What Up, Yo!? Sorry, I’ve been watching a lot of Breaking Bad and Aaron Paul’s character, Jesse, is rubbing off on me. Anyway. It’s been awhile! But now that the holidays are winding down (FINALLY!!!), I have time to focus here. Since the winter months are such a depressing time for me, I thought I’d bring some color into our lives to spruce the place up.

I live just south of Chicago, and we don’t know the meaning of the word “mild” when it comes to weather. It’s like Extreme Olympics for the four seasons around here. Spring is too wet (and confuses itself with Winter by snowing until June), Summer is too hot, Fall just doesn’t even know who she is half the time, and Winter is too cold. I can deal with the spring’s rain and summer’s heat and fall’s confusion because it feels alive. Color explodes everywhere. The air crackles with energy and, on warmer days, men with nice arms walk around with no shirts on. But then comes Winter. It looms ominously over the Midwest, teasing us. You can almost feel it hanging in the air. Then, without any warning, you wake up one morning to find that the temperature plummeted to 10 degrees and frickin’ Snowpocalypse happened while you were sleeping. You didn’t even have time to exchange your summer outfits for winter ones and you end up spending a few days running your errands in sweatpants, hoodies, toe socks and flip flops until you can bust out your warm stuff (I can feel you judging me). The worst part, thought, is it’s so drab and dreary and devoid of color outside. It blows my mind that spring and summer and fall are such colorful seasons and, once winter rolls around, it’s like a giant black hole rips open somewhere in the universe and sucks the color and warmth and happiness right out of everything. As a human, I’ve learned to somewhat adapt to this lifeless, bland season by wearing bright colors and giving myself bright, cheery manicures that help chase and keep those Winter blues away.

The following manicure looks a lot harder than it really is. The completed product is actually on my nails, but the tutorial was done on swatch sticks since I forgot to take photos as I went. Using this design has always been a win/win for me. On one hand, people think I have pretty badass skills (I’ve never had anyone ask me where I get my nails done more often than when I’m rocking this look), while, on the other, this manicure literally took me 20 minutes and half of my attention while I watched Orange is the New Black. While I hate to give up my secrets, anyone can go online and Google a tutorial on how to create this look… But you’re here because I’m clever and witty as well as informational. Hopefully.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

Your handy-dandy Base Coat

Five colors of your choice (I used Pink, Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple)

A medium-Sized Dotting Tool

A Small-Sized Dotting Tool

Scrap Paper

A Top Coat

How to Achieve the Look (The explanation will be according to the photos, but feel free to choose your own colors):

Start by applying your top coat.

Once dry, take your first color and apply it to the outside half of your thumbnail. Then, take your second color and apply it to the inside half of your thumbnail and to the half of your pointer finger closest to your thumb. Then, take your third color and apply it to the other half of your pointer finger and to the half of your middle finger closest to your pointer finger, and so on, until you repeat the first color you used on the outside half of your pinky finger. It sounds confusing to read, but check out the photo below and look at the finished product and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Once all your colors are applied and dry, apply a few drops of your first color (Green in the photos) to a piece of scrap paper. Then, use your medium-sized dotting tool to make a row of dots on the line, equally spaced apart, inside the color (Blue in the photos) opposite the color you’re using.

Next, apply a few drops of your second color (Blue in the photos) to a piece of scrap paper and use your medium-sized dotting tool to place dots on the opposite side of the line and on either side of the first dots you placed. That creates your interlocking dots look. Repeat with each color on each nail until all of your nails have interlocking dots on them.

On each nail, use your small-sized dotting tool to place small dots on each nail uniformly to fill in the design.

Wait until your nails are fully dry to avoid smearing and streaking and apply your top coat.

Voila! You have a manicure that looks intricate and difficult but is really simple to pull off. It also helps splash a little color into your life, should you need it. Enjoy your gorgeous rainbows, and make sure you show me your versions in the comments section!

Until next time… Stay warm and colorful, my pretties!!!

XOXOXO – Amanda