the girl with the polka-dotted nails

I've always been fascinated by the jaw-dropping designs that some crazy, talented, and creative people out there on the internet have achieved. My first attempt didn't turn out half bad, and I thought, "maybe some people would rather follow my inexperienced self-made tutorials instead of a professionals????", which is the precise reason as to why this post exists.

OPI Oh So Glam!, OPI Base Coat, OPI Dazzled By Gold, Cutex Color Quick Navy Blue 80

You're going to need a base color and a design color. You have the freedom to use any base/design color, and as many as you want (get creative). You'll also need a toothpick, and I recommend using a clear base coat. I used a clear top coat and OPI Rapid Dry Spray as well (not pictured). 

yay for polish

First, put on your clear base coat, then your color base coat (duh). Do a second coat if needed, yada yada yada. (I didn't take a picture of that step because I hope you all know how to do that. If not, navigate your butt here.)

Wait until your nails are dry (if you have the rapid dry spray, you can spray it on in between "layers") before proceeding. Once you're ready, take the tip of the toothpick and swirl it around the nail polish jar. Go crazy. 

Once you get the paint on the toothpick, carefully tap it on your nail. The trick to getting different sized dots is the amount of polish you pick up on the toothpick. If you take it out of the bottle and it looks like there's a glob of paint about to fall off the tip, then you'll get a bigger dot. If you wipe it off a bit around the sides before applying, you'll get smaller dots. Sooner or later, you'll get used to how much or how little you need for each size. You can do just small, or just big dots, but I prefer a mix of both.

I used white as my primary detail color, and filled in the void with some gold flecks. I found that the gold, sparkly nail polish was a lot easier to control than the white. It's probably because of the consistency, so if you're polish challenged like myself, I'd stick to some sort of sparkly detail if you're nervous about trying this design out (don't be though, it's so simple! If I can do it, you can do it. I have faith in you).

And voilá! The masterpiece is complete.

I'd like to be able to blame the blue base coat turning out looking like shit because of the shady nail polish brand, but I'm going to take full responsibility by not knowing how to use a brush properly. But hey, the poor execution just adds character. 

Also, this is something worth checking out. Making your own nail polish color? Heck yeah.

Hopefully soon enough I'll stop being so lazy and take some pictures of my outfits and of my recent thrift finds. Lately I've been über excited about them, and have an urge to share. I'll face my fear of getting in front of the camera instead of behind for a change and take some ~selfies~. Maybe. But I'll definitely be posting some pictures of my thrifting! Ahhh, how I love thrifting.


Edit (1/8/13): You wouldn't believe the amount of compliments I've received over my nails. Could this possibly be the smell of success?