Fix your sights on a colorful French fade for spring

Move over ombré — the fade is here, and it’s giving rainbow lovers a reason to rejoice. While an ombré manicure simply blends variations of the same color together to create a gradient effect, the fade blurs any combination of shades together to satisfy your desire for variety.

This French fade uses the classic translucent pink gel for the area near the cuticle, but that’s where the similarity ends. You’ll need two translucent gels to create this look as well as opaque magenta gel for the tip. Just as with makeup, blending is key to mask the telltale lines between colors, so grab a comb brush and get ready to create something magical.

Materials
- Translucent pink nail gel (Born Pretty, Flower Wedding)
- Comb brush
- Translucent blue nail gel (FairyGlo, 6705)
- Opaque magenta nail gel (Born Pretty, Fire of the Stars)
- Paper towels (optional)
- LED lamp (Lumcrissy, not shown)
- No-wipe top coat (Cheri)

Instructions
1. Apply translucent pink nail gel to the rear third of your nail, starting at the cuticle.

2. Use the comb brush to paint the center of your nail with translucent blue nail gel.

3. Apply opaque magenta nail gel to the tip of your nail, then use the comb brush to drag the blue paint slightly over the magenta.

4. Wipe the comb brush on a paper towel to remove the nail gel. Tip: Repeat this step each time you use the brush to avoid muddling the colors.

5. Blur the line between the pink and blue nail gel with the comb brush.

6. Cure the wet gel with the lamp.

7. Apply another layer of blue gel to the center of your nail, and use the comb brush to drag the gel slightly over the magenta and pink colors as well.

8. Darken the tip with more magenta polish, and drag it into the blue gel once more.

9. Add a second coat of pink gel to the cuticle area, and use the comb brush again to blur it with the blue.

10. Cure the wet gel once more with the lamp.

11. Protect your rainbow creation by applying a layer of no-wipe top coat over it

12. Cure the wet gel with the LED lamp one final time.

Stay pretty!