Dotted Load

I know the title is a little odd. I wanted to title it something besides "Illamasqua Load with Dots" or something similar. So I went with Dotted Load. Haha.

I finally received my new dotting tools on Monday, though I planned to use them on Mother's Day (which was Sunday). Obviously that didn't happen. Thanks USPS for driving my dotting tools up and down New England for 2 days. Anyway, I couldn't use them Monday because I was at work. And on Tuesday, I had really wanted to wear Load on its own. So naturally, Wednesday means dots added to Load!!

If you saw my post with just the swatch of Load, I'm sure you noticed how similar all of the photos were. I purposefully made sure I took photos from a bunch of different angles this time around!! What do ya think??











Closeup


3 coats Load
1 coat Poshe
Larger, outer dots China Glaze For Audrey
Smaller, inner dots Orly Ancient Jade

I've already talked about Load here if you're curious about my opinion of the polish. But as for the dotting, I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just picked up the dotting tool and went for it. Kept it simple but pretty. I just dipped the tool once in polish (for each nail), and did 5 dots, allowing it to become smaller as I went along. Then I used a smaller diameter tool for the inner dots, following the same steps.

Dotting tools are very easy to use. Just take a piece of paper or a notecard or anything like that, and put a dab of polish on it. Then just dip your dotting tool into the wet polish and dot away! If you wanted the dots all the same size, just keep redipping before you do each dot. Or you can do what I did and get a gradient effect after just dipping once and dotting several times after.

Here is a photo of the tools I used:


I bought them from eBay, and if you're curious, you can click here for the auction. I wish I could tell you more about their sizes, but I really don't know. There were 5 tools that came in that auction, but it looks like only 3 different sizes. I'm a little disappointed by that, so keep that in mind if you choose to buy from that auction or the like. It seems like there are other dotting tools out there that mention different sizes and how many different sizes you'll get. Now this is definitely my own fault, as I did not research that well enough. But ultimately, I'm still happy with the tools. They seems like very good quality and they clearly work well. And they were definitely the cheapest ones I came across.

Orly Ancient Jade with Cherry Blossoms

I'm loving Ancient Jade, and I just recently watched MissChievous's video on a Cherry Blossom tutorial. I loved the look with the blue/green as a base, so you can see how this was just meant to be!!

Here's my take on it:



2 coats Orly Ancient Jade
1 coat SV
Sinful Black on Black for the branches
Sally Hansen White On for the white of the blossoms
Wet N Wild Blaze for the pink centers of the blossoms
Topped with 1 coat SV

While MissChievous used a nail brush and dotting tool for her cherry blossoms, I didn't have either of those things. Mine is done with toothpicks. Branches and blossoms were both done with just toothpicks. Yup. Haha.

Orly Ancient Jade

I'm so ridiculously excited that it is finally spring!! Though I am not excited to be looking out of my window and see that it is SNOWING. Yes. Snowing. Stupid New England... Anyway, I don't always follow the appropriate nail colors for the seasons, but I try to just because it keeps me excited for something!! Spring is obviously the time that pastels start coming out and you move away from some of the darker colors of the fall and winter. So, I decided I would finally try Orly Ancient Jade:



2 coats Ancient Jade
1 coat SV

Orly is my favorite brand of nail polish. I think they have consistantly great quality polishes from a great formula to a wide selection of colors and finishes. They're also easily available in my area (Sally's).
This polish is why I love Orly. I used 2 coats, but truly I could have used one. It is insanely opaque but not streaky at all. It is the perfect consistancy to allow for 1 coat, but it's not so thick that it requires thinner or is unworkable. It's literally my dream formula. Not gonna lie, kinda wish I had just left it with 1 coat. I did this last night in poor lighting, and I was ready to go to bed. I think I was totally impatient with the second coat.