if you're interested in learning how to create this black and red gradient nail design please keep watching the items used in this tutorial will be listed on my blog if you're interested for more information please visit the full blog entry link below in the comments section after you've prepped your nails that is pushed back your cuticles and filed and buffed your nails paint on two coats of your favorite base coat the pace coat I'm using is jealous I use two coats for this tutorial since we are using a red polish which can stay nails even with the best base coats once dry apply one coat of red polish this is wet and wild wild shine in for one for a this polishes opaque enough that you only need one coat but if you choose to use a different polish you may need a second coat once dry get your makeup sponge ready in this tutorial I am using a triangle makeup sponge using a pair of sharp scissors we're going to cut the sponge in half we only need the width of the sponge to be wide enough to fit two stripes of Polish I'll show you later in the video what I mean you now have two sponges of the same width one for each hand next we are going to add our black polish I am using the wet and wild wild shine and for two for a using your black polish paint one third of your nail typically I would go straight in with a sponge but I want the black to be completely opaque on the tips make sure to let this dry completely before moving on get your polishes prepared for blending you want to use a non-porous surface that is plastic or glossy paper or in my case a compact mirror for this next step you don't want your surface to absorb any of the polish make sure to orient your sponge so that you're using the cut side of the sponge here as an example of what was done earlier take your red polish and draw a stripe onto your works up surface make sure it is at least the width of your nail next take the black polish and create another stripe adjacent to the first stripe as you can see here the stripes are touching next orient your sponge to the stripes for dipping like mentioned before the width of the cut side is exactly the height needed for two stripes press your sponge into the Polish now begin dabbing you want to dab in an up and down and left and right motion blending the two lines together repeat this process for the rest of your nails creating stripes dipping and dabbing you can do this over and over again until you have blended as you like once complete pour nail polish remover or acetone into the cap for cleaning using a q-tip clean the excess polish from around your cuticle at this point the blended design looks like a mess finish this off with your favorite top coat I really like safe feet for this because regardless of how crazy and bumpy the gradient is the finished product is completely smooth and dry within minutes such feet is great at filling in the voids and smoothing out lines so there you have it the finished look hope you enjoyed if you like this tutorial and want to see more follow me on Facebook Instagram or Pinterest and if you're really interested subscribe to my channel thanks for watching this is Erica from from brains to beauty