I’ve been wanting to join in on the nail art fun for a while now. Two things have held me back: 1) I’m clumsy as hell and always mess up my nails immediately after doing them and 2) I didn’t want to invest in the tools in case I ended up being terrible at it. I’ve heard others recommend using bobby pins for nail art on the fly, and since they come in packs of 100 for 99 cents, I thought I’d give it a go with the most basic design: a dotticure!
For this mani, I used Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Longwear Nail Enamel in Lady Luck for the base color, and Revlon Brilliant Strength Nail Enamel in Provoke for the dots.
I stretched open my bobby pin as much as I could without breaking it, which made it a lot easier to isolate one of the ends (which is apparently called a quickle, but I’m not sure how credible my source is).
Watch my full tutorial below:
So easy, right? I finished it off with a layer of top coat and it looked great. I see a lot of dotticures in my future! Right after filming this, I tried my hand (no pun intended) at a flower design on my thumb, but failed… miserably. Practice makes perfect, though! Hopefully I can bring you another nail tutorial sans nail tools soon.
Have you ever MacGyvered your own beauty tools?
PrimeBeauty
Love the color combo
Melody Robinson Wright
Very subtle dotticure. Cute!
Ingénue Coquette
super cute – i use bobby pins too!
Brooke @ Blushing Noir
That is seriously the best idea… never would’ve thought bobby pin! You saved me $$$!
FabZilla_Kath
Cute mani!! Shame on me and blame the ever shaky hands, I suck even at the simplest dotticure.
Mai
I used to do this with my manicures!
mynewestaddiction
Great tip. I love the shades you used
Betzy Carmona
I love it ! I had use that technique before then went on to purchase a set of dotting but then lost it.
Lisa Marie Heath
Gorgeous combo! And yes – Bobby pins work in a pinch!
Kelly R
I love the color combination! I love dotting tools. And I still use the occasional bobby pin.
Honeygirlk
I love the color combo. 🙂 I have a dotting tool – but when I first started with nails I used my bobby pins. 🙂
Allison @neversaydiebeauty
Love that color combo. I don’t have any bobby pins anymore so I either use Q-tips with pointed and rounded ends or my cheap essence dotting tool that works great. Cute tutorial
Miranda | SlashedBeauty.com
I get too frustrated with Q tips because the little fibers stick to my polish and ruin the finish 🙁
Ange
My favorite color combo’s!! I love the bobby pin trick I’ve be using it forever 🙂
Kimmi @ The Plastic Diaries
Gorgeous. I love orange and pink together
EBBlogAshley
I love polka dots! I might be able to do this. Love that you are just as clumsy as I am. I cannot do nail art at all!
Miranda | SlashedBeauty.com
LOL I’m clumsy just doing one color on my nails!
beautybymissl
Very cute! I love dotticures!
Aleya Bamdad
Cute colors and design.
Eugenia
Great tutorial, simple and easy!
Miranda | SlashedBeauty.com
With practice I’m hoping to get some more easy but cute nail art up here soon! I’m such a noob at it!
Sheila Arkee
Super easy and fun! Dotticures are the way to go.
Miranda | SlashedBeauty.com
Definitely fool proof!
RebeccaBBird | HelloPrettyBird
Very clever!
Noelle
I totally do this when I can’t find my dotting tool. It’s such a great alternative!
Nidia Doherty
I hacked a dotting tool with a pin stuck in the eraser end of a pencil… but I did eventually break down and buy dotting tools, because I like the feel of them better. Even though I have several in different sizes, I find that one double-sided one can make pretty much all the dots I need – though I do also use a super-tiny one for delicate nail art. Great hack! Dots are awesome.
Anastasia
I used to do this before I bought a set of nail art tools 🙂 So easy!
jamie @makeuplifelove
I never would have though to use a bobby pin. I have used the top of a q-tip after you cute the cotton off and it worked well. but this for sure if a better idea. Great idea and tutorial!!
Phyrra
So simple and easy! Love it!
Hey Aprill
Genuis! never thought to use a bobby pin!
Erika
Well done. 🙂 Another way to make a dotting tool is to use a glass headed dressmaker’s pin pushed into the erasure of a pencil. You can use different pin head sizes for different sized dots.
Miranda | SlashedBeauty.com
Oooh that’s a great idea! I think I have some of those lying around my sewing kit
Cosmetics Aficionado
That is a great idea!
Norah Salazar
I love this idea. For nails, I am usually a one color type of gal but I would totally try the dots 🙂