entirely.

Here's some closeups of each.

This mani used China Glaze Orange You Hot? with Hard Candy Lava dabbed on with a makeup sponge.  In an attempt to make it more halloweeny I tried to do a Jack-o-lantern accent thumb.

 NOT my best work... *sigh*

And here's the purple blue goodness! The blue was Revlon Royal, a gorgeous blue jelly that is opaque in one coat and the purple is a Funky Fingers that I got as a gift. My camera didn't really do well with differentiating between two dark deep colors... and frankly neither did my eyes. In the bottle, the colors were different but once layered, most of that difference disappeared.

These two were taken inside. 

And all of these outside! Our yellow mums are coming up. ^.^

Moral of the gradient story: Makeup sponges are great for creating an even fade, but choose colors that are already very different. My blue and purple were already pretty similar, and layering the purple over the blue made it just as dark. The orange and red though... that I'm definitely going to do again. :)

Happy painting!