Dotty Manis - Doticures

Welcome to the latest instalment of easy peasy nail tutorials, this week it's all about the Dots! A doticure is a mani comprising of dots/spots, let your imagination go crazy with this style, there are no rules.

I have a set of dotting tools which I got from Ebay, easily available for £1.  A set usually comprises of 5 double ended tools with varying sizes of ball shaped ends.  However, you don't need to use special dotting tools, you can use anything from a hair grip, toothpick, orange stick, expired ball point pen, a sewing pin, you get my drift.

Before I apply dots, I always test the polish and dotting tool on a piece of paper to see how workable it is, ie consistency of the polish, how much pressure to apply etc. I always do a bit of a test on paper before applying to my nails. Dab a brush load of the polish onto a piece of paper that you want to dot with.  With your dotting tool, dip into the polish which is on the paper and dot onto your nails.  Sometimes you can get more than one dot from the polish on your tool. Dot quite quickly, ie don't hold the tool onto your nail as it'll dry and smudge.  You might need a bit of practice just to get to grips with how to work with the polish and tool but it is very easy and a fairly fast method.
 Once you've done all the dots, let them dry before applying top coat.  Applying top coat when the dots are wet will cause them to smear.

 Here are the two designs I'm going to show you.

Red & Gold Doticure
Base - Avon True Colour Naked Truth
Dots - Avon Metallic Effects Gold & Avon Nailwear pro+ Grape Goddess

 
 
I firstly applied the gold dots along the centre of my nails, then applied the red dots

Blue Doticure
Base - Avon Mark Rain Washed
Dots - All Avon Mark - Just Beachy, So Jelly & Olive-It

 
 
I used different sized dotting tools for each colour.  I started off with the largest dotting tool and painted the green dots, then medium in blue, and filled in any gaps with the small in purple 

Avon Mark Gel Shine Nail Enamels are currently in C10 (UK) 2 for £6.

I've received confirmation directly from Avon UK that all Avon's nail polishes are 5-Free (free of: Formaldehyde, toluene, DBP, formaldehyde resin, and camphor).

Love Avon?  Take a look at my online store

You can catch up with Avon online, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ & Youtube.

YRNails Unicorn Water Decals & Dotting Tools

PRESS SAMPLE

Today's mani is a bit of everything, water marbling, water decals and dots to create my magical mystical unicorn design.  First of all I applied my pre-made dried water marble of pink, peach & white.  Then I topped with Unicorn water decals from YRNails, then added pastel coloured dots using dotting tools also from YRNails.  YRNails have a huge range of water decals which they manufacture in the UK.  They also supply their own brand of nail polish which are 5 free and come in 10ml bottles with very good brushes.
If you like water decals or want to get into water decals more, check out the Facebook group I've just created called Wonderful Water Decals. To the pics!!!!
To the pics....

 
There are 23 rearing Unicorns per pack

 Set of 5 dotting tools from YRNails

These Unicorn Water Decals are currently £1.50 per pack and the dotting tools are £2.50 per pack, head on over to YRNails and check out all their other fabulous water decals, nail wraps, nail polishes, tools & more!

FREE UK DELIVERY!!!

INTERNATIONAL shipping is £1.50 flat rate, any order, any country

There is no minimum order amount at "YRNails.com". It doesn't matter whether you need just one pack of artificial nails or nail art stickers; you buy only what you need.  You can follow YRNails on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & You Tube.

Bohem Nail Jewellery - Gothic Diamond Gold Nail Tip

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I have some pretty cool precious metal nail tips to show you from Bohem.  Precious?  Because they are made of real silver (925 sterling silver to be more exact) and are hallmarked, how very posh & decadent!  The tips are so easy to apply with special sticky tabs and you get 12 tabs with each reusable tip.  The adhesive should last up to 3 days, I removed mine after one day so can't confirm the longevity.  You also get a silver polishing cleaning cloth to keep your tip in glorious pristine condition.  

Bohem are UK based, with currently 26 silver tips available on their website starting from £6.50 and also available at Amazon.   They come in different sizes and lengths.

Here's a couple of my manis using a gold tone tip 'Gothic Diamond' which unfortunately is no longer available on their website (I've seen the silver tone on Amazon) however it gives you an idea of the stunning effect.  Quick get the body guards, I feel very special with my precious metal nail tip!

To the Pics!!!!

I used Nails Inc Park West (cream) and Lanesborough Place (gold) with dotting tools and MoYou Nails Plate 122

Bohem are based in the UK and offer international shipping

You can keep up to date with Bohem on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram & YouTube.

Money Smart Nail Art - Glamourous manis without the price tag!

MoneySupermarket are running a competition on how to create great looking nails and saving you money at the same time.  We all want great looking nails right?  But we don't always want to pay for an expensive manicure, so why not have a go at creating your own designs in the comfort of your own home, for hardly any cost at all and have loads of fun at the same time!

Here are a few of my designs from previous blog posts, as you can see they are easy peasy!!

First up, good old sellotape!  Paint your base colour, apply two pieces of sellotape with the corners of each square thouching in the middle, apply your top colour (I used glitter as I love sparkle!) peel off the sellotape while the top coat polish is still wet and there you go!

Or how about raiding your (mum's!) craft box.  I wanted to do a tape mani but didn't want to buy the tape, so I found some brilliant wavey patterned tapes in my mum's craft box.  This is the tape I used on my middle finger below

I used 4 different types of patterned tape, simply paint a base colour, I used a bright barbie pink, once dry I placed the tape on my nail and painted a top coat of black with pink glitter, remove the tape and you see the original colour underneath - bingo!

If you have any of those round hole punch stickers, they look like polo sweets, you can create this fab design.  I used yellow as my base colour, applied the (polo) sticker to my nail, painted above the sticker in one type of glitter and below the sticker (where the hole in the middle is) a different colour.  Again, so easy yet such a fab design!  Looks like you've spent ages doing this but only you know how quick it is!

Dotting tools are great ways to make stunning manis but you don't need to buy specific dotting tools, you have loads of things around the house you could use, a cocktail stick or BBQ skewer (wooden one of course!), an old ball point pen that doesn't work anymore, an orange stick, end of a sewing pin, anything pointy will do, here's my dotted mani.

And don't forget to oil those cuticles, again you don't need to go out and buy expensive nail oils, Olive Oil from the kitchen cupboard will work just as well, just remember to apply day & night.

I hope this gives you a few hints and tips for some great manis that didn't cost me anything at all, all you need is your imagination, and have loads of fun creating your very own personal designs.

The Lazy 15 Challenge - Dots

It's the third day of an exciting new challenge hosted by Totally Nailed called "The Lazy 15" named as such because we're too lazy to do a whole 31 days!

Today's challenge is dots, so here's my rainbow dots using mainly Nail Inc........

Here's the lovely Nails Inc Tower Street pre-dots

Please see below for fellow bloggers participating in this challenge, new joiners welcome!

Llama Nails A-Z Challenge - D is for Dots

The A-Z challenge is hosted by Llama Nails on Facebook. Llama Nails is a group of nail enthusiasts that share their love of polish, stamping and nail art in a fun, creative, and non-dramatic atmosphere. Join them! All are welcome! The only rule we have is no drama, save it for the llama!

Week 4 is D, so decided that I would actually do a mani with my dotting tools which have sat in the drawer for months, this was the perfect opportunity!

Righto, all polishes are Nails Inc, my fave brand, base is Ebury Mews with the dots being Power Pink, Bluebell & Cambridge Circus.  Turned out not too bad, here's the snaps......

Here's Ebury Mews on pre-dots!

If you'd like to see some more blogs participating in this challenge, please check out the links below.