Blue Essie Gradient Nails For WinkDay

Today is #WinkDay, an awareness day of the blues faced by many people battling cancer across the country.  Wink Day is a campaign by Beauty Gives Back, the charitable arm that combines the power of many of the beauty and cosmetic companies in Canada.  They run programs like Look Good Feel Better where they teach women how to apply makeup and take care of their skin during the changes their bodies face during cancer treatments.

Every time you buy makeup from a participating beauty company, you are helping.  But they also have events such as Shoppers Drug Mart Beauty Galas where the proceeds directly benefit Look Good Feel Better and other campaigns.  Today, $5 is donated for every photo uploaded with #WinkDay tagged, or even retweets of Shoppers Drug Mart’s tweet – so a second of your time can make a difference.  So throw on some blue makeup and take a selfie of you winking to support women feeling the cancer blues!

Since blues do not really suit me for makeup, I am wearing a gradient of blue essie polishes today for #WinkDay instead.  Not sure why I love blue on my nails so much when it loos terrible on my eyes but anyway, on to my mani!

Essie Blues – Gradient Nails for #WinkDay

I used

• Essie Private Weekend (white)
• Essie Salt Water Happy (pale blue)
• Essie Pret a Surfer (darker blue)
• Pro-FX Sticky Base Coat
• Pro-FX Supreme Gel top coat
• Glisten & Glow Ctrl-Alt-Del latex barrier (because no one likes cleaning up gradient nails)
• Latex free makeup sponge

Starting with a base of white which I allowed to dry then added Pro-FX top coat so that the colour did not lift when sponging on my gradient.  I sponged on a gradient of Private Weekend, Salt Water Happy and Pret a Surfer with two layers of each allowing some dry time between sponging.  Essie polishes are fairly thin and this collection although fairly opaque is no different so you do see some sponge marks in the polish.

Topped with another coat of Pro-FX gel top coat to seal the colour and help blend a little more.  Once dry, peel off the latex barrier and clean up around the cuticles, because gradient nails are messy.

You can join the #WinkDay twitter party at 1pm to learn more about the work they do, plus a chance to win a prize!