My guide to nail art, Part Two: Dotting Tools

Hi! I've been thinking of making this into a series of posts and if this one goes down well then I will :). I didn't even realise that today's Artsy Wedenesday challenge was dotting tools until I'd done all the designs haha. 


So todays post is all about the humble dotting tools, as with the last post this is all my own opinions and methods that I've figured out. If you don't have any dotting tools, why not? They are a couple of pounds off ebay and are easy to fix should they break like mine did. One of mine arrived broken so I simply fixed it with some blu tac, wrap it around the base of the dotter and simply push it back into the body and it will stay, et voila you can now use your once broken dotting tool :D 


There are three main sizes that I use almost every time 

You can see the blu tac sticking out of the yellow one :P. The smallest, a medium sized and the largest. The good thing about dotting tools is that you can get at least three different sized circles out of each dotter, depending on how much polish you use and how much pressure you apply. 


A method that I use when using dotting tools is the dip and drag method, you dip into a deep pool of polish and then put it to your nail and instead of dotting and pulling up, you dot and drag it along the nail. This can be used to fill in gaps of designs or draw lines (with the slimmest tool).   

This is my attempt to demonstrate the dip and drag, it'd be better as a video but I'm not ready to do a video :P. Like I explained earlier you dip in the pool of polish that you can see in the top of the paper, then you just put the dotter to paper and drag it until the polish runs out. 


I'm going to show you 8 mini tutorials, different ways to use a dotting tool, it doesn't just make circles ;). Under each of the steps with polish I've added an illustration to make it easier to see what I've done with the polish. 
First up is how to draw a moustache and panda eyes 

I hope these are pretty self explanatory, I used the largest tool for the big circles, the smallest for the lines and joining up the two different sized dots, using the dip and drag method. 

Next are flowers

Again I used the largest for the big circles on the first two flowers and the medium for smaller dots on the tulip shape, dragged the polish in a slight banana in between the two smaller dots. I prefer to do my flowers like the version two but it depends what look you're going for I guess :).

Leopard print and Butterflies

a-england Galahad, Kiko Melon, Nails Inc Chester Terrace, Kiko Dark Violet

Leopard print is one of the easiest designs to do with dotting tools as you literally can't go wrong, all you do it load your tool with polish and dot and drag around the splodge until you're happy but don't go all the way around. 

The butterfly is something I just thought of and I kind of like it, again it's simple but looks good, you don't have to leave it plain you can decorate the butterfly however you want, you don't have to do two colours either, I did to show the different shapes. 

Finally drips and hearts 

On the drip design the line of polish goes at either the tip or the base of the nail. I feel the first heart needs a little explanation, it's easy but you need to be quick. Dip and then drag in a v. If the polish runs out simply dip and drag again from the bottom of the v and that should sort it out. The second version takes a bit more effort but it looks quite cute ;). 

The thing to think about regarding dotting is to think of the circles as a means to an end, they don't have to be the final product, use the dots as a skeleton for other shapes and the possibilities are almost endless. It reminds me of when I was younger and I'd watch art attack and he'd use circles and sausage shapes to be the framework for his drawings and it's exactly the same principle with dotting tools. So get inventive! 

I hope you find this useful and maybe it inspires you to give nail art a go! If you do try any of my methods let me know, I'd love to check them out :) 

Floral nail art

Hey, so yesterday I was going to post swatches of Dior Riviera but looking back over the photos, I realised I couldn't post them as Riviera looks nothing like what my pictures were showing :( so I'm showing you the nail art I did over it instead. I'll post Riviera once I get my camera back! 
I have this top and it's really nice and summery so I thought it would make perfect nails....it did! 

Right hand - sorry about the background...didn't have time to grab my backdrop  

Left hand - natural light 

I rather like it, they feel quite oriental for some reason, I like it because it's not your usual roses/daisies not that there's anything wrong with those but I felt like having something different :). In reality the base colour is a strong orange coral not pinky! 

I created the flowers with a medium and smallest dotting tools I dotted a white circle then at the bottom of the circle I drew a curved line to make a bell shape. Then I added the dark grey and a lighter grey to act as shading. I used a dark green nail art pen to draw the stems, then I used Essie Navigate Her with the smallest dotting tool and went above the dark green lines to create light and shadow :P. That was the most time consuming point but after that it went really quickly. My left hand wasn't even shaking when I did my right hand!!

So that inspired me to practise writing with my left hand everyday until I become fully ambidextrous hahahah! Incase my right hand ever gets injured of course ;). 

There you have it! I hope everyone has a good weekend :) my sister is running 3 miles for cancer research on sunday so that's where I'll be supporting her, she's doing it with college otherwise I would have joined her! 

China Glaze Fast Track & Nail art

The other day I wanted a cleanser so I chose Fast track which Katee sent me :) I know everyone has seen this before so I'll keep this bit short and sweet, promise ;). On me it was very browny beige because I am so pale, it took me about a day to like it :P I loved the shimmer though, so nice 

It was opaque in two smooth coats and it dried fairly quickly, this is with a topcoat and natural light. 
Cos it is a nice neutral I wanted to embelish it slightly so I chose the only thing anyone would ever choose....moustichios of course! 

I like them, they're cute and everyone at uni loves them ha! They make my fingers feel clever ;) and they were so easy to do, just two dotting tools, you make four dots and two connecting lines and you're away! My favourite kind of nail art is the simple kind, you want to enjoy doing your nails not get stressed out and these were perfectly relaxing :). 

At the moment I'm trying to capture the beauty of Dior Lucky but I'm failing hopefully I'll have a decent photo for tomorrow. I sent Candy shop to my sister yesterday and she text me today saying her trademark phrase of 'I love it' so she's happy with it, she sent me a picture of her nails, she used it on her artificial tips but I think it would look really cute on her full natural nails as she has shorties. 

Hope you enjoyed! 

L'oreal Perle de jade NOTD

Hi lovelies, tonight I have a newish (?) shade from L'oreal which is a brand I have never tried however Boots were having a 3 for 2 offer and the promo shots looked so good, I couldn't resist. Perle de Jade is a dusty jade and it is rather lovely. I used two coats and all of the pictures are shot in indirect sunlight. You might notice how small the L'oreal bottles are they are 5ml for £4.99! So expensive for so little!

 I chose Prussian Blue by Max Factor to accent it with, for some reason I felt that they complimented each other well. Prussian Blue went on smoothly and was opaque in two swift coats, I must admit that I am starting to really love these little Max Factor bottles, the colours are really nice.  

 I had an idea in my head of how the flowers were going to look but I did them too big, they were meant to be dainty little flowers like a chain down the centre of my nail instead they were messy and big. I did do green vine things between them but they made it look even messier so I had to go back over them with Perle de Jade. Like I said I didn't like them when I did them last night but now a day on I like them a lot more. My plan for the accent nail was to do a leopard print but the black didn't show up very well so I left the darker nail on my other hand plain. 

I didn't put a topcoat on as I knew I wouldn't keep it on for long and I'm not sure if this is the reason why but my nail varnish peeled today! I sat there and peeled it all off :P it did feel good I must admit. 

Today I bought some glitter and I made my first franken! It was fun, I'm just gowing to show you a teaser now, I have it on atm, tomorrow I'll reveal it to you all! I need a name, I'm thinking tonight, hopefully I'll have one tomorrow for you :) I used my old Models Own 3in1 coat as I had hardly any left and it was glooping a bit, I thinkI might be hooked :P!

Seeyou tomorrow!!

  

Nails Inc Manchester with drippy design

Hey :)
Tonight I have the most gorgeous red for you lovely ladies, it's Manchester from Nails Inc and it a beauty. It's a nice deep cool red with that amazing gold/orange shimmer that does translate when it's on the nail (hallelujah!) 

What your seeing here is nearly two coats, could have been opaque after one thick coat but there were a few bold spots plus I knew I might need to add extra red on to touch up the design so it needed two coats. It went on as gloriously as it looks ;) so smooth and shiny, I am so happy with this red, when I bought it I honestly thought it would be the dud in the collection but not anymore! So lovely. 

I must be in a blingy mood lately as I wanted to do a design using OPI Take the Stage (it's one of my remaining few untrieds) so I chose the drippy design a la Wah Nails. I really like how it turned out, despite the fact that it is a sparkly orange polish it is quite subtle and I think it brings out the orangey shimmer in the red, bonus! 

This design was hard to photograph as the flash made everything too reflective and blended together and I couldn't be bothered to get my tripod out to take a photo without flash so you'll have to make do with these I'm afraid :P. I like Take the Stage but maybe not on it's own I think as a full mani it would be too much but I think it makes a good accent for designs :). It was really easy to create these drips too I just painted a quick french tip then with my largest dotting tool drew a splodgey line to connect with the tip and that was it, easy peasy!

I am happy with my nails right now :)...on another note removal of my triple purple glitter mani was not painful at all! I just used loads of cotton buds haha. 

I hope you enjoy this fun mani as much as I do!

Saint Patrick's Day mani

 This is going to be a real quick post as I want to go to bed but I wanted to post my St. Patrick's Day mani as at first I thought it was going to be a fail but then it grew on me haha, here it is, I hope you enjoy it, I'll do a bigger post tomorrow with more talking :P. 

This was my first ever Nailslide Cloud! I reallllly like it :) the flowers are for mother's day which is Sunday! I like designs on naked nails, they are like tattoos for your nails ;). I used my sisters no17 polish which was an un named orange and it was stringy as anything *sign* hence the little stringy bit on the white on my cloud :(. The green is Racing Green by Barry M, red is Bright Red by Barry M, the dark red is Vixen by Revlon and the white is a Sally Hansen french manicure white. 

Half of my family is Irish so I had to celebrate on my nails :P I'm going to show my grandma tomorrow who is Irish, I'm sure she'll appreciate my nails heheh. 

Right I'm off to bed but I hope everyone enjoys this and has had a good St. Paddy's :)

Seeyou tomorrow! 

Owly Manicure

Good Evening Girls :)

I've had some bad news today so in order to cheer myself up, I did what any polish addict would do ...no I didn't buy any new polish (I wish) I did the famously cute owl mani. It was really easy and fun to do and it looks so cute, so yeah that made me happy! Here they are 

I didn't have any other bright colours ie orange, yellow so I had to use brown but I think he's my favourite, I like how he tones down the rest of the colours :) also I like their sparkly noses hehee! 

Here are the colours I used starting with the base on the thumb:

Little Brown Dress - Essie, Mushroom - Barry M, Unknown blue - Barry M, Blueberry Ice cream - Barry M, Polish me Happy - H&M, Spring Green - Barry M, Purple Poppy - Models Own, Ultra Violet - Rimmel Pro, Limited Addiction - Essie and Vintage Pink - Models Own. 

For the eyes I used Sunshine Sparkle - Revlon and the beaks are Rising Star - OPI. 

I freehanded the base and belly using just the polish brush and then my new favourite dotting tools helped with the rest.

Lots of other bloggers have done this design for good reason, it's so frikin' cute! I'm not sure who did the original I found the other versions from google and Chalkboard nails and a girl and her polish, you should check them out :)

I hope you enjoyed! 

Seeyou soon

Daisy Daisy give me your answer do

Hello again :)
I originally saw this design on Oooh Shinies' blog here and it is sooo cute! How could I not have a go myself, especially now I have dotting tools woo (best purchase ever!) here is my version :)

I used OPI Stranger Tides as the base and I dotted a white from a Sally H manicure set, I didn't know whether to leave it like that or not, I thought they looked like little flower beads that I used to buy as a kid to make bracelets from :P but I decided to make them into daises in the same way that Oooh Shinies did so here is the final mani

Man I love this so much :) The yellow I used was Revlon Sunshine Sparkle, these pictures are with a topcoat as well. 

I'm so glad I found this design, it was really easy to do and looks so cute! It reminds me of a daisy chain (again making them when I was a kid :P) it is so perfect for spring especially over my new favourite green :). Even my bf said he thought my nails looked pretty, which he has never said! It's a nice change as the designs I normally do aren't delicate and feminine like this one. 

You should really check out the original and her blog if you haven't already :). 

I hope you like it and that it brightens your day like it has mine! If you have dotting tools you have to try this :) 

See how many smiles I'm using heheh I'm just happy today.