Nothing to Disclose

Can I tell you how I'm the happiest person since I purchased the Color Club Pastel Neon Poptastic Polishes?  They were on my wishlist FOREVER then I found them on HB Beauty Bar for what I considered a good price so I took the dive and bought them all.  One decision I do not regret.  Look how freaking pretty they for those puzzle pieces!!

I started off with a base coat of Orly Flamingo.  I really need to go grab a back up bottle of this because it's literally the perfect pink cream with a very very very VERY subtle shimmer.  It's so bright, cheery, and fun as well.  For me to be saying that is a lot since I don't like pink very often.

When the base was dry, I took my darkest color and with my nail art brush and created a box so to speak which would be the outline for that puzzle piece.  Depending on where the piece was located, I would either fill in the blank area with a dotting tool, or the polish brush itself.  My rule was dotting tool for anything near the cuticle, brush for anything by the tip.  

What I was left with were four colored boxes on my nail.  I dripped a little bit of each color out onto a paper plate and then used a medium sized dotting tool to add the puzzle dots.  So I put a blue dot on the purple, a purple on the mint, a mint on the pink, and a pink onto the blue.  That is what created the interlocking look.

If your lines were super neat, then you don't have to do the next step which is to add the black outline.  I think the design looks good either way, but I personally prefer adding the black outline.  I can be kind of messy, especially when I'm painting my right hand, so it's best for me to add the black.  This time around I just used the striper brush instead of dripping it out and using a nail art brush.  Either way works, just depends on what you're more comfortable with.

Loveeee!  Okay, so, remember how last time I complained that using tape was impossible?  Well, this manicure was done with no tape what so ever!!!!!  No lie, I used NO TAPE.  As a hater of scotch tape, I refused to use it again for puzzle pieces.  When I sat down to paint these nails, I immediately thought of my nail art tape and thought that I could use that.  I tried to figure out a way to do this.... should I paint a dark blue base and tape mani my lighter colors?  Should I do a white base???  Ugh it was becoming too confusing for one manicure.

Then, it hit me....I should use my dotting tools!  Confused?  Don't worry, I'll talk you through it.  I remembered when I did my Checkerboard Tape Manicure and I dotted the colors in the squares?  I thought that I would do the same thing, except this time, using no tape.

I started off with a base coat of Ulta - Snow White.  When dried, with my medium dotting tool, I dotted on the light blue polish.  I first stippled a cross onto my nail and then filled in each corner.  Then with my darker blue polish, I filled in the rest of the white space.  I then added the puzzle dots when both polishes were somewhat dried.  Even though my lines were rather neat, I really wanted the puzzle pieces to stand out.  With my nail art brush, I used OPI Eurso, Euro and outlined the puzzle pieces.  I should have taken a before and after picture, because trust me, the outline made them look so much better.

What do you think?  Would you be interested in possibly seeing a tutorial on these nails using the Dotting Tool Method??  Did you wear blue nails for Autism Awareness?!

Quick note, I have decided that I'm going to host a monthly nail art contest where the winner is featured on all my accounts.  You do NOT have to be a blogger to enter, you can be an Instagram poster, Twitter artist, or just a paitner for fun.  I want to feature as much art as possible and I think this would be a great way to see how many truly talented artists there are out there!!!  I'm still working out the details, so in the next few days I'm going to put up a blog post looking for your opinions!!!  Thanks to everyone on Instagram who thinks it sounds fun and will participate!!!

Until next time, keep rocking your blue nails!!!!  See you in a few days! <3

Scale of 1 to 10, the multi colored puzzle nails ranked as a pain in the butt.  First I, the hater of tape, taped off the bottom half of my nail.  I painted on a coat of Mint Apple and Flamingo at the top, removed the tape, then added Off to Miami and Dreamer.  When dried, I added the dots, but the dots were darker than the rest of the polish I painted on since it was just one lil coat.  So, I grabbed my nail art tools and started painting and filling in the color blocks to make them match the dots.  Problem: the lines were uneven.  ugh.  That meant it was time for some black polish!  With my smallest nail art brush and a toothpick, I outlined the puzzle pieces.  If I didn't have such issue with the thumb, I probably would have done all the nails.  I may do all the nails when I revisit this design at a later date with just two colors.  The four color thing, whew, girls who have done it on all the nails, I give you such credit!

Now, isn't Off to Miami! a gorgeous coral color!?  I love it.  It reminds me a tad of Sasha by Julep, only more orange.  Sasha is more on the pinky side.  I'll have to swatch them side by side to truly see.  Just like my other Essence polishes, I had complete coverage in two coats.  The brush = awesome.  Perfect width, love the rounded tip.  I seriously wish all my brushes were shaped that way.  I didn't flood my cuticle once when using it.  For nail art it worked well too.  The polish didn't dry up or become hard to work with when I was using my nail art brush and making the color block darker.  I will be using this polish for roses or funky animal prints this summer.  Oh the possibilities!

What do you think?  Love it, hate it?  Ever done the puzzle pieces?  Have Off to Miami?  Love the Essence Brush? 

I have such a huge back log of posts to share with you.  It kind of happened that when I painted this mani, earlier in the day I painted a base on, so I may be posting a super simple manicure.  Then the other day I did one mani, then refreshed it the next day so that may fall into two posts.  I'm starting to ramble here.  Anywho, we shall see what happens!  Then the beloved (ha) Valentines Day is coming up so I will hopefully have some cool manicures to show you then....maybe I'll be original lol.  Oh and my one year anniversary of the blog is happening soon too!!!  Ahh exciting times!  Okay rambling done!  See you soon! 

**Essence Off to Miami! was provided by Essence for promotional purposes.  All expressed opinions are my own. Please see my disclosure page for more info**