Spring in November

        
       Hey, everyone! Today's post is all about how I created my #manimonday nails I posted to the BeautyMark Facebook page last night. I'll take you through all the tools, and polishes used. Then I'll get into how I created this super cute manicure. Just a warning, this post is pretty long and picture heavy. But after reading this, you should be able to recreate this exact same look for yourself! Enjoy!



       At first glance, it looks like this mani is super complicated and takes forever to do. Had my boyfriend and I not spent so long playing with my camera and trying to get all the shots I wanted, this manicure would've taken me about 30-45 minutes to do. Not bad at all! Just put on one of your favorite shows, and paint away. Well... that's what I do, haha. 

      Let's get started! First, I found my inspiration picture. I follow SO MANY nail artists on Instagram and see things I would love to recreate all the time. If I see one I really like, I'll take a screenshot of it and save it for later when I'm looking for ideas. This is my inspiration:

     

       Once I figured out what I wanted to do, I went through my polishes and picked out the ones I wanted to use. I chose all the ones below.  From left to right: OPI - Bring On The Bling, OPI - Pink Friday, OPI - Did It On 'Em, China Glaze - Son of a Peach, Essie - Play Date and Essie - Mint Candy Apple. The glitter, OPI - Bring On the Bling is seriously one of my favorite polishes.... clearly well loved.

       Then I got all of my "tools" and other things I needed to complete this look. Nail polish remover - I always use a strengthening polish remover because of how much I do my nails. A sticky base coat - I use Orly - Bonder basecoat. You don't have to use a basecoat, but I really like to. I find that it prolongs the life of my manicure. This one is super sticky, and dries super fast. Put one quick coat of this on, and you're immediately ready to put your color on after that. I also grabbed some cotton balls to take off the polish I had on my nails previously. Any small angled brush - this one is from Maybelline, and you can get it at any drugstore for super cheap. I use this to clean up around my nails after I put my color on, but before my top coat. And last, but not least, I grabbed a top coat. This top coat, Seche Vite, is my holy grail product when doing my nails. This stuff is AMAZING. Super easy to work with, and dries within 5 minutes. No joke. I usually give mine 10 minutes to dry once I'm done though, just to be on the safe side. Once this stuff dries, it won't freakin' budge. Not only does it dry quickly, it also makes your nails super shiny. Best. Stuff. Ever.

       Then I needed my dotting tools. I got these off Amazon. I'll post a link for them at the end of my blog. They're really cheap, but are really good quality. I think I got these for about $3-4! Not sure why it took me so long to get them...

       There are 5 tools, with all different sized balls at the end for creating any kind of nail art you can imagine. And they're really cute!

       Okay, onto the "how-to" part of this tutorial! First, I painted a coat of the Orly basecoat onto my nails. (I did not leave any dry-room in between this step and the next). 

       Next I took the light pink color - OPI - Pink Friday, and painted the thumb and pinky nails on each hand. Pretty simple, although I forgot to take pictures of this step. 

       Another thing I forgot to take a picture of was the nude color I used on my index and middle fingers. Here's a picture of it: OPI - Mimosas for Mr. and Mrs. Just your basic, sheer nude color.

       Like I said above, I used this nude color to paint my index and middle fingers. Again, I didn't take a picture of my nails painted at this point. Horrible blogger...I know. 

       Next, I painted the glitter polish onto the ring finger of each hand. 

       Here's where the fun part begins! I chose the dotting tool I wanted to use. I picked one with a smaller tip because my nails are small. If you do not have dotting tools, try a bobby pin or the tip of a number 2 pencil - you can get creative with this. I took the dotting tool of my choice and coated the tip with the glitter polish, and made a few dots on each index and middle finger like so: 

       Next, I chose which color polish I wanted to make my first flowers out of. I picked the purple, Essie - Play Date. I took the same dotting tool (you can use a bigger one if you prefer) that I used to make my glitter dots, and I made four dots around the circles of glitter. After I felt like I had enough purple flowers on each hand, I chose the next color and did the same thing. And so on and so on. The next few pictures should give you a good visual of what to do.


     Paint the polish onto the dotting tool.
 

 

      I made four purple dots around the glitter dots.

       I created more flowers by following the step above, but with the other colors of polish I picked out. I went ahead and made my blue flowers and now I'm onto my orange ones!

         After I finished making all the flowers I wanted, I had some large open spaces on the rest of my nail that needed something. I decided to place other random dots in the spaces of my nails that looked a little bare. Just for more color.

       Once I was done making all my flowers and random dots, I needed to clean up around the edges of my nails. I usually fill up the cap of the bottle of nail polish remover with the acetone. You don't need much. Just enough to dip your brush into.

      I then take my small angled brush and run it along the edges of my nail bed, and along my cuticles. I have a piece of paper underneath my nails to wipe the brush off onto to get the brush clean. That way my brush is clean for every swipe around my nail beds.

       Finally, the last step of this process is the top coat. When using Seche Vite, you WANT to put this top coat on while your nails are wet. You do not need to let your nails dry for a while before adding the Seche Vite. The formula of this top coat works best over wet polish. Even when doing nail art like this. 

       Another tip: With this top coat, you want to have a thick bead of it when first applying, as shown in my picture below. Start at the middle/back of your nail and swipe the Seche Vite towards the front. That will give you a nice, thick and even coverage. Then, of course, swipe the rest on the sides of your nails too.

        See how nice and shiny they look?

       And now for the finished product! Give your nails about 10 minutes to dry fully. You should be good after 5 minutes, but again, I always give them 10 to be on the safe side. After those 10 minutes, you can do laundry, make dinner, get a shower, go to the bathroom....seriously whatever you want. The Seche Vite top coat is freakin' insane...in the best way possible. Now all you have to do is kick back, and admire your work of art. See, wasn't so hard now was it?

 

       I hope you all enjoyed this blog post. It is pretty long and picture heavy, but I wanted you all to have step by step instructions with tons of visuals. I know that's how I like tutorials to be. If you liked this post, leave me a comment below! 

                  XOXO - Tabitha


P.S. Here's a link to where you can purchase the same dotting tools I have! 

http://www.amazon.com/Winstonias-Double-Marbling-Dotting-Different/dp/B008NCOVTS/ref=sr_1_1?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1384912141&sr=1-1&keywords=winstonia+dotting+tools