Gradient Dots

Inspired by a few "dotticure" pictures I pinned on Pinterest, I decided to try a kind of gradient version. On top of a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Brisk Blue," I dotted Pure Ice "Black Out," "Kiss Me Here" (gray - that name makes no sense), and "Superstar" (white).

It turned out neat, but I'm not 100% happy with it. It took me a couple nails to figure out a pattern, and on the dark base, the white really sticks out, as compared with the black and gray.

Next I'd like to try a gradient base with a single color of dots on top!

Blue Skies

I was going to just paint my nails with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue-Away" and leave it at that, but it was like they were calling out for fluffy white clouds! So I grabbed my Wet n Wild "French White Creme" and a dotting tool and went to town.

This was the first time I tried this technique and I love how they turned out!

Flowers and Branches

I realized I hadn't used this Pure Ice nail polish in "Fairy Godmother" yet, so I did a test to see how opaque it was. Turns out it covers pretty much completely in just one coat! (But I did two anyway, just to be safe.) Then I did this flowery/branchy design from Pueen plate 33 (I just now decided that they were branches) in Pure Ice "Black Out," with dots of Wet n Wild "Rain Check" in the centers of the flowers.

There was a tiny bit of streaking after I put on a top coat, but also my scraper wasn't quite scraping as well as it used to, so there were a couple noticeable streaks transferred right from the plate.

Raindrops

I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest to do a multi-colored, multi-sized polka-dot thing. I went with a base of Wet n Wild "Bijou Blue," and then my plan was to use Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Celeb City" in place of the white in the inspiration photo, and then Pure Ice "Bikini" as the third color.
I think I misjudged the size of the dots, though. Even though I chose different sized dotting tools, the dots meant to overlap ended up being the same size. Just as well, because those two colors are pretty similar right next to each other. So there's no stacking of dots. But that's ok, I like the way this turned out, anyway. The color combo and bit of sparkle looks like drops of rain.

Pink Polka Dots

I really like the color scheme here; gray + pastels seems very current. This is Sephora by OPI "Dance Til Fawn," with dots of Wet n Wild "Tickled Pink." Tickled Pink has proved not to be so good for stamping, and gets streaky as an all-over color, but it's great for dotting. I almost went with more of a fuchsia for the pink, but I'm glad I ended up going with the pastel.

Star Light, Star Bright

For this manicure I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Marine Scene," stamped with Wet n Wild "Black Creme. On most of my fingers, I stamped the star and dot design from Pueen plate 18, and then added additional dots of Xtreme Wear "Celeb City." On my ring fingers, I used the star pattern on plate 24.

Ugh, the streaking looks so bad in macro!

I didn't expect this polka dot design to look so punk rock, but it kind of does. Also, I totally smudged my right thumb :o(

Black & Blue

I needed a little inspiration for my nails today, so I perused Instagram to see what other people were doing with their Pueen plates. I kept seeing this design from plate 26 popping up, and a couple times in blue on black, so I decided to try it.

This is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Blue-ming Fast" (bought on clearance for $1.07!) stamped on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Black Out." Then I added dots of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Celeb City" to jazz it up a little bit more. I'd like to try actually stamping with this silver sometime.

I have to say, I'm really impressed with the Insta-Dri polishes for stamping, they are pretty opaque. I've used them on top of black a couple times now.

Scaley Shells

I wanted to do my nails tonight, so I looked online for some inspiration photos using the Pueen plate sets I have, and kept seeing this image from plate number 13. I had some trouble getting it centered right, but it doesn't look horrendous...

The base is Wet n Wild "Bijou Blue," design is stamped in Wet n Wild "Black Creme," and then I added a dot detail in Wet n Wild "Metallica."

...And pretty much no streaking from the top coat!

Blue Jewels?

I had this awesome multicolored stamp all planned, and when I actually went to do it... it just wasn't happening. It's possible these Pueen plates have some kind of residue on them that needs to be cleaned off the first time, but that hadn't occurred to me yet, so I scrapped that idea and went with something else.

Instead, I painted my nails with Pure Ice in "Kiss Me Here" (gray), and used three of the designs on Pueen plate 26 with Wet 'n Wild "Black Creme." On my middle three fingers, I used the one on the right that looks kind of like chandelier beads in varying lengths. For my pinkies, I used the similar one on the left where they're all the same length, because I didn't want to risk having the mostly blank area end up on my nail. And for my thumbs, I used the swirly dot pattern at the top to cover the large area.

I then went back and added dots of Wet 'n Wild "Bijou Blue" on top of some of the larger gem/teardrop shapes. Unfortunately, when I added a top coat, a lot of the designs smudged :o( I think this was mostly because the top coat is kind of old and gloopy now. That's going into the trash :o/

Peacock!

I've wanted to do this ever since I saw a tutorial for a similar look on YouTube. My Pueen plates arrived today, and plate 09 with this peacock design was the first one I pulled out!

This is a base of an OPI for Sephora color (sorry, don't know the name off the top of my head, it's part of a sampler), with stamping in black, and dots of Sally Hansen InstaDry in Pronto Purple in the centers of the feather looking parts.

I am really happy with these Pueen plates! How happy am I? So happy that I shared a picture of my right hand (I am right-handed) because it turned out just as nice as the left! All the problems I seemed to experience with the Konad plates I tried just aren't happening with these. I have two sets (the 2012 and 2013) and love all the patterns on them, so I will be entertained for a while!

My First Attempt with Konad!

I've been kind of obsessed with the idea of Konad for some time, so I finally did some research, figured out what kind of supplies I needed, and placed an order. I was so excited to try everything out when it arrived! I only got the stamper and some plates, not the special nail polish.

For this first attempt, I tried a couple things just to test out some of the designs, but eventually decided to go with Sally Hansen InstaDry in "Expresso," and Essie "Fiji" for the stamps, for a kind of subtle look. To jazz things up, I added a tiny dot of red in the center of the flowers with a dotting tool (but kind of regretted it).

Stars (no Stripes)

I didn't get a chance to do this before the actual 4th of July, but I finally was able to break out my dotting tool and do a mildly patriotic manicure.

This is silver dots on Sally Hansen InstaDry in "Blazing Blue." The first two nails I dotted came out kind of weird looking. Then I realized I should be thinking vertically, down the length of the nail, rather than horizontally, across the nail. The rest of them turned out super cute, and I got lots of compliments, so I will be doing this again for sure!