Autism Awareness - Puzzle Piece Manicure: Take 2

Good Day Polished Peeps! I hope you all are doing well!!! Today I bring you the manicure I wore for National Autism Awareness Day which was yesterday, April 2nd. Since April is National Autism Awareness Month, I figured it would be okay to post them a day late. Plus, I'm able to keep to my every 3 day posting on the blog which leads to better consistency and less anxiety for me! I have this minor fear that one day I'm going to come to the blog to write up a post and I won't have anything for you. Currently, I have two manicures that I need to post from awhile back sitting here waiting, so I'm good. I'm rambling, on to the manicure....





For this manicure, I of course wanted to use my blue polishes, which are my favorites! I'm pretty sure that majority of my stash is blue. For those of you who do not know, the Autism Awareness Ribbon is decorated with multi-colored puzzle pieces. According to the Autism Society, the puzzle pattern represents the mystery and complexity of the autism spectrum, and the bright colors represent the diversity of the people and families who are living with the condition.





I wanted my nails to not only include the blue, but the puzzle pieces as well. Therefore, I decided to attempt puzzle piece nails again, which if you remember my last post , I talked about how much I hated it. I said I would try it again with two colors, and well here we go!!! I also came up with a different technique which was sooooo much easier! I'll explain that after the pictures!!! Let's take a look!! The pictures kind of upset me because my camera/lightbox were not participating with me, but I hope you like!









Colors Used:

Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away!

Sally Hansen - Blue Away!

OPI - OPI...Eurso, Euro

Ulta - Snow White (Base)

Loveeee! Okay, so, remember how last time I complained that using tape was impossible? Well, this manicure was done with no tape what so ever!!!!! No lie, I used NO TAPE. As a hater of scotch tape, I refused to use it again for puzzle pieces. When I sat down to paint these nails, I immediately thought of my nail art tape and thought that I could use that. I tried to figure out a way to do this.... should I paint a dark blue base and tape mani my lighter colors? Should I do a white base??? Ugh it was becoming too confusing for one manicure.





Then, it hit me....I should use my dotting tools! Confused? Don't worry, I'll talk you through it. I remembered when I did my Checkerboard Tape Manicure and I dotted the colors in the squares? I thought that I would do the same thing, except this time, using no tape.





I started off with a base coat of Ulta - Snow White. When dried, with my medium dotting tool, I dotted on the light blue polish. I first stippled a cross onto my nail and then filled in each corner. Then with my darker blue polish, I filled in the rest of the white space. I then added the puzzle dots when both polishes were somewhat dried. Even though my lines were rather neat, I really wanted the puzzle pieces to stand out. With my nail art brush, I used OPI Eurso, Euro and outlined the puzzle pieces. I should have taken a before and after picture, because trust me, the outline made them look so much better.





What do you think? Would you be interested in possibly seeing a tutorial on these nails using the Dotting Tool Method?? Did you wear blue nails for Autism Awareness?!





Quick note, I have decided that I'm going to host a monthly nail art contest where the winner is featured on all my accounts. You do NOT have to be a blogger to enter, you can be an Instagram poster, Twitter artist, or just a paitner for fun. I want to feature as much art as possible and I think this would be a great way to see how many truly talented artists there are out there!!! I'm still working out the details, so in the next few days I'm going to put up a blog post looking for your opinions!!! Thanks to everyone on Instagram who thinks it sounds fun and will participate!!!





Until next time, keep rocking your blue nails!!!! See you in a few days! <3