SIMPLES - What Are Dotting Tools and How Do You Use Them?

Hi Goddesses

There's no tutorial for SIMPLES this week.  Instead, we have a PRE-tutorial post.  We're going to be spending the next 4 weeks on Dotting Tool rotation, so today is all about what they are, what to do if you don't have any and what they can do!

I honestly don't know what I would do without my dotting tools - they are my single most used "tool" - and they can do so much!


Let's take a look at the video first, and then I'll show you some examples.







Large dotting tool used to create roses shape. 




Medium dotting tool used for inner shapes.  Finest dotting tool used for black edging.




Medium sized dotting.




Mixture of sizes - smaller size for the centres.



Large dotting tool.




Largest dotting tool.




Large-ish dotting tool.



3 sizes of dotting tool.



Mixed dots with some streaking because I applied top coat too early.



Ruffle - using large dotting tool.

And finally, one of my favourites - smallish dotting tool.


As you can see - the variety of things you can do is endless, and there is so much more than I've shown you here.

For the first couple of weeks we're going to concentrate on basic dotting - you'll love it.


Finally, you may want to check out another fabulous dotting tool round up put together by Emma of The Digit-al Dozen - Digital Dozen Guide to Dotting

Digit-al Dozen DOES Black and White - Go Large!

Hi Goddesses

How are you all?  I hope you're keeping well.  Are you enjoying the first time Lindsey and Meghan have been part of the group?  Personally, I'm regretting it already, they are both far too awesome!  If you don't believe me, check the links below for what Lindsey of Wondrously Polished has done today.

So back to me and today I have some over-sized dots.    This was inspired by another cushion (lol, random, that's 2 this week), and then I did a slight variation for the accent nail.

I thought I'd spend some time showing you how I got my jumbo dots, as I know it's a question I always ask other bloggers.  For this mani, I used the end of a nail art brush - it's probably half the heft of a pencil, similar in size to a chop stick.

In this photo, it's next to my largest dotting tool (which I used for the inner dots).  I would suggest you just experiment with whatever you have lying around until you find something that works.

The thing I've noticed with trying to dot with larger objects - you really need a good puddle of polish.  Do not be skimpy - you need a really good covering to get a good dot shaped dot.  Also, remember you might be working with (or against) the curve of your nail, so be prepared to do a little bit of touch up xx

Barry M Bright Purple Goes Dotty!

BARRY M – BRIGHT PURPLE

Hi Goddesses

When Barry and his M made Bright Purple, they made a beautiful polish.  This is deep, vibrant and utterly winning.

Bright Purple is a blend of –

·         Darkest fuchsia

·         Dark magenta

·         Red toned violet

·         And Zoya’s Demi, which it bears more than a passing resemblance to

It’s fabulously intense, like some tribal goddess paint, or a super toxic cocktail.  This has been steeped in berries, sprinkled with gin and left to soak not far from the beetroot juice jar.  It’s totally tropical, an exotic parrot or a strutting peacock that got mauled by the pink fairies at birth.

This is NOT a shy and retiring polish but possibly one of the most dramatic colours you can put on your nails.  I’m not sure it’s purple, but then it’s not pink either, and I’m getting stressed because I have no idea which polish family it needs to move in with!

Whatever, this is fab-u-lous, and that’s as much, and as little, as you need to know.

HAVING FUN WITH BARRY M’s BRIGHT PURPLE

I had been yearning to do this pattern for ages, and this seemed a really good base colour to do it on.  So here we have, Fun With Dotting.

I used CG Cheers To You and my largest dotting tool for this, doing random large silver dots.  I then did some smaller silver dots, with a small dotting tool.

Finally, I used a medium dotting tool to dot some Bright Purple over the silver, to give the appearance of rings or hoops.

Personally I just LOVE this.  It is so simple and easy to do – hey, even a Crumpet can’t fail at it! 

Enjoy xx J

Enjoy J  xx

J

Top Tip – if you’re ever unsure what a nail colour looks like, go to Google images, which will give you plenty of contrasts and compares.

Nail Fun - Purple Dots

Nail Fun

Nail Fun is all about having fun with your nails.  Layering it, splattering it, making pretty patterns with it … it’s the most fun you can have on your own with a child in the house !!  J 

NAIL ART-LESSNESS FOR BEGINNERS J

Ok, so let’s do a little nail art.  As we’re beginners and a bit cack-handed, we’ll start with something simple.

Dots are a great way to dabble.  Thanks to dotting tools they’re really easy to do, and if you don’t have dotting tools you can use blunt cocktail sticks, pencils, all sorts.  The ones I’ve seen work best with a theme, so for this one I used 5 shades of purple from feather light to black-dark.

From thumb to pinkie I used ZOYA Marley, OPI Planks A Lot, ZOYA Demi, ZOYA Mira and ZOYA PINTA. 

You then just go mad with a dotting tool.  I was hoping to create some cool patterns but I think I had too many colours in play.  Also, it looks rubbish on the last fingers I did when the blob of nail varnish I was using started to get sparse!  My favourites are the fingers with flowers and the ones that have a defined pattern.

I think the MARLEY dots have the most impact, and with hindsight I’d have used fewer dark colours.  Altho Mira and Demi are medium-dark in the bottle, on the nail and within a pattern they became too dark and indistinguishable.

I’ve seen this done beautifully in monochrome and in rainbow colours, so it’s an ok-ish result for now, and I’ll try harder next time (and work out how to control my left hand!)

 See you next time :)