Peachy Polka Dots feat. Sally Hansen

Sally Hansen - Bleach Babe* (2 coats)

Sally Hansen - Tahitian Sunset*

*PR Sample

Pink & Purple Dotted Nails feat. Essie

I dug out my dotting tool! As my base color I used two coats of Essie - Full Steam Ahead (Naughty Nautical Collection 2013) a cute lavender with a tiny bit of shimmer. On top of that I added a lot of dots using various sizes of dotting tools and three Essie colors from the Neon 2013 Collection: Boom Boom Room, Bottle Service and DJ Play That Song. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

Black Polka Dot Nails

Surprise, I did exactly the same thing in black! :) I like this on short nails as well, it's different but still pretty cool. I used Wet'n'Wild - Black Creme, my new go-to black and a dotting tool. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss.

White Polka Dots

Sorry for the stained nails! ;) I just really liked the look of these, especially with this length. But since I broke two of my nails already, this is my goodbye to long nails (for now). I used base coat, then added dots with a dotting tool and Flormar - 400 directly onto the nail and finally one coat of Essence BTGN High Gloss. 

Polka Dots & Essie - Avenue Maintain

Not that I feel like spring should be here already (we didn't even have winter yet!), but these nails really feel springlike! I used one coat of Essie - Avenue Maintain from the Madison Ave-hue collection 2013 and then added a lot of tiny dots with white acrylic paint. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss.

Roy Lichtenstein Pop Art Nails - MoYou London Pro Collection #10

I was a bit disappointed about the size of my MoYou London plates from the Pro Collection #10 because they are really small for my thumb nails (my fault though, I didn't read the description!). So I thought the best way to use these images would be a skittle manicure, so that I could design every nail in a different way. Roy Lichtenstein / Pop Art is a great way of doing skittle nails, since everything is colorful anyway. I prepared some nail polish decals using three of the stamping images and then colored them with acrylic paint. On my thumb and pinky nails I made a simple polka dot design with Flormar - 400 and Essie - Really Red. I'm not too happy with both of the speech bubbles because my black polish (H&M - Manhunter) really isn't the best choice for stamping. I guess I'm once again on the hunt for a new opaque black! On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013 - Celebrating the Year of the Blogger

I'm super excited about today's post, because I'm part of the piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013! 

This year's blog fest is all about nail art. We received three specifique shades of piCture pOlish each and the challenge was to create our most amazing nail art using these three shades. I got a light nude called Nude (yup!), a coral pink called Watermelon and a beautiful purple with silver glitter called Attitude. I panicked! For weeks! Even though I love each color by itself, I had no idea how to combine these in one design. Everything I tried didn't seem right, until I tried Polka Dots. I think Nude makes an awesome background color for Watermelon and Attitude and lets them stand out even more. Check out my short tutorial at the end of this post!

So if it's a challenge, what is it about? There will be three winners which will have the chance to create a collaboration shade with piCture pOlish. How awesome is that? I know I would be excited to see my name on a bottle of nail polish ;) The designs will all be pinned on their Pinterest board and then everyone can vote on their favorites. The other two winners will be chosen by the participants of this Blog Fest plus Jules & Megs from piCture pOlish. 

1. Paint your nails with two coats of piCture pOlish - Nude. 2. Use the end of a nail art brush and make big dots with piCture pOlish  -Watermelon and Attitude. 3. Use a dotting tool and make small dots in the middle of the big dots. 4. Use top coat to even out the surface and make your design last longer. 

Find piCture pOlish online:

Online Shop (Shipping, Network, Everyday Deals)

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Mint Studs & Polka Dots

I'm sorry for the sporadic posts these days and that it is not going to get better in the next weeks or so! Yesterday was one of the rare moments I had the time and inspiration to do some nail art. I received some beautiful mint colored round studs (#6) from Born Pretty Store and I thought about how to use these for days! My plan was to combine them with other pastel colors but somehow I didn't find the right mix. I decided to use a white base with Flormar - M103 and then added big polka dots with the round end of a nail art brush and Essie - Lilacism. I then added the mint studs in the full dots and some small round silver studs in the others. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer which gave my design a lot of bubbles, since I was painting it at about 30 °C. It's too darn hot! 

Use my coupon code to get 10% off your order at Born Pretty Store!

Essie Girls 4: Polka Dots

It's been quite some time since I uploaded a design for Essie Girls but I planned to add this design a while ago, so I will do that today. I chose three colors that I like a lot together and started my dotted design with the lightest color: Essie - Eternal Optimist. I just love this one, because it's a rare thing that a color like this fits my skin tone. On top of two coats I added the dots with Essie - Smokin' Hot and Essie - Chinchilly. To finish my design I used one coat of Essie - Good To Go.

You can find all my Essie Girl designs on this page.

3D Polka Dots

Inspired by Chelsea's interpretation of a Kate Spade wallet I tried to recreate the polka dots that she painted on her index finger nail. I used two coats of Essie - Status Symbol as my base color and then added the black dots with Essie - Licorice. After a few minutes I added the white dots on top of the black ones with Essie - Blanc, making sure that a bit of the black dot would still be visible. On top is one coat of Essie - Good To Go. 

How do you like 3D Polka Dots? 

Valentine's Day: Roses & Polka Dots

I didn't do any Valentine's Day designs this year and the one that I did for today is only a water decal. I'm not a big fan of water decals but nonetheless I always buy them because I love the patterns. The problem in my opinion is, that they are not easy to apply with the weak hand and they don't last too long either. So all the effort is not really justified. I bought this design over a year ago at Chez Delaney but I'm not sure if it is still available because I don't have the name of the decal. On top is one coat of Star Nails Nail Art Finishing Sealer and another coat of BTGN Top Sealer. I didn't use a base color but I'm holding a bottle of Essie - Virgin Orchid in the pictures, which is a beautiful color by the way! 

Green Polka Dot Nails

Sometimes when I start using a certain nail art technique once, I carry on with it for two or three designs. Since I started dotting this weekend, I'm still in the mood for dots. This time a full classic polka dot design with green shades. I started with two coats of Essie - Mint Candy Apple and then added the dots with a small dotting tool and Essie - Mojito Madness and China Glaze - Holly-Day. On top is one coat of BTGN Top Sealer. 

Retro Dots feat. H&M - Bella's Choice

I decided to do one of my older designs again, one that I did in pink over a year ago. I copied this design from IndigoNova1 on YouTube. As my base color I used two coats of H&M - Bella's Choice which is a bit darker in real. Then I did my first mistake and started to use acrylic paint to paint the black and white lines and the first row of dots. The acrylic paint gave the dots a poor texture so I used nail polish for the second row of dots. And as soon as I added my top coat (BTGN Top Sealer) I could see the lines splitting and the dots smudging. So you can tell that I'm not very happy with this one, although it looks good from afar. But I look very closely at my own nails. ;)

Inspired by Fashion: H&M Fall/Winter 2012 Dots & Leopard

Once again my nails today are inspired by fashion. This time it is a dress by H&M which I found on this Blog. I really love it and the crossing of color and leopard pattern! As always I probably wouldn't wear this dress but for my nails it's perfect. I'm  not that happy with how it turned out though, especially the dotted part should look different. But I wasn't sure how to achieve this look, maybe splatter nails would have been better. Anyway I used a lot of colors on this, I started with Catrice - Raspberry Fields Forever as a base color and then added dots with a dotting tool and Catrice - Run Forest Run, Essence - Passion For Fashion, Essence - Walk On Air, Essence - Sundancer and Essence - Naughty Pink. The leopard (or giraffe) print is done with a gradient of Essence - Iced Latte and Essie - Master Plan. Then I added the spots with Wet 'n' Wild - Black Creme. On top is one coat of BTGN Top Sealer. 

By the way, I finally found the time to create a new header because I didn't like the old one for quite some time now. You can find the links for the font and brushes used in my Copyright section. I really like the clean and simple look of it but I didn't want to leave out the typical Regina Spektor hearts. The next step on my design to-do list will be the watermarks. I really need to improve on these ;) How do you like the new header?

Pink Gradient Nails with Dots

I'm really enjoying gradient nails these days and so this is another one for today. I decided to go for pink because I don't wear that very often. But now that I have such a variety of colors I'm trying some new stuff. I  started with two coats of Essie - Flawless which is a pretty dusky pink. Then I started a gradient with three colors. I painted the colors directly onto the sponge and then dabbed the sponge onto the nails. For the gradient I used Essie - Funny Face, Flawless and Bachelorette Bash. To spice it up a little I added big dots with a dotting tool and Flawless. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. 

Grey Water Marble with Dots

Today's design started out with a great idea and then ended up not too great. I planned on doing a Water Marble like I did here but with grey colors. But then I had to learn that Water Marble really is one of a kind and very unpredictable. It just didn't work out as I wanted it to and although I used the same black as with the previous Water Marble, this time the black kept on drying too fast in the water. Well, I managed to finish it somehow in a random look so I decided to spice it up with some dots. And it went from boring to way too much details, I couldn't stop dotting! I used p2 - Eternal, Catrice - London's Weather Forecast and Artdeco - 108 in the Water Marble and with the dots. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. 

Today the voting for the Essie Girls contest has ended and with your help and a lot of begging I made it to the Top 10! The jury will decide next week which 5 girls will win the contest. Thank you for voting and wish me luck for the final round! 

Dotted Flowers

Autumn is coming! You can tell so by the rainy weather and by the problems I have with the lighting in my photographs. Yesterday I tried doing a tutorial, prepared everything and started painting my nails when suddenly the blue sky turned to black and I couldn't see my own hands anymore. So I will postpone this one and instead show you some flower nails to say goodbye to summer. 

As always with white, I used Essie - Blanc as a base and then grabbed my dotting tool and started dotting. The colors I used are the following: Essie - Mint Candy Apple, Essence - Walk On Air, China Glaze - Something Sweet and Essie - Lilacism. 

I decided to leave the flowers very simple and just use three dots of each color to create them. Then added another dot in the middle of each flower and that's it. On top is one coat of Essie - Good To Go.