Dot Mani

The One With the Marbling for Twinsie Tuesday

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  Can you believe it is March 1st?!  Where has this year gone already!?  Soon it will be summer, then fall, and back to winter.  I'm jumping too far ahead of myself.

For now it is Tuesday which means it is time for another Twinsie Tuesday.  This weeks theme is marbling, which honestly I wasn't angry about.  If you've been a long time follower of The Little Canvas, then you would know how much I hated marbling anything.  Water marble was my arch nemesis  I never could get it to work, I hated attempting it, and I thought it was a huge waste of polish.

In the past few months though, I decided to reattempt it.  Practice makes perfect, right?  Well it slowly is for me.  And I may or may not be loving water marble!

Let's take a look.




Colors Used:
  • OPI - Super Cute in Pink
  • OPI - My Pal Joey
  • OPI - This Crown Needs a Gown
  • OPI - In True Stefani Fashion
  • INM - Northern Lights
My oh my how lovely are these polishes from OPI.  Also, I'm kind of loving that my collection is growing so large that I'm starting to be able to use one brand for one manicure.  Amanda from Fashion Footing always does this and I thought she was crazy, but there's something satisfying about being able to use one brand.  Seriously, this polish collection thing is a huge addiction.

Anyways, the polishes from the Hello Kitty collection are kind of perfect.  My Pal Joey is a gorgeous cobalt blue shade which many have said is a dupe to the original Sally Hansen Pacific Blue.  I honestly can't tell you if this is true or not because I'm probably the only nail blogger who does not own Pacific Blue.  I know, I'm awful.  Regardless, My Pal Joey covers completely in two coats.  I added a top coat of INM Northern Lights because I couldn't resist.  I'm thrilled I did.



The marble came out rather well too.  Super Cute in Pink sadly didn't spread as nicely as My Pal Joey because it was more of a crelly formula.  I have to swatch it still, but I have a feeling that it would take about 2-3 coats to be full coverage.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Think I'm getting better at this whole marbling thing??

Don't forget to check out the other Twinsie's posts!


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amanda at Fashion Footing
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Claire at Kerruticles
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

A Halloween Watermarble

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  It's Friday which means the weekend is almost here.  That means I get to finally sleep all day!  It's supposed to be a cold, cruddy weekend also, so I'm kind of happy to just be inside.

Today I am bringing you yet another Halloween themed manicure.  A week or so ago I purchased the China Glaze Ghoul's Night Out collection.  The glitters and neons all were calling to me and I had to have them.  You never can go wrong with a China Glaze neon, they're perfect for water marbling.  So that's exactly what I did with them!

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Ghostess With the Mostess
  • China Glaze - Lady and the Vamp
  • China Glaze - Looking Bootiful
  • China Glaze - Drink Up Witches
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
  • Orly - French Tip White
I'm so proud of my water marbling.  If you have been following me from the beginning, you know how anti water marble I have been for years.  A few months ago I decided to give it another try, and well I kind of figured it out!  Now, you won't see me doing all ten nails, or even five; one or two here or there is enough for me.  The technique, especially the "drawing" the design is a pain in the butt.

Just like the other China Glaze neons, these marble wonderfully.  Everything spread right out and I had zero issue there.  My only issue was finding a black which marbled since I do not own the China Glaze one.  After trying a Sinful Colors, Jessica, FingerPaints, and Sally Hansen, the one that spread the best was Orly Liquid Vinyl.  I should have known to use my favorite black polish first.  I didn't think it would spread because it is a little thicker than the others, but it did!



I didn't go for a traditional "flower" marble.  Instead I just randomly drew and dunk my finger in the water in a spot I thought would look the best.  I'm very pleased with the final out come.

I'm also in LOVE with Ghostess With the Mostess.  This glitter is perfect.  Above is just two quick coats with no additional glitter placement needed.  It was so compact and filled with glitter in all shapes, colors, and sizes.  It perfectly compliments the marble and the black nails.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  Think I should continue to marble?

Can't wait to show you my next Halloween look!!!

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

Another Water Marble Accent!

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  It's Saturday, which usually means it's sleep in day for me, but I have to be up and out of the house early.  Not too happy about it, but whatever, that just means I'm going to have to go to bed earlier.  I'll hold my breath on that happening though.

Today I am sharing with you a fun watermarble manicure I did a week or so ago.  Since I posted a photo of it in the Jord Watch post, I thought it was time to actually share the full look with you!!  As I said in my birthday post, I might be becoming obsessed with water marbling, especially now that I've done three successful manicures using the technique!  Maybe someday I will do all ten nails!

Let's take a look at the manicure!




Colors Used:
  • OPI - This Crown Needs a Gown
  • OPI - In True Stefani Fashion
  • China Glaze - Violet Vibes
  • China Glaze - BoHo Blues
  • China Glaze - Too Yacht to Handle
Awesome right??  The China Glaze's have to be my all time favorite color combination.  Purple, to periwinkle, to teal?  It's so fun!!!  The water marble was a little lighter than what I wanted it to be, but it still came out rather pretty!  When I realized it was so light on the ring finger, I opted for a gradient on the thumb.  Plus I didn't want to waste a lot of these pretty polishes.  Thankfully two of the three are part of the China Glaze core collection at Sally Beauty.



I love how the silver accents this manicure.  I should have sparkled the gradient to at least make it match.  Although looking back at that first picture, it kind of is nice just having all creams then the one glitter nail accenting the craziness!

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  Think I am finally getting water marble??

Until next time, <3.

Flowers

#JordWatch Review :)

9:00:00 AM


Hey everyone!  How are you all doing today?  I'm doing quite well, thank you very much!  I have a different post for you all today!  A few weeks ago I received a beautiful Jord Wooden Watch!  That's right, a watch made out of wood!  Isn't that cool?? If you know me, I'm not much into jewelry.  I wear the same necklace, same earrings, and sometimes a ring if the mood strikes me right.  I'm a creature of habit and I don't like to add anything that is out of the ordinary.

There was something about the uniqueness though of this wooden watch that drew me to it.  When I was asked if I would review one, I couldn't bring myself to say no.  It was a different piece that for sure was going to take me out of my daily jewelry comfort zone, and I was rather excited to try it!

The watch I will be sharing with you all today is the Ely in Maple.  I grew up in a neighborhood where maple trees were left and right, so I thought it would be really neat to own a watch made out of maple!

Picture heavy post, so please click to read more!

Birthday

It's My Birthday Weekend!

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  I'm doing fabulously since it is my birthday weekend!  Yesterday was my actual birthday, but since it fell on a Saturday, I'm claiming the whole weekend.  I've been laying low and just relaxing.  Today my friend is taking me out for ice cream.  Kind of an awesome birthday weekend if I do say so myself.

Of course I painted my nails to celebrate!  Now that I feel I have semi mastered water marble, I've been on a water marbling kick.  I love doing different accents with different colors.  For today, I did something festive, fun, and bright!  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Too Yacht to Handle, That's Shore Bright, Highlight of my Summer, Glow With the Flow, DJ Blew My Mind, and Home Sweet House Music

I really love how bright and festive these are!  The cupcake accent is adorable if I do say so myself.  Every year for my birthday I tend to do a cupcake, and I wasn't going to let this year be any different!


I picked the China Glaze neons because they're pretty much the brightest and most fun polishes that I own.  I saw online that they water marbled fantastically and they do.  I have had no problems with them not spreading or drying up too fast.  Then when I put my finger in the water, it always applies perfectly with little to no bubbles!

What do you think?  Think this is a fun birthday manicure??

Well I am off to enjoy the rest of my weekend!  Have a good day!

Bestie Twin Nails

Bestie Twin Nails with Fashion Footing: Round 14!

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  It's time for another Bestie Twin Nails with Fashion Footing!  Congratulations to our giveaway winners from last month, Amber and Megan!  Thank you to everyone who entered and celebrated one year of this feature with is!

Last year when Amanda and I started this feature, we discussed doing water marble.  Both of us really aren't fans of technique, but always admire different water marble manis.  Finally we decided it was time to attempt a water marble.

We both were going to do purple and blue manicures using Orly polishes.  Amanda was able to get hers to go successfully, however mine was a complete failure.  Polish wasn't spreading, it was too bubbly when it got on the nail, and the best was when I put top coat on and it completely bled.

I didn't give up though.  The next night I sat down, took some China Glaze polishes, and started working!  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Plur-ple
  • China Glaze - DJ Blew My Mind
  • China Glaze - Treble Maker
  • INM - Northern Lights
  • Orly - White
For my marble nail, I started off with a base coat of white polish,  Once the white was dried, I taped off my nail because I don't own any of those fancy liquid latex products.  Actually, I can't use them due to all my allergies.  People with dozens of allergies shouldn't use things that contain a major allergen as it might sensitize their bodies.  I tried one time using a peel off-glue base coat around my nail and it made such a mess that I vowed never to do it again.  Tape works perfectly fine and is cheaper.

Anyways, when I was finished taping my nail off, I started dripping my polish into my cup of room temperature water.  I began with Treble Maker, then DJ Blew My Mind, ending with Plur-ple.  These polishes spread like a dream!  I learned a few tricks after watching YouTube tutorials and drew my design in without it all clumping together or messing up.  It was glorious.  I dunked my nail and ended up with a gorgeous accent! 


I then went and did my thumb, which turned out more pastel than the ring finger.  Not sure why....maybe I didn't drip the same amount of green in for that line?  If that makes any sense.

What do you you think?  Have you had luck with watermarble?  Should I do more?

 Make sure to check out Amanda's post!

I found this video by SaraBeautyCorner on YouTube to be the most helpful!  Check it out if you don't have much luck with marbling!

Until next time, <3.

Water Marble

Water Marble - First Attempt

12:36:00 AM

A while back I attempted water marbling after my friend had it done to her nails.  I pulled up a YouTube video and was all excited to do it.  It seemed so simple and so cute.  When I sat down to do it, I quickly found that it was not the most simple thing.

Please excuse the photo as it is an old cell phone picture from my cruddy basic 3.2 megapixel phone.  I took this picture before I started blogging and got serious with my nails, and I kind of wish I had a better picture now that I look at it.


Colors Used:
  • Base
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Marble Colors
    • Sinful Colors - Verbena
    • Sinful Colors - Mint Apple
I had a difficult time getting the polish to spread.  I found that using room temperature tap water was definitely the best way to go.  When the polish did spread, I had difficulty drawing the design into it which could have been because I waited to long and was being too OCD about the design.  Also, the colors were very faint on my nails, which to me was weird because both Verbena and Mint Apple are not sheer polishes.

A few weeks later, I attempted to water marble my neighbor's nails and used some OPI polishes.  Wish I had a picture of that, it was a pretty silver and pink marble.  They seemed to spread a little better, which made me wonder if Sinful Colors was too cheap of a formula.

When I completed the design, I added a quick coat of New York Color White Lights Glitter (I'm seriously obsessed with this glitter polish) which made them stand out a little more.

I'm scared, nervous, and excited to try water marbling again.  Who knows, maybe I'll master it the third time around.