Nail Tutorial #004: Giddy for Green

Today’s tutorial is called Giddy in Green and has an overall fun, youthful feel. It is easy to do but a bit time-consuming. I have done a few other manicures like this (see tutorial #003) and get faster each time. This particular manicure took me about half an hour from start to finish.

The following items are what you’ll need to achieve this look:

– Sassy by Revlon
– First Mate by China Glaze
– Nicole by O.P.I.’s My Favorite Gold
– Lexington Yellow by NYC
– Silver nail studs
– Any kind of dotting tool (here I have used 12 gauge craft wire that has been cut to reveal flat, circular ends which are perfect for dotting)
– Tweezers (Pictured above is a tweezer/scoop combination that can be found at Michael’s or any other craft store. It is perfect for this manicure because not only can you pick up and place these small beads with ease, you can also use the back of the scoop to tap them which helps set them in place.)
– Q-tips and acetone for corrections (optional)

1.) Paint two coats of your base color and add a quick dry topcoat for optimal dry time.

2.) Take a glob of polish and place it on a piece of paper. Dip your dotting tool into the glob and try a few practice dots on the piece of paper before moving on to your nails. Place one dot at a time on your nails.

3.) Immediately after placing one dot of polish, use your tweezers to pick up a stud and place it in the middle of the dot. If it is not placed perfectly don’t worry. You can always use the tweezers to push it a little in one direction or another to achieve perfect placement. Be sure to do it while the polish is still wet though or else the stud will fall off easily.

4.) Clean your dotting tool off by dipping it in acetone and wiping it with a cotton swab or paper towel.

5.) Using two other colors of nail polish start placing more dots on each nail.

And there you have it! A manicure made of dots and studs in bright, playful colors. Be careful not to bump your nails into anything (use the bathroom before doing your manicure!) because the studs come off easily until they’ve finished setting. It also helps to add a topcoat to sort of seal them into place but this is optional. Be sure to wait to add the topcoat until everything else is dry though because the brush might drag a stud out of place. Fortunately this is easily fixable with tweezers but it might take some polish from your base coat and subsequently require doing the dot (or dots) over again.

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Nail Tutorial #003: Preppy Pocks

Well, I promised a tutorial for my last manicure but this is going to be a tutorial for something entirely different. Today’s tutorial will be on polka dots! The cool part about my tutorial is that I can almost guarantee no one does it the same way I do and it looks just as good as any of the other polka dot manicures I’ve seen out there.

Here’s what you’ll need. (It goes without saying that you can substitute these polishes with whatever brand or color you desire!)

– China Glaze’s First Mate
– Revlon’s Sassy
– Revlon’s Siren
– NYC’s Lexington Yellow
– 12 gauge wire
– Scissors or nippers
– Q-tip and acetone for clean-up (optional)
– Quick-drying top coat (optional)

1.) Take your wire and nippers out. Cut off a piece of wire and straighten it out with your hands or a rubber hammer. In order to keep the ends even you will need to clip them perfectly. Try to keep from using your cutters in a crooked fashion and file the edges if necessary. (

Tip: The wire pictured here can be purchased at any Michael’s for no more than a couple of bucks. Wire of all sizes should be available in any craft store, Home Depot, Lowe’s, or Wal-mart as well.

2.) Apply a solid base coat in the color of your choice. Here I have chosen First Mate by CG as it applies smoothly and all around looks amazing. Apply two coats of polish and top it off with some quick-drying top coat if you’re impatient like me.

3.) Get out your first polish and dab a blob of it on a piece of paper. Do a few practice dots (as you can see in the above photo) and once you are sure you have a consistent size and shape begin to dot your nails in the first color.

Tip: After every couple of dots stick the end of your wire in some acetone and wipe it off so that the polish doesn’t begin to dry and clump up on the end. This will result in a messy looking circle instead of a nice, clean dot.

4.) Continue this process with each of your colors and in no particular pattern.

Tip: If you mess up a dot, soak a q-tip in a good amount of acetone (it should almost be dripping). Quickly wipe it over the dot you want removed. If this doesn’t take it off, try lightly wiping the q-tip in a circular motion. If you do it in a light, quick fashion it shouldn’t take your base coat off. Voila! No more messy dot.

5.) Apply a top coat of polish and you’re done! Allow your nails to dry for at least 15 minutes (the longer the better).

Please feel free to share your own polka dot manicures in the comments section below!