Lace Mani!

Negative space manis have been going around for quite some time now. This is a sort of my take on it. 

For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Stylenomics (dark green black) and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dune (baige nude). I used a lace design from Bundle Monster plate BM-618 to stamp, using Mundo de Unas stamping polish 02. 

A little change of pace from pink and red Valentine themed nails I had for the last few weeks, I think. 

My nails are doing pretty good this winter thanks to milder weather but I still have a little peeling tips on some nails. Covering them with the nude shade is a good way to go if you are not totally comfortable going nude nails! 

Have you tried negative space manis or lace manis?

Love,

Little Dot

Stripes and Hearts!

This might be a good nail design for Valentine's day!

It took quite a long time to do this nail look! While cleaning all 10 fingers after stamping stripes, I was thinking, " this is why I hardly ever stamp on all of my nails!" Yup. The cleaning can take a while, just so you know. 

For this look, I first painted my nails with OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI (greyish white). I used the stripe design from Bundle Monster plate BM-411. I didn't have any plate that had horizontal stripes so I used the vertical one but stamped sideways. (It only works if you have shorter nail length!) The stamping polish I used was Mundo de Unas 2. After stamping stripes, I used heart design from the same plate BM-411 to do the direct decal method on a few on my nails. The reason for the direct decal method was the original heart design is not a solid one and I wanted the solid heart and also the design had to be very well pigmented not to show black stripes underneath. So yes, this look took a loooong time to achieve!

My inspiration? My new morning cup!

Even though it took a long time for this design, I got quite a few compliments!

What do you think of stripes and hearts together?

Love,

Little Dot

Pretty Flowers!

Here is the look I had recently and I really loved it!

For this look, I first painted my nails with China Glaze History of the World (smokey navy). I used direct decal method to stamp the flowers using Pueen plate 72. I used Mundo de Unas #12 and Essie Resort Fling for stamping color and filling in. 

After I did my nails, my beloved daughter wanted to do similar look!

Here is a group shot!

I love how the colorful flowers look on the dark navy background. 

Do you like bold floral look?

Love,

Little Dot

Bold Pattern and Mango

It is summer and you have to have some bold and fun look!

I haven't had the opportunity to use this Messy Mansion plate, so I thought it would be perfect for this bold black and white pattern. 

For this look, I first painted my nails with China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin (mango) and Sally Hansen Ivory Skull (white). I stamped design from Messy Mansion plate LL A1, using Mundo de Unas #2 (black). 

I was thinking of going with black and white but in the end I felt like wanting a bright color in my look. This China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin is a very fun color. It almost looks neon! 

Are you going for bold looks this summer?

Love,

Little Dot

Lovely Yellow!

My beloved daughter just graduated! I'm so proud of her accomplishment!! And this is the nail look I wore for the ceremony! For occasion like this, you don't want anything too much. I was almost going with just simply using one color (my favorite of the moment, Essie Chillato!) but couldn't resist the temptation to do one stamp. I really enjoyed the combination of Essie Chillato and Essie Petal Pusher here. So, I decided to go with that combination again.  

For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Chillato (pale yellow) and Essie Petal Pusher (medium gray). I used Bundle Monster plate BM-716 and Mundo de Unas #12 for stamping. 

I really like the subtle design. 

I'm glad that Mundo de Unas #12 is very close color to Essie Chillato. I would love to use Essie Chillato as stamping color but it is just too sheer for that purpose. 

Do you enjoy subtle designs? 

Love,

Little Dot

Essie Chillato and Petal Pusher

I love love love Essie Chillato and I can't keep my hands off it! You can see other looks I did here and here. And keep tuned because there will be more to come. 

I like Essie polish to begin with but recently they are coming out with even greater colors! Here, I paired my beloved Chillato with another one of my favorites, Petal Pusher. 

For this look, I painted my nails with Essie Chillato (pale yellow) and Essie Petal Pusher (dusty medium grey). I stamped flower and key designs from Bundle Monster plate BM-701, with Mundo De Unas #12 and Essie Petal Pusher as stamping polish. 

I love how the color combination of these two work. And Petal Pusher is so pigmented that I can use it as stamping polish! 

I am debating if I should get a back-up bottle of Chillato because I just love it so much... I hope Essie will make it into their permanent collection so that I never have to worry about running out! I think it's about time they include yellow in their staples, don't you think?

Love,

Little Dot

History of the World

I recently bought China Glaze Hostory of the World. And I just love this color so much!

It is from the Giver limited collection last fall and I couldn't find it in any stores nearby. I had to order it from Nail Polish Canada! 

For this look, I first painted my nails with China Glaze History of the World (smoky navy). I stamped the floral design from Bundle Monster BM-716 with Mundo de Unas #6 stamping polish. 

I was in search of good navy polish because the other ones I have tend to be too dark that they just look like black. History of the World, I think, is definitely navy and not black. Slightly purplish but I love the smoky look of it. 

This is one of those polish that I got obsessed so much after seeing it somewhere and I couldn't rest until I had it in my hand!! Thank God for Nail Polish Canada and their fast shipping! It was at my door in 2 days :)

Do you get obsessed by certain color or polish? What is your latest obsession?

Love,

Little Dot

Spring Rain

I have been attracted to soft hues this spring. I was browsing my polish drawers and found this beauty, Essie Cocktail Bling! 

This is a blue-ish grey cream and it looks almost lavender against my skin tone. I LOVE IT! I think of soft Spring rain when I look at it. 

For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Cocktail Bling. I used Bundle Monster plate BM-705 to stamp Spring inspired words with Konad white stamping polish. I also used BM-710 to stamp flower pattern with Mundo de Unas 12. 

After painting my nails, I realized that my new purse matches perfectly to my nails!!

What is your favorite Spring color? Do you like soft pastel this season?

Love,

Little Dot

Bundle Monster Secret Garden Review!

I got Bundle Monster Secret Garden plates recently and I am very very happy with the product!!

These are buffet style, which means each plate has etching on entire surface as continuous design. There are quite a few companies make these type of plates but this is the first buffet style from Bundle Monster. And they did very well! The part I love the most is that they made the design smaller/finer so that they are very usable for small nails like mine! It is also great for large nails because the design spreads out quite large area. 

Here you can see the design size comparison with Pueen Buffet plate. 

And here is another example. See how much smaller/finer the designs are on Bundle Monster plates? They fit a lot better on my nails! 

I used BM-718 for this look! I first painted my nails with Essie Spun In Luxe (cashmere matte black). I stamped butterflies from Bundle Monster plate BM-718 with Mundo de Unas stamping polish 42. I applied HK Girl top coat and mattified the look with NYC matte top coat on top.  

I tested all the plates on paper and they transferred great without any issues. Even very fine lines transferred perfectly! 

The theme of this set is floral and garden as the name Secret Garden set suggests. Because I have quite a few floral plates already (and you get to the point of being picky when you have so many design plates...), I hesitated a bit before ordering, but I'm so glad I decided to get it. The set has good mixtures of designs from cute animals (a fawn, a headgehog, squirrels, bunnies, a duck, and kittens!) to a hula girl, and of course, tons of florals!

You can order this set from Bundle Monster site here and you can use prome code JOLLY2014 to get 15% off until March 31, 2015. 

Did you get this set? Which design is your favorite?

Love,

Little Dot

Because it's Halloween!!

Must do a Halloween mani!

I had this idea of the skeleton coming  out of the grave... 

For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Styenomics (greenish black) and Essie Roarrrrange (orange). I used a skeleton image from Bundle Monster plate BM-413 with Konad white stamping polish. I also used a jack-o-lantern image from Bundle Monster plate BM-224 with Mundo de Unas 53 (orange) and Konad white as stamping polish. 

Does it look like the skeleton is creaping out of the grave? Mmm... Maybe not. But I still like it...

Happy Hallowewn everyone!! Trick or Treat!!!

Love,

Little Dot 

Forest Friends!

I was in a mood for some fun nails this week! 

I wanted to use this Messy Mansion plate MM19 for some time. I got it a few months ago in summer but it felt like fall season design at that time. Now is the great time to have fun with it!!

My favorite design from this plate is the birch tree! I happen to have a big birch tree in my backyard. It is a very pretty tree in any season! I also wanted to use the cute little forest friends, the fox and the hedgehog. I noticed the fox design is fine-lined and to show the orange color, I ended up making decals. I will do a tutorial on decal making on my next post. So, stay tuned! 

For this look, first I made the fox decals (directions to follow on my next post!). While the decals are drying, I painted my nails with Essie Urban Jungle (off white cream) and Essie Sew Psyched (sage green). I stamped the birch tree design from Messy Mansion plate MM19 with Konad White stamping polish. I used leaf design from the same plate to stamp colorful leaves by mixing Essie Sew Psyched, Essie Roarrrrange, and Ceramic Glaze Pinapple Breeze. I stamped a hedgehog with Mundo de Unas stamping polish. When the decals are dry, I placed them on nails. Then I topped with HK Girl Top Coat. 

It is a lot more elaborate and labour intensive look but I had a lot of fun creating it!

I hope you enjoyed the forest friends!

Love,

Little Dot