Once upon a time, I was weirdly intimidated by dotticures because something about getting them balanced and perfect seemed impossible and stressed me out. In truth, they're one of the most beginner friendly, forgiving and versatile techniques out there. Of course, I still don't think to do them very often. For this week's #CBBxManiMonday, though, I decided to try something a little bit different using a dotticure and stamping to create a very, very 80s summer look. (Anyone else still deep under the Stranger Things shadow from earlier this summer and all for 80s nostalgia? Can't just be me?)

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A couple of days ago I decided that I'm going to lean into an idea I had to create new manis using some of my favorite stamping images that I've used before. Not only does this whip me into some much needed excitement at getting to use these images that I love again, but it challenges me to do something different than what I did before. And honestly, it has pretty much immediately bumped me back into being excited to create new nail art. For today's mani, I grabbed for a collaboration plate from Maniology that has several really great images on it and some of my favorite holo polishes for a fun and playful design that has me wanting to constantly stand underneath that light in my hallway that is magic for holo.

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Clearly as I've been going through this Halloween nail design process, I've spent a lot of time thinking about Halloween colours and my favorite ways to pair them. Obviously black goes with everything - just ask the state of my stamping polishes that I've been reaching for pretty much constantly - but one of my personal favorite pairings is this sort of witchy Halloween purple with black. When I sat down to use the stamping image that I used for this plate I just knew that I wanted to employ that pairing but I wasn't immediately certain HOW I wanted to do it.

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At this point, I really feel like the yearly pineapple mani is a bit of a summer staple and I'm currently definitely having a bit of a moment with fruit themed mani's and the Whats Up Nails B008 Summer Seeds Stamping Plate. I love this plate, I really do, and I think there's really just so much you can do with it - especially if you're into reverse stamping. Reverse stamping, for me, is something that I have to sort of hype myself up to do because my brain is always convinced that it's going to go badly - but it actually rarely does and is usually worth it. Anyway, this is a great plate and a solid one to have in your collection.

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