Hunger Games 'Girl on Fire' Nail Tutorial

As I've said before, I'm a bit of a massive nerd. So, I thought I'd combine two of my loves, being a nerd and painting my nails, in honour of the release of the Hunger Games movie (going to a midnight screening tonight. Excited!) Here is my tutorial for Katniss Everdeen inspired 'Girl on Fire' ombre nails!

 Step 1: Gather your nail polish. You will need a black (to represent the black coal of District 12) and a few reds/oranges to create the gradient (I also have a yellow here, which I will explain as we go), and if you like, a glitter to finish and tie it all together.

You will also need a make up sponge, cute into small pieces, and a pair of tweezers. This is used to gently daub the colour onto yours nails, and blend the colours to create the ombre effect.

 Step 2: Paint all your nails black, using your favourite black nail polish. Allow to dry.

 Step 3: Using the tweezers and small piece of sponge, gently sponge on some red polish, about 1/3 of the way up your nail. I would then recommend sponging a little more black at the base of the red, then perhaps layering this with a little more red, as this helps to create a real blended look. For a great example of what I mean (it's difficult to explain without demonstrating!) check out this excellent video from Pixie Polish that demonstrates fantastic blending.

Step 4: Blend in your next colour. I originally planned to just blend straight from red to orange, but I found that the orange wasn't quite strong enough to show up on the black. This is where the yellow came in handy. I added a little yellow along the top of my nail, then layered the orange over this and it brought out the orange colour a lot more, and also created more of a gradient. Then blend the orange and red together, about halfway up your nail, like you did the red and black. 

Some examples of my blending process.

 Step 5: Coat with glitter, and finish with a top coat and you're done! I decided to use a large, gold glitter here, to represent Katiniss' gold mockingjay pin. However I wasn't 100% sold on the look of the glitter, so did the other hand without it to compare. What do you think? Glitter or no? I'd love to know if anyone else out there is a Hunger Games fan, and if you try this, or some variation of this :) Once again, sorry if my instructions are unclear, I'm a bit of a newbie at writing tutorials!

 Now, go out there and show the Capitol what you're made of!