Dot Mani

The One With the New Year's Eve Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world and Happy New Year's Eve!!!  Can you believe that 2017 has come and gone?!  I honestly cannot believe it.  Now I need to do a December Monthly Mani Favs post, followed by a 2017 re-cap post of all my favorites from the year.  Jeez I have a lot of work on this blog to do today.  I'll obviously be posting those two posts in the next few days.

Today's manicure is a re-creation of my 2015 New Year's Eve manicure.  I loved the design so much and actually forgot about it until I was looking to see what I had done before.  After searching forever for a design I liked, my mind kept going back to this design.  Therefore, I had to re-create it.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • FingerPaints - Golden Glaze
  • Serendipity Polish - Sunshine Rainbow
Isn't it wonderful??  I think when I created the manicure originally, I just randomly placed the tape on the nail and in the end it turned out looking like a star.  Can I tell you it took forever to lay the tape just right to make it look like a star again??  Finally was able to re-create it not once, but four times since I had this design on both my ring fingers and thumb.

I love this black and gold combo so much.  Topping FingerPaints Golden Glaze with Sunshine Rainbow was a wonderful idea.  The holo and gold flecks mixed together with the foiled golden polish really gave it a true New Year's Eve feel.

What do you think?  Like this design?  Tired of me doing re-creations??

I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year!!!!  Goodbye 2017, hello 2018!!!

See you next year, <3.



OPI

The One With the Snowflakes and OPI Feel The Chemis-Tree

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  Christmas over which means there are no more Christmas manicures for another year.  I'm kind of happy about that because I was getting a little tired of red and green, followed by more red and green.  Sure, there were designs I still wanted to create, but they will be saved until next year.

I finally was able to get to a manicure that I've been wanting to do since I purchased OPI Feel the Chemis-Tree.  To me, it was the perfect base for a snowflake design.  It's also that perfect manicure for this weird in between Christmas and New Years where you aren't so sure what you should paint on your nails.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • OPI - Feel the Chemis-Tree
  • Acrylics
Yes, I cheated and painted my snowflakes using acrylic paint.  I could have used polish but I didn't have the time or energy to at 11pm when I started this design.  I love how they turned out!

Totally took me until writing this post to realize the pun behind the name Feel the Chemis-Tree.  I am rather embarrassed with myself.  Regardless, it's a gorgeous polish which covers perfectly in two coats.  Truly unique to my collection. 


What do you think?  Fan of this design?  Like this new OPI polish??

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With The Final Christmas Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  Merry Christmas to all of those who celebrate!!!!  Cannot believe that I have made it a whole month doing nothing but Christmas designs.  I actually took this manicure off last night and got to work on something not so Christmas-y only for the base to turn dark and give it a Christmas look.  Sigh.  I'm going neon for my next mani.

Anyways, today I am bringing you my very last Christmas design!  I believe it was NBNailArt on Instagram who posted a design with a poinsettia over a gold gradient background.  While going through my Pinterest idea board, I saw I had pinned a similar design awhile back.  I loved the look so I thought I'd give it a go.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • FingerPaints - Golden Glaze
  • Zoya - Maria Luisa
  • Acrylics
Okay, kind of love how these turned out.  If I were to do this design again, I would make the flowers a little smaller so you can see the background clearer, because it truly was gorgeous.  Overall though, I'm impressed with the outcome especially since free-hand designs that are intricate like this usually don't turn out how I want them to.  I cheated and used acrylics because I had to mix a lot of colors to get the desired tones and details.

What do you think?  Fan of this design?  Perfect last Christmas manicure??

I hope everyone has a Happy and Merry Christmas!!!!

Until next time, <3.



Christmas

The One With the Christmas Dotticure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  It's finally Friday and Christmas is right around the corner.  That's right, Christmas is almost here and that means it's almost time for me to finish up posting only Christmas manicures.  I'm still surprised that I have gone all month with doing only holiday themed designs.  I really thought I wasn't going to make it because work has been so busy, but here I am!!  Successfully completing my blog task.

Today's design is the child born after a disasticure.  The other night I tried to do this holly design but it looked horrid.  Everything smeared, the leaves weren't shaped right, just everything was horrid.  So when it was midnight and I had naked nails I just decided to grab two of my favorite Christmas polishes and do a simple dotticure.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Santa Suit
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Cat in the Christmas Tree
My two favorite scattered holo Christmas crellys.  They are beyond amazing.  Two coats, full coverage, and gorgeous shiny finished look.  I absolutely love Cat in the Christmas Tree.  It's a green polish that is truly unique to my collection.

What do you think?  Fan of this simple Christmas look?  Like the polishes??

Until next time, <3.


The One With the Annual Christmas Light Strand Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine Tuesday?  I had an awful nail painting night last night and was up for all hours and ended up with a disasticure.  Been a long time since I've used that term.  Disasticure was removed, simple manicure put on, and I'm still not happy.

I am happy though about today's design, which is the annual Christmas light nail art!  Each year I've done some sort of variation of the Christmas light strand.  Ever since I purchased Nine Zero Lacquer in Twinkle Lights, I've been doing the design on top of that.  This year is no different.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Twinkle Lights
  • Acrylics
I love this holo polish with the cellophane glitters throughout.  Perfect polish for this manicure, and for the Christmas season.  Two coats and you have full coverage, but I cheated and put one coat of ORLY Mirrorball down before so I didn't use more polish than I had to.

One thing I forgot about this polish - it is a pain in the behind to remove.  What is it about glitter polishes that make them impossible to remove?!  Literally 20 plus minutes using gel remover.  Ugh.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Like this base coat??

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With the Christmas Snowman Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this wonderful Saturday?  I'm never leaving my bed, especially since the temperature has dropped down.  My fleece sheets went on a few weeks ago and my bed is this cozy, warm, comfy cocoon which is truly difficult to leave every day.  Now that it's Saturday and I don't have to work, I don't see why I should have to leave.  Well, maybe to be a productive adult, but eh.

Today's design is one I've done every year now for a few years, but I put a Christmas spin on it.  I purchased a snowman sweater dress to wear to the ugly sweater party at work earlier this week, so it was only fitting that I matched my nails to the dress.  Usually I do this snowman manicure on a blue base and give the guy a neutral colored scarf and call it a winter design paired with the snowflakes.  Since I vowed to do only Christmas designs, I went with a red and green theme.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Merida
  • Zoya - Alicia
  • Zoya - Blaze
  • Acrylics
Oh Zoya, I love your scattered holos.  Please, oh please, give your polishes a wider brush!!  I can't be the only one who hates the thin brushes.  Companies like ORLY, OPI, and Sally Hansen have spoiled me with these wider brushes.  Few swipes and I have one coat.  I find with the narrower thin brushes I end up flooding my cuticles.  Maybe it's just me....

Anyways, these polishes are all gorgeous.  Two coats for each and you have sparkly, scattered holo goodness.  I think when Zoya has their annual New Years BOGO sale, I might stock up on my favorites.  That way I can use them more often without feeling like I'm going to run out.  Part of me feels like I have a back up of a few but still don't use them.  Probably should clean my melmers and check.

What do you think?  Like this little snowman?  Fan of Zoya's scattered holos?

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With the Santa Claus Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!!  Welcome to Wednesday.  Middle of the work week....is it over yet?  We are in a winter storm warning so it will be an interesting day.  Hoping it's a work from home day, aka a work from bed day.  That sounds just so wonderful, but I doubt it will happen.

Continuing with the Christmas manicures and they are starting to get a tad more intricate!  On Sunday at work we had the resident/family Christmas party.  Of course I wanted to be super festive, so I went out and bought myself the cutest Christmas leggings with Santa Claus on them.  It only made sense to match my nails to the leggings.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Santa Suit
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Cat in the Christmas Tree
  • OPI - Pale to the Chief
  • ORLY - White Tips
Isn't this the cutest manicure ever?!  I am obsessed with this little guy.  I was going to take the design off after two days because my right hand chipped some, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so.  I think this is my favorite Santa design of all time.  I don't think I did one last year because I honestly never liked how mine turned out.  I think taking a year off was good for me.

Santa Suit by Nine Zero Lacquer is a gorgeous red scattered holo polish.  Kind of a crelly consistency which needed two coats.  Perfect Christmas red which really does remind me of a Santa Suit.  


Here's a crappy cell phone shot of my manicure with my leggings.  Doesn't my manicure match them perfectly??  My goal now is to get leggings for every holiday and paint my nails to match them.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Love the leggings like I do??

Until next time, <3.



Christmas

The One With the Christmas Branch Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this Sunday?  It's supposed to snow a little bit here today, which I am okay with since it's freezing.  I also have a Christmas party for the resident's and their families at work, so if it's snowing while I'm working, I'm completely okay with that also.  I'm debating on waiting to do snowflake designs until after Christmas....

Until I figure out when I'm going to do snowflake manicures, I'm going to keep sharing Christmas designs.  Today's manicure is Christmas tree branches!  I've seen this design all over Pinterest, then I saw Shannon from Coffee and Nail Polish create a design like it, so I decided it was my turn to try the look.  I was going to try it last year, but I was nervous due to the blending and such.  I felt like I didn't have the talent to be able to make the design look like tree branches.

I think I did a pretty good job.  Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Morgan Taylor - I'm Drawing a Blanco
  • Acrylics
Cute, right??  It took me a bit to figure out how to blend the greens together to make them look like evergreens, but I finally figured it out.  I first started with a really light green acrylic, which was my Holiday Green acrylic mixed with some white.  After I had that down, I took the plain acrylic with no mixed colors and blended it a bit in with the light colored.  Then I mixed the green with some brown to add the darkest details.

Morgan Taylor I'm Drawing a Blanco is a perfect base for this manicure.  It is a white shimmer polish with tiny tiny glitter pieces.  It reminded me of snow.  Perfect winter polish.  Two coats and still a little sheer, but since it was the base for this design, I didn't need it to be completely opaque.

What do you think?  Like the Christmas branches?  Think they look like tree branches??

Can't wait to show you my next Christmas design.  It's adorable.

Until next time, <3.

Christmas

The One With the Poinsettia Nail Art Re-Creation

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!  How are you all doing on this cold day?  We are getting some snow, not as much as I would like, but some.  You might think I'm crazy for wanting snow, but December is the only month where I truly like snow.  After December 25th it becomes annoying and a bother.  There's just something about a white Christmas.

I'm back today with another Christmas manicure!  So far so good on keeping that promise to myself of posting only Christmas designs this month.  Actually painted another last night so that means I'll have another post in the next few days.  Anyways, today's design is a re-creation of one of my favorites from last year....my poinsettia design!!!

Switched up the accent nail a little bit due to sheer laziness, and made the leaves a tad smaller, and overall loving it.  Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Sunset Blvd
  • ORLY - Invite Only
  • Serendipity Polish - Glitzy Gold Champagne
  • Salon Perfect - Glam Glitter
Isn't it lovely??  Kind of love it more than last year's design.  The one thing that bothered me last year was that the leaves were large and I felt like it took over design and took away from the poinsettia.  This year, the red flower really stands out and the leaves are in the background just like they are on the real plant.

Sunset Blvd and Invite Only are from last years ORLY Holiday collection.  These two polishes are the BEST Christmas polishes.  The green applies in two coats.  Last year I had a problem with bubbling and had to add a top coat of Northern Lights, but this year no bubbles.  Must have been I applied it too thick or didn't let the coats dry long enough.  Who knows.  Sunset Blvd also applied in two coats.  Just a gorgeous, bright, Christmas red.

And one of my favorites this time of year - Glam Glitter.  I won this polish a few years ago and am shocked that the red didn't bleed and that the polish itself didn't dry up.  Small gold hexes, mixed with green and red pieces.  The best Christmas glitter.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Love the polishes used?

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With the Christmas Holly Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!  How are you all doing on this fine Monday? That's right, the work week is here again, are you all ready?  I kind of am, I'll know for sure by the end of the day.  Ever had one of those starts to the week.  Go into it all pumped thinking you're ready then halfway through the day you want to start over?? 

Since it is December, I have decided I'm going to bring you only Christmas manicures this month.  Well except for after Christmas when I bring you New Years manicures.  Maybe.  We will see how the end of the month goes.

Today's design is a simple holly manicure inspired by Jessica from LaLaLoveNailArt.  She posted it a few weeks ago and I fell in love.  I searched my melmer for a darker red and green and finally settled on a beauty by INM and Morgan Taylor.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • INM - Emerald
  • INM - Gold Northern Lights
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • Morgan Taylor - All Tango-d Up
Adorable, right?  So cute and simple.  Perfect introduction to Christmas manicures for the blog.  Emerald by INM is beyond gorgeous.  A deep green polish that covered completely in one coat.  I used two coats because I had an uneven spot on one of my nails.  What's great about these INM polish's is that they dry super quickly so you don't have to wait forever in between coats.

Morgan Taylor All Tango-d Up is going to be one of my go-to red polish's.  Sure, I'm not a huge fan of red, but this one is gorgeous and applied like a dream.  I always have a problem where my reds flood and stain my cuticles, but this one applied perfectly.  Two coats and full coverage.

A few months ago INM sent me a package which contained my favorite, INM Northern Lights in Gold.  I was heart broken a few years ago when my top-coat drawer fell out of the storage unit and this top coat was one of the casualties.  I searched everywhere and never found it.  When the bottle arrived, I literally jumped for joy.  This reminds me, I have those INM Christmas glitters from a few years ago!  

What do you think?  Fan of this holly manicure?  Something you'd try??

Until next time, <3.





Monthly Mani Favs

The One With November's #MonthlyManiFavs

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world and welcome to December!!  Work has been crazy busy and I meant to have this post up yesterday, but alas, I went to bed and forgot to pre-publish it.  So here we are on December 1st sharing my favorite manicures from December.  At least it's not like that time I skipped a whole month and combined two months in one post.

My plan for December is to share only Christmas manicures, except for the very end of the month when it becomes that New Years Eve mani time and odd winter time where you aren't 100% positive what you want to do on your nails.

Anyways, time to re-cap November.  Let's take a look!

  1. The One Inspired by Coffee and Nail Polish - I absolutely love this design.  I have a feeling it might make it on my favorite of the year post!  The purple, the gradients, the tape designs....just everything is so perfect.
  2. The One With the Harvest Pumpkin Manicure - My super simple Thanksgiving manicure which I loved.  Can we talk about how perfect Pandora by Sinful Colors is?  I love the color so much and am so upset that I haven't used this polish which I have had for probably 2 years now.  Plus the little pumpkin is so adorable.
  3. The One With the Bestie Twin Nails Re-Creation - I miss doing my BTN posts with Fashion Footing.  Hopefully we will come back in December with a holiday themed one.  We will see.  This manicure though is one of my favorite "fall" looking floral designs.  I can see myself re-creating this one each year.
  4. The One Inspired by One Nail To Rule Them All - Love this color combination and the floral pattern.  A design I never would have come up with on my own.  I wish I had this creativity.  Instead I re-create or come up with different twists on manicures I've already done.  Oh well.
What do you think? Any of these designs your favorite?  Think I should have picked another design?

Until next time, <3.