Valentine's Day Manicure

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I hope you have a great day!  

I'm not too romantic.  I feel like I could be, but I don't like to be forced into it with a holiday like today. I just hope that everyone feels they're loved by at least someone every single day.  That's what matters.

Anyways, I tried to get into the spirit with a new manicure.  I bought a new dotting tool.  Tangent---Sally's Beauty Supply is having a sale while supplies last.  They're getting rid of their old bottles of Orly (since Orly changed their look).  So with any $3 purchase, you can get a bottle of Orly for free.  GO NOW.

Well, I thought this dotting tool would be amazing.  And I'm sure it is, but I have no idea how to use it to make perfect dots.  

The white I used is Essie Marshmallow.  Actually all the polishes I used are from Essie.  The light pink is Raise Awareness.  The hot pink is Bachelorette Bash and the red is Forever Yummy. 

This is what I get when I try to be creative.  I'm a little disappointed.  I think my nails look like crap, which is why I chose to post the photos.  Everyone has a nail fail.  Lately, I've had them more often than not.  Hopefully with some more practice and patience I will be able to perfect the dotting technique.

Close up you can see how gross they look.  And how I lost patience at the end.  I put on my top coat and some of the dots bled.  Ugh.  I felt like removing the entire thing, but I made a personal goal last year that I would be doing festive manis as often as possible. 

Well, enough about my nail fail.  I'll review the Essie polishes I used.

Marshmallow: bright white, very fitting to its name.  However, it's a very sheer application.  The opacity I wanted required 4 coats.  I love the crisp color, but I hate that it took me so many coats to achieve it.  And the dry time is pretty slow, even with me waiting a few minutes between each coat.

Raise Awareness: definitely a breast cancer awareness pink.  I don't like pink too much.  Mainly I purchased the polish because proceeds went to breast cancer.  For dotting, I don't really like it.  It clumps up really quickly.

Bachelorette Bash:  I tend to prefer hot pink to normal pink.  I love the color.  Applies wonderfully in two coats.  For dotting, I enjoyed it.  It can be a little runny, so it takes a lot of practice, but it's dark and saturated enough that dotting doesn't get annoying.

Forever Yummy: Awesome polish.  Deep red.  Clean up isn't too terrible even though it's red. And for dotting, it was great.  Not too runny, not too clumpy.

Hope you enjoyed!! I would love to see your dotted nail art too!

Until next time.