NOTD: Peach Floral Polka Dot Fun!

Got the inspiration for this look from Instagram. If you don't follow me, yet look for me @moondancerjen

Kooky summer neon dotticure

Don't know what to tell you about this look today! It's just cray! I did lots of alternating with Zoya mod mattes from last summer: Mitzy, Phoebe, and Lolly.

Zoya Ruffle Nails

Inspired by the amazing Chalkboard Nails, I attempted a ruffle manicure using all Zoya shades of summer's past! From top to bottom you have Flora, Breezi, Malia, Raegan, Yummy, Perrie, Robin, and Areej. The teal on the bottom of some is by Color Club can't remember the name! This was easy to do using the big end of my dotting tool, but quite time consuming using all those colors. Would have liked the look more for Easter than just a regular summer day.

Pretty Christmas Party Nails

I had my company Christmas party last week, and I wanted a really classy ornate Christmas design on my nails for the event.  Here is what I came up with:

Check this out ^ I even managed to do the design on my left hand! 

Here are the steps I took:

1. Drew a diagonal french on each nail with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Silver Sweep.
2. Using a detailing brush, I created the cute little swirls in Zoya Verushka.  I followed this tutorial on Youtube to teach me how to draw the swirls.
3. After a coat of Seche Clear I added three little red rhinestones to represent some Holly Berries.

I love all the cute Christmas looks, but I think sometimes its nice to have a break and do something ~*fancy*~

Funny Story: I actually went and got a professional pedicure the day of my company Christmas party, and the ladies at the nail salon were studying my manicure HARDCORE!  They all couldn't believe I did it myself, and wanted to know how I did it of course!  ;) 

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer Nails

Aren't these little guys cute?  I got the idea for them from IHaveACupcake on Youtube.  Watch her video for a tutorial on how to do some of Santa's other little friends.  For my reindeer, I used a brown from Sonia Kashuk for the base color, Zoya Amanda for the snout, the Milani Red Sparkle for the nose.  This whole design was created using a dotting tool. 

Snowman Nails

Happy Friday!  Anyone have snow where they live?  If so, you might enjoy these cute snowman nails!

This look started with a couple of coats of OPI's Road House Blues.  Then I stamped the cute little snowmen from a stamp I got from Born Pretty Store.  The snowman on his own was cute, but didn't feel like enough, so I pulled out my dotting tool and dotted in some snow falling and some snow on the ground.  Then the look seemed a little too white, so I dotted in some Zoya Ivanka for the scarf to add a little color.

Dotting Tool-torial

After a week of inspiration, I think you are probably ready for a wrap up, and some more ideas for what to do with your dotting tool.

First, if you don't have a dotting tool yet, might I recommend this set from Born Pretty Store:

This set has different sizes, which can be used to create even more designs.  Here are some other designs you can make with your dotting tools:

A heart is just two dots side by side and then dragged together to a point.  Cherries are similar, we just put two dots side by side and then using an alternate color, you can use your tool to draw the stems.  Using three dots, you can make a little mickey mouse, or teddy bear.  Dotting tool is also great for making eyes.  With the tool set above, you can use the big end of the tool for the white of the eye, and then the small end for the little black pupils. 

For even more dotting tool inspiration, check out some of my favorite manicures from the past:

Hope you've enjoyed this week of dotting tool nails.  I hope you've gotten some inspiration and courage to try a dotting tool out if you haven't gotten one yet, or maybe try some new designs with the one you have! 

Yellow Monarch Nail Art

I've seen this design all over the blogisphere, and I just felt so tempted to do it myself!  And it goes with dotting tool week because the design has dots!

Isn't this just a fun manicure?  I LOVE it in yellow!!!!  But, if you don't, I've also seen this manicure in orange and pink.  I thought it was pretty easy to do.  All you need is a black striping polish to draw your lines, and then use your dotting tool and a white polish for the dots.  The base color here is Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Lightning. 

Pink Leopard Nail Art

Dotting tools aren't just for creating nail art, they are also great for embellishing stamping. I love to use mine to apply rhinestones and add some color to stamped designs. Case in point: today's pink Wednesday manicure!

I started this manicure with Zoya Raven.  Then stamped the leopard print (Konad M57) with a white stamping polish.  Then, using my dotting tool, I filled in the holes of the leopard print with Zoya Mod Matte Lolly.

Don't have a dotting tool yet?  Here's the set I have from Born Pretty Store.

Cheery Cherry Nail Art

Next step with using our dotting tool, is creating art with it! On the manicure today, I decided to use my dotting tool to create some cute cherries! I actually got the idea for this manicure from a YouTube video by CutePolish. Creating cherries with your dotting tool is really easy. You just need two red dots next to each other, and then you can use your dotting tool to draw three little lines for the stem and leaf. I couldn't decide if I liked the white "shine dots" on my cherries or not, so I did one hand with each ;)

Base color for this manicure was a Sally Hansen Whirlwind White. The red in the cherries is Zoya Sookie, and the green is Four Leaf Clover by China Glaze.

Don't have a dotting tool yet?  Here is the set I use all the time from Born Pretty Store.

Light Purple Polka Dot Nails

Lately, I have been working on a lot of nail looks with my dotting tools, and I thought it would be a good idea to do a week of dotting tool looks, and a dotting tool-torial at the end of the week to help expand your skills! :)

I think to get comfortable and good with your dotting tool, the first look you should master, is an all over polka dot look, like the manicure I'm showing you today. My tip for manicures like this is to start with a center line of dots, and then do lines of dots in the alternating lines beside the center line, trying to keep the spacing as even as possible.
 

The base color for this cute manicure is Revlon Lily.  This was such a sweet little manicure :)

Black and White Flowers on Red Nails

I got the inspiration for this manicure after watching nail art tutorials on Youtube.  I really love the work by IndigoNova1.  She originally did these nails with a green background, but I decided to use Zoya Kylie2 as my base which is a really bright corally red. 

My manicure didn't come out nearly as cute as Indigo's, but I found the tutorial really easy to follow, and it turned out as a pretty cute manicure.  Hope you like and it, and try it soon!  I've been finding some great nails on YouTube lately, if you are on there, or have a favorite youtuber I should check out, please let me know in the comments!

NOTD: OPI Stranger Tides

When I saw OPI's announcement of their Stranger Tides collection, this was the one color I just HAD to have. As you saw on Monday's post, I finally got my hands on this beauty last week! Here is a swatch of the beauty:

Stranger Tides is soooo gorgeous! I just love it's creamy murky greenness!  I decided to pull out my dotting tool and give it some cute little dots using Zoya Shawn and Pipppa.

I'm in love with this simple little manicure.  What do you think?  If you don't have Stranger Tides yet, GET IT NOW! 

Dotted Pink

Happy Pink Wednesday, lovelies! I love the layered dotting effect I've seen around the blogosphere lately, so I decided to try it out for my pink wednesday mani this week.

The base color is Wet N' Wild Black and the dots are from all my favorite Zoya pinks: Portia, Lo, Flora, Dana, and Areej. I used my dotting tool from Born Pretty Store to make all the dots, which you can get right here.  Hope you are having a lovely pink Wednesday! 

Minnie Mouse Nails - Please Vote!

Hey lovelies!  In case you haven't already seen these, I recently entered Confessions of a Polishaholic's Disney Nail Art Contest.  I decided to go with a cute little Minnie Mouse inspired design. 

I used Zoya Sookie for all the red parts and my dollar store black and white for the rest.  The little Mickey Mouse heads were done with two different sizes of dotting tools from the lovely Born Pretty Store as were all the polka dots.  The bows and the words were done using some new nail art brushes I got at Sally's.

If you like my design, please vote for me!  I'm entry #4 Moondancerjen.

Going Nautical!

Been seeing a lot of nautical nails lately, and now that I have my Bundle Monster plates and this hot new blue, it was time for me to jump on the bandwagon. I started this manicure with China Glaze Frostbite.  This is such a HOT blue.  It is soooo electric and fierce!  I love the color.  Not a huge fan of China Glaze's formula though.  It feels like it takes FOREVER to dry and set, which means I am constantly getting smudges on my nails, which I HATE!  I probably redid my second finger 5 times through this manicure.  I just kept messing it up!  I had this same problem with Shower Together when I put it on my toes a few weeks ago.  UGH!  I think I'm just used to Zoya and how fast and smooth it dries.  I just never have a problem with their formula, they've totally spoiled me.

 After putting on my base I stamped the anchor from BM08 in white, and I was just going to leave it like that, but it felt boring to me.  So, I decided to use my dotting tool and put in some light blue dots.

What do you think? Are you feeling the nautical theme lately, or are you totally over it?  I'm definitely feeling it, especially on Emily's Naughti-Cool Nails this week!  Girl's got skillz! 

Flower Bouquet for all my Pink Wednesday Lovelies!

As you all know, on Wednesdays We Wear Pink!  So, today I've got a pretty pretty pink manicure for you ladies!  I pulled out my FAVE pink color: Zoya Portia as my base and then made some flowers using my dotting tools in Zoya Perrie, Keiko, and Areej.  I love how feminine this manicure turned out.

My thumb turned out the best.  I like practicing with my dotting tool, I'm getting some practice wheels in the mail this week, so I'm hoping to work on my skills and new designs really soon! :)  Inspiration for this manicure came from the fabulous Kawaii Nail Art blog.  Check her out if you haven't already!

Trying my hand at a tape manicure

As I work through my Zoya Intimate collection, I decided to try a tape manicure!  As soon as I saw Dannii and Marley in real life, I knew I had to pair these two together in a manicure, so with some tape and my dotting tool, I created the following:

What do you guys think?

Black and White Polka Dots and Bling!

I was inspired by a manicure I saw over at Kawaii Nails for today's nails. I alternated Zoya Raven and Zoya Purity as my base coat, and then I used M45 to stamp the polka dots on my ring finger tip, and a Born Pretty plate for the Hello Kitty.  The other dots were applied using my dotting tools also from The Born Pretty Store I love how girly and blingy this came out, but man, it took forever!