Spotted

Tools used from left to right: An old perfume I don’t wear anymore, a water bottle with the top cut off, Sally Hansen Black Out, an orange stick, some q-tips, and vaseline, which is not pictured.

Here’s my really shoddy tutorial: First, have a base colour on. Take some vaseline and rub it on the skin around your nail, because this technique is a little messy and you can easily rub the excess polish off if you’ve prepped with some vaseline. Then, make sure you have a small bowl with some room temperature water in it. I used a half cut water bottle not to ruin any bowls I have at home. Taking your black polish, let a drop fall into the water and repeat a couple of times until the black gets dark. Next, take your old perfume (or anything alcohol based in a spray container) and spray it over the polish; it should look something like the bottom left photo. Now, with your nail down towards the polish, dip your finger right in and collect the excess polish still on the water with your orange stick. Remove your nail and clean up! Confused? Yes, I know… that wasn’t too good. Here’s a great tutorial.

I’ve been wanting to try this technique for months now, but the one and only time I tried it a while ago it came out to be a big disaster… I never even ended up trying it on my nails because I couldn’t get the dots right in the water. Anyway, since I have a pretty nice base on my nails, I though this spotted look would look amazing over it… and I was so right, right? This was my first time really trying it out and it’s not perfect, but I think it makes it look even better that way. I love how it’s patchy and messy and almost looks like marble (my thumb is my favourite) so I’m basically obsessed with how they turned out (even though all that perfume is making my head spin; it was worth it) and will definitely be reaching for my black polish and perfume next time to update a plain manicure.