Dotted Nails

With my new found love for nail art, I searched for some other designs that looked easy to do. Dotted nails are very popular and are recommended for beginners like me.

Do-It-Yourself Dotting Tool

Again, I was inspired by another video from cutepolish on how to make your own dotting tool from basic household items. As I said, I don't have any tools for nail art, so I resolved to creating some myself. A dotting tool is one of the most commonly used tools in the nail art world and I’m finally getting my hands on one!

Here’s a list of household items that you can use:
- Toothpick
- Bobby pin / hair pin
- Straight pin / dressmaker’s pin
- Paint brush / makeup brush tip
- Ball point pen

I felt like the toothpick makes too small dots for my liking. The paint brush and makeup brush tips make too big dots. Then, I don’t have any straight pins. And being a ballpen lover and collector, I don’t want to ruin any of them. So, I settled with various bobby pins. The bobby-pin dots are juuust right! And at that moment, I understood the ordeal that Goldilocks had to go through. :)

Then again, if you have straight pins at home, then this DIY from thebeautydepartment.com might work better for you.

It really boils down to the size of the dot that you want to make, so you can actually make use of a variety of dotting implements!

Now that I had my own dotting tool, there were so many techniques to try online. I had 2 design inspirations in mind, both from pshiiit.com. Pshiiit is another blog that i frequently follow. Her nail art designs are very clean and wearable. And she makes these cute gif tutorials from time to time. If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll notice that a lot of my pins also come from her.

Back to the designs. First is your common polka dotted nails. Next is a variant called gradient dotted nails. I didn’t wear a full manicure for these since I was just experimenting and playing with my new-found tools. I decided to share the behind-the-scenes shots with you because I just fell in love with them. I could only wish they were full manis!

Polka Dot Nails

I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and China Glaze For Audrey for this design. It’s pretty simple. I alternated the colors for the 2 nails. If you’re doing a full mani, you can alternate the colors for some accent nails like your ring and thumb nails. I started with my dots on the center then worked my way outwards. The size of the dots and the spacing in between them are totally up to you!

Inspiration here.

Gradient Dot Nails

I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme for this design. Instead of covering the whole nail with dots, I did some dot-layering. Starting at the tip of the nail, I created a lot of dots. Some over the top of the other. Then, I made fewer and fewer dots as I worked my way up towards the cuticle.

If you look at the picture, you'll notice that I was able to make various sizes of dots. Surprised? I just used one bobby pin really. It all depends on the amount of pressure that you use. If you dot your nail lightly, then you’ll get a smaller dot. With more pressure, more polish gets transferred from the bobby pin onto the nail and the dot gets bigger.

I really like this look! I couldn’t stop looking at my nails after I had this on!

Inspiration here.

Altogether Now

I actually tried recreating the black and white gradient for a full manicure after a week, but I couldn’t get the same look for some reason. So I will park that for now and will try again some other day.

Until then, I can keep the memory of these beauties!

Have a good day!