In this blog post, Paul Sheriff demonstrates how to give a reflection a little more depth and interest to the user’s eye.
Source: Paul's Blog
Gradients are pretty easy to add in Visual Studio. There is no need to go into Expression Blend. Simply click on a Grid or Border control, then go to the Properties Window and drop down the arrow next to the Background property as shown by callout #1 in Figure 2. You can then select the 3rd icon from the left just above color palette (callout #2). That is the Linear Gradient brush. Then down below the color palette (callout #3) you can select whether you want a horizontal, vertical or radial type of gradient.