I actually redid these gradient glitter nails today using Estee Lauder Surreal Violet from Fall collection 2010. My fave lavender was turning a bit sticky sitting in the bottle but months ago, worldclass manicurist & nail artist, Marian Newman,tweeted an essential tip that helped me resurrect this old polish. She advised pouring good quality top coat and NOT polish remover or acetone to thin out old polish, the latter ruins the formula. Almost everyone and their grandmother thinks that pouring solvent or acetone will revive old polish. Apparently it’s not ideal. Yesterday I used a base polish that turned a little too dark, wasn’t as smooth and chipped right away coz I thought I wouldn’t be able to use my beloved Surreal Violet until I remembered Marian’s tip for its ressurection.
From LEFT: OPI Teenage Dream, Nubar Gem, Estee Lauder Surreal Violet
I used these 3 polishes to achieve the look and there are quite a few layers but I painted them thinly. I started with Caronia basecoat, 2 coats of Surreal Violet, Nubar Gem was used halfway up in light strokes for the extemely fine micro shimmer, then Teenage Dream provided the up front glitter edge.
I used Caronia Fast Drying Top Coat to revive my Surreal Violet polish. I poured a little bit in and shook it till i could hear the tiny ball knocking about again…which I wasn’t hearing anymore prior to this experiment.
After mixing in the topcoat I applied Surreal Violet and it was not streaky at all and covered my nail so easily. It took me 1.5 hrs to get these glitter nails done cleanly for today…had a 30 minute detour thanks to smudging 1 or 2 fingers by accident and redoing them on the way to perfection. I’m excited to revive a lot of my old polishes thanks to Marian’s tip, why don’t you guys give it a go?