Back to Basics: Dotticure

This week, I decided to use a tool I haven't touched much since I started getting into nail art: my dotting tool! 

Dotticures, or manicures featuring polka dots, are a great nail art option for beginners. They are easy, fun, and pretty hard to mess up. Once you get a good feel for dotting tools and the different size dots they can make, you can get pretty inventive with your Dotticure designs. 

These, for those of you that don't know, are dotting tools:

Forgive the fact that mine are dirty. They're double sided to give you size options. They are cheap to pick up on Amazon or eBay, and are a staple in any nail artists kit. 

I picked up three colors to decide between for my pedicure, and decided to use them together for my dotticure instead. 

Colors used: Zoya in "Purity", "Wendy", "Tiana", and "Rooney"

I really love how it reminds me of soda bubbles, like a really colorful ad for a cola company! 

Monday Morning Dotticure

It is the end of August, which means I am once again gearing up to go spend a week out at sea counting the fishes. When I'm on ocean trawl, I don't get to look very pretty. I don't wear makeup, I'm in t-shirts and cut up jeans, covered in fish scales and slime, trying to quell my nausea with Dramomine.

Because of this, I usually spend my days prior to trawl putting extra effort into my nails and makeup, because I know I'll miss it so much (judge if you will, but right around day 3 I start to feel a little like a Neanderthal). 

I did a dotticure (that's a manicure featuring dots) for my mom last week and it inspired me to break out my dotting tools and do one on myself this week. I love how it turned out! Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by nail art techniques, I forget about the original pioneers. Dotticures are easy, versatile, and make a big impact. They are also not as time consuming as watermarbling. 

Left to Right: Zoya in "Purity", "Rooney", "Sooki", "Rocha", and "Darcy"

While my week out at sea will prevent me from doing a new manicure for next week, I'm going to try my best to test out all of my new Ipsy products before I leave so that I can write up a review for you next Monday. 

Color of the Month: Diamond

"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend"-Carol Channing

When I was a little kid, my mom had me trained to say this phrase whenever we passed by a jewelry store window in the mall. Diamonds are the most valued gemstone of them all. Why? Let's dive into the history first. 

According to about-birthstones.com:

"No more notable it its uncut state than a plain pebble upon the beach, the true beauty of the Diamond was not revealed until the 16th century, when gemstone cutting and polishing techniques were perfected.  Prior to this time, it was considered taboo to modify the original state of a Diamond.  Today, the value and appeal of this stone depends largely upon how skillfully it is cut and faceted."

DeBeers was the first diamond company in existence to drive the concept of an "engagement ring", which significantly increased the demand on an already valuable gem; however, the first known recipient of a diamond ring happened in 1477, well before the DeBeers company took off. 

But what do most people care about diamonds? They're valuable, and they're pretty. They also happen to be April's gemstone (lucky April babies!). 

I sort of came up with this manicure idea last minute. Since diamonds are clear, I had to get creative with my polish choices.

L to R: OPI "Solitaire", Zoya "Purity", Essie "Set in Stones", Julep "Coretta"

Luckily, I went to some polish names for inspiration. "Solitaire" and "Set in Stones"... See what I did there? Eh?? 

Here's what I came up with. 

I used nail tape to make diamond designs at the bottom of my two middle fingers before painting "Solitaire", a white textured polish with micro silver shimmer, on top. I then did a glitter gradient on the rest of my nails using "Purity" for the base  and layering on Julep's April Birthstone color, "Coretta", and topped it off with "Set in Stones". 

Looking at it, I probably should have used "Purity" as a base so that "Solitaire" would pop more on top of it, but now I know better for next time. Homegurl didn't have the patience to re-do that ish tonight. 

Had to feature my beautiful diamond ;) the camera could NOT focus on all the sparkle at once, though. 

Keep an eye out for some brand features and new color swatches that I'll be posting in the next couple weeks!