"Hand-Painted" Flowers - Taking Stamping to Another Level!

Ok. The title sounds rather dramatic, I know. Well, I don't know about you, but I am not skilled enough to hand-paint my nails. I might be able to on my non-dominant hand but for my right hand? Forget it! That is why stamping is such a wonderful tool because you can put designs on both hands nicely. However, there are times you don't have the particular design plates for the look you are after. I have this beautiful iphone case that I wanted to match my nails to. I looked through my plates but couldn't find any that would match. And I thought I could hand-paint it on the stamper and stamp it on my nails!

This idea came from the direct decal method that I have been using recently. You can see the example here, here, and here. By the way, this method of making decals on stampers and stamping directly on nails have been around for sometime and people call it different names, such as advance stamping or reverse stamping method, etc. To me, those names quite don't stick. When I hear reverse stamping, I think of the method you stamp a design on one stamper and put another stamper to it to reverse the image and stamp on your nails. So, I just made up this new name "direct decal method" and I think it sounds more like what it is, no? 

Here is the picture of my iphone case and my matching nails! I really love the result!

You might think it is time consuming, but it was pretty quick to my surprise. You can use dotting tools or small art brushes to paint design. And if you have a few stamper heads around, you can paint multiples of them first because it needs to be fairly dry before placing it on nails. Just remember that the first color you paint would be on the top of the other color. For example, I put little yellow lines before red and pink flowers so that when stamped, you see little yellow centers on flowers. 

For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Navigate Her (light green) and Sally Hansen Ivory Skull (white). On my left hand, I also painted one nail with Sally Hansen Floaties (peach) as an accent. I painted flowers on stampers, using Essie Navigate Her, Essie Vested Interest, Sally Hansen Floaties, and Essie Sunday Funday. I finished off with a couple of coats of HK Girl top coat to smooth things out. 

I am very happy with the "hand-painted" look! If you are like me and not confident enough to paint designs on nails directly, you should difinitely try this method!

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

I Like Birds Just In Case You Haven't Noticed...

I love birds... I don't have them as pets but I like bird patterns and things that are birds.

You can see other bird nails I did here and here. For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Salt Water Happy. I used the direct decal method to stamp the birds, using Bundle Monster plate BM-607. I used Konad White for the outline and used Nubar Spotlight, Ceramic Glaze My Skinny Jeans, and Essie Mezmerised to fill in birds. 

I started to use the direct decal method recently and this makes things a lot easier! I used to make decals and placed them on nails like here. But I found out you can actually stamp the decal directly on your nails after coloring in. I will post a tutorial soon. 

It is rather subtle look and I think I could have probably stamped on all nails. It would look like bird printed fabric or something... I would buy it if there is a dress made of this pattern!

Are you a bird person? Do you wear bird nails?

Love,

Little Dot

Pineapple!

It is fun to do twin nails with my beloved daughter!

My daughter did hers first and I followed suit! She used Essie Chilato (pale yellow) and Essie Salt Water Happy (pale blue) to paint her nails. She stamped pineapple pattern from Bundle Monster BM-713 with China Glaze History of the World. 

For my look, I first painted my nails with Nubar Spotlight (yellow) and Sally Hansen Ivory Skull (white). I stamped the leaves from Bundle Monster plate BM-711, using Essie Vested Interest as stamping polish. For pineapples, I used the direct decal method (instead of making decals and placing it on nails, stamp directly on nails after adding colors). 

I posted my love for Essie Chilato here. In search for perfect yellow, I picked up this Nubar Spotlight as well. This is my first Nubar polish. Spotlight is a little more darker yellow than Chilato. Say, more pinapple than lemon?? 

I think this is a fun look for summer. Don't you agree?

Love,

Little Dot

Search for THE Yellow!

Every Spring/early Summer, I gravitate towards nice pale yellow colors. If I see any pale yellow polish at stores, I most likely grab them. But the right pale yellow is hard to find. They usually turn out too yellow out of the bottles... So, when I saw some leaked information about Essie Summer collection in Feb on web, I was so determined to get the bottle of Chilato! This may be THE one!!!

AND I wasn't disappointed! This is THE yellow I was waiting for!!! I don't think Essie has lots of yellow polish. At least, I don't know any. But this is so pretty... Yes it is a bit sheer and I needed 3 coats (almost 2 coater, though!), but I don't mind it because it is such lovely pale yellow. You might call it green because it is borderline lemony yellow and pale green. I still call it yellow, though. 

I love love love this color!!! I was so excited that I had to Instagram it right away!

For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Chilato (pale yellow) and Ciate Snow Virgin (white). I stamped a design from Bundle Monster plate BM-404, using Ceramic Glaze My Skinny Jeans as stamping polish. 

I'm certain I will be wearing this color a lot this season! Do you like pale yellow? What is your best yellow?

Love,

Little Dot

Ciate Big Beauty Bus Review!

I like bargains! (Who doesn't?!) I found this Ciate Big Beauty Bus set for $8 the other day! 

The colors in this set might not be very special but I thought the bright assortments would be good to add to my collection. And 6 mini polish bottles for $8?? Why not!

I was inspired by the bright bold colors in the set. For this look, I first painted my nails with Ciate Hopscotch (bright orange) and Ciate Snow Virgin (white). I was planning to use Ciate Pool Party for stamping because it looked pretty opaque but it didn't work well. So, I used Essie Style Cartel (blue) as stamping polish. The rain drop design is from Pueen 58. 

The two colors I used had pretty good coverage. Just two coats were needed. I was impressed by Snow Virgin. White polish tends to be streaky but I found Snow Virgin to be very easy to apply. 

I don't usually do bold colors, so this is quite a bit different look for me. But I enjoyed it! Sometimes you need to go out of your comfort zone!

Have you tried Ciate polish? Do you like bold colors and designs?

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