What to do with a manicure on its last legs...

China Glaze Pelican Gray • Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Practice your dotting skills of course! (Or just remove it, I guess...)

I bought a set of nail art dotting tools a little while ago, but hadn't touched them after tucking them away to my nail polish drawer. I really hate to mess up a perfectly good application of colour with crappy nail art, so I was putting off trying them out. Looking down at my worn-down, grown-out polish one night, I finally decided to give it a shot. If it was terrible, I could take it off and not feel bad about wrecking an otherwise good mani, since I had already been wearing Pelican Gray for several days. If it was good, I could wear it for another day or two before the massive gap between the colour and cuticle drove me insane.

For my first time trying to dot my nails, I thought it turned out pretty okay! It's a bit tricky to consistently apply the same amount of pressure with the dotting tool for every dot. The dots are not very even in spacing, shape, or size when you get a chance to stare at them up close like this, but in person I could get away with it. I even received a few compliments!

Note that it isn't necessary to use a dotting tool to create dots like this. Everyday objects like toothpicks and pins work too. The round bits on the end of a bobby pin are especially well-suited to dotting. I only happened to buy the set while ordering my nail sticks since it was pretty cheap online (~$5 for five dual-ended tools, if I remember right).

Not bad, right? Will you be practicing your nail art skillz on your next worn-out mani?