As part of our Nail Art How To Series of blog posts - this week's post is all about dotting tools! When you think dotting tool, you think dots - but this little gem can do so much more than just a dot. We've collated a few tutorials and manis for some nailspiration.

The Basics:
You can't run before you can walk so let's start with the basics of using a dotting tool before you go ahead and try and tackle the Mona Lisa of dotticuture manis.

1. Paint a blob of polish (the colour you're going to dot with) onto a piece of paper or card.
2. Dip the dotting tool into the blob of polish.
3. Dot or paint the painted end onto your nail in your desired pattern.

It's also important to know the sizes of your dotting tools. Test them on paper first so you can see what the size looks like, test colour combos out so you know what looks great and not so great together. Then you're ready to go!

Now here's a hit of nailspiration:



So now we've got your creative juices flowing here are some tutorials.





Here's what the mani looks like:



And here's what you can do with using different colour combos:




And now for the piece de resistance:

Vintage Rose Nail Art


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1. Paint and cure your base colour - our suggestion Aqua Addiction.
2. To create the base of the roses dot 3-5 irregular spots of light pink using a medium/large dotting tool - our suggestion Flamingo Rose. There should be enough room between for the leaves that come later. Cure.
3. With a dark pink or light red - our suggestion Decoupage or Rose Blossoms, use a small dotting tool to glide or stipple a semi-circle, like a comma, around 1/3 of the flower.
4. Do another, smaller comma across from it, leaving 1/4 to 1/3 of the border 'open'.
5. The final comma, will be a small line from the middle of the flower to the open edge. Cure.
6. Using a small dotting tool and a green polish - our suggestion Neptune or Zesty create a triangle starting at the base of the rose and coming out to a point. Do this by dabbing/dragging the polish without lifting the tool away from the nail.
7. Then using your medium sized dotting tool to create polka dots on your other nails. Cure.
8. Finish with a top coat!

P.S. Don't forget to share your manis on our Facebook Page or Instagram @epic_nail and tag us #epicnail