Daisy Duke Bikini by Chi Chi Cosmetics - Design 2 - African Sunset

I've been seeing a lot of sunset gradient manicures lately and I thought this orange would go well in such a gradient. However I didn't want to do a traditional sunset gradient because the orange of Daisy Duke Bikini wouldn't have been the feature, which is what I want to show in these design series. Therefore I created an African Sunset manicure with Daisy Duke Bikini as the main feature of the gradient, as shown below.

To create this design I painted a base of Sinful Color - Snow Me White and then, using a make up sponge, created a gradient using Chi Chi - Daisy Duke Bikini (orange), Rimmel - Sunshine (yellow) and the back to Chi Chi - Daisy Duke Bikini (orange). Using a large fan brush from the born pretty store, I ran over the gradient a few times to make it blend to a more sunsetty colour (it's kind of hard to explain, I do have a picture tutorial I'll post in the overview once all designs are created). To smmoth the gradient I used 1 coat of Essie, No Chips Ahead and waited for the whole thing to dry. 

After the top coat had dried, I used black acrylic paint and a thin nail art brush, once again from the born pretty store, to free hand the trees, birds and grass. I know when you think Africa, you think desert and therefore no grass but I added it in because otherwise it was quite boring. Also the birds were not a preplanned idea. I was planning on an elephant silhouette but as you can see, my nail shape and size has changed from my last post and therefore I didn't realise how little canvas I was working with, so I had to change my idea.

After free-handing the birds and trees, I topped the whole thing with another coat of Essie, No Chips Ahead. The only problem I have with this topcoat is it'll bubble or get bedsheet imprints if it's not had most of the day to dry. Therefore, as you'll be able to see (because I took pictures the day after I painted these) the nails are slightly textured. I overcame this by adding a matte top coat. These look wayyyy better matte. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this design. I still think it's pretty simple and it's another way to think of wearing that one nail polish you have no idea what to do with! I'll leave you with more pictures.

Swatch||Design 1