ABC Challenge: "F" is for Fair Game (solo & gradient!)

Woot, Woot!  It's Day 6  in Kimber's ABC Challenge - which means my co-challengers and I have been conjuring up manicures that in some way (polish name/brand, technique, color, etc.), connect to the letter "F".

With that in mind, I give you.....(drumroll, please....)

Fair Game

Fair Game is a gunmetal silvery-blue, from Essie's safari-inspired 2011 resort collection of the same name.  It's also a lacquer I inherited when Liz recently cleared a bunch of bottles from her stash. 

There are at least three schools of thought on the subject of Fair Game...

1. Streakiness (a common issue with shimmery/metallic-type formulas) is a polish-killer, and in the minds of many, it's time to stick a fork in this one.
2. That frosty finish?  B-O-R-I-N-G and dated (FYI: I'm seeing more of a shimmer/metallic than a frost). 
3. Shimmery/metallics are inherently streaky, BUT balance that against the associated self-leveling effect....the smoothing out of  one's imperfect nail bed.  Self-leveling means fewer brush strokes.  Fewer brush strokes means less "streakiness." Yeah, big surprise:  I'm an acolyte for this third school of thought. 

Just not seeing the streakiness.

But listen, I understand that whole "B-O-R-I-N-G" thing people talk about when reviewing Fair Game.   So, I consulted my polish collection, and retrieved some quick excitement...

L to R:  Essie Fair Game, Essie Beyond Cozy, and Revlon Stunning

WARNING, WILL ROBINSON!:  You're not imagining things.  I HAVE committed a blogging sin.  It WAS only last week that I posted a mani featuring Beyond Cozy, on its own, and with striping tape. You caught me, and I don't know what else to say.  Other than, how's about we just consider this my continued love letter to that fabulously smooth silver-gold Essie microglitter?  Hmmm? That, or just give me the requisite number of Hail Mary's and Glory Be's, and let's be done with it. OK? OK.

Now, where were we?

Oh, yes...this week, I decided to conduct an experiment in the LOZLOSA National Laboratory (that would be Liz's old bedroom) to determine how Essie Beyond Cozy and Revlon Stunning (a widely available circular holo glitter topper), performed as complementary gradients over Fair Game.

The test results conclude that Fair Game is Not So B-O-R-I-N-G Anymore....

Confession:  I'm a big fan of this waterfall-style gradient, and the way it splashes over the top of the nail. It's hard to screw up the design.

 
The DIY on this is easy:  Simply dab the glitter polishes onto those areas you want attention paid.  Use each bottle's brush.  No need for sponges or other tools.

Do it until you smile. 

 
Well, that's it for this week's contribution to Kimber's ABC Challenge.

Please join me in checking out what my creative and lovely co-challengers had in mind for "F"-inspired (this has all the potential of being out-of-control racy, if you ask me...) manis...