Polished – DIY Dotted Mosaic Nail Art Tutorial

Hey nail polish/art lovers! I know, I know, it’s been a looooong time. But, I’m back with a fun, easy, yet intricate nail art tutorial. The temperatures are beginning to dip and the sun is going down earlier, which means Fall is around the corner. With that in mind, I wanted to incorporate a color that is great for the upcoming season; olive. It’s a nice dark hue and goes with just about everything. After I did the design, the word mosaic came to me, which in a sense is exactly what it is! So on September 13th 2012, the Dotted Mosaic was born. You’ll need at least 3 different colors for this tutorial, aluminum foil, a dotting tool (or a bobby pin, industrial nail or dull pencil) and base and top coat. Let’s get into it!

essie – Mint Candy Apple, NARS – Ratin Jot & Dior – Amazonia

Earlier this week I did Mint-toes with Mint Candy Apple, majority of the time I like my nails and toes to blend with each other; after rummaging through my over-stuffed Caboodle of nail polish Ratin Jot and my new Fall favorite, Amazonia popped up. Not too long ago on the eclechick facebook page I shared a picture with those colors along with two other ones, inquiring about a nail art tutorial, but after looking at this color combo, I decided to roll with it. As with all of the nail art tutorials start with your Chip Skip (makes your at-home mani last longer), then apply your base coat, followed by your main color. In this case my main color was Amazonia. I left my accent nail (ring finger) bare (Chip Skip & base coat only) since I felt like the dots would look great on a natural nail. After you’ve painted your nails with your main color you’ll want to grab your aluminum foil.

Form your first polish puddle, in this case my first color was Ratin Jot.

With your dotting tool, begin making dots on your accent nail, get as close to your cuticle as possible, following the natural curve of your nail. I had a total of 5 dots.

Do the same dotting design with your second color, in my case, Mint Candy Apple, above your first row of dots. Again you’ll be following the natural curve of your nail. Follow the same step with your third color and alternate with each row. Continue doing this technique until you get to the tip of your nail. The amount of dots will decrease as you get closer to the tip and should look similar to this…

Let the nail(s) dry for about 5-10 minute before applying top coat to avoid dragging your dot colors. After your top coat application, your nail should look similar to this…

I was shocked! Another dot techinique that I LOVE!

Amazonia skyrocketed to the top of my Fall color list. It looks a bit dark here, so I attempted to capture the true hue in another photo…

Are you seeing that olive goodness that Dior crafted, bottled and named Amazonia?! I’m telling you, it is definitely a hue you need, even if it isn’t by Dior, just get an olive color in your polish trove!

So, are you feeling the Dotted Mosaic? Let me know. If you try any of my tutorials please share it with me. Kelli, from the fashion and style blog, Clutchez did my Cotton Candy Dots mani and it looked so gorgeous! View it here. I was beaming with delight when she told me about it. I’m working on not being a one-trick-pony (dots on dots on dots) so let me know if you have any suggestions of nail art tutorials that you’d like to see. I’ll try my best to deliver.

xx Sereeda

This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2012 at 9:00 am. It is filed under Beauty and tagged with polished. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.