Dastardly Dots! X Out Nail Art!

Last week I was contacted by Jamie from Guthy-Renker's (makers of ProActiv) PR Department to see if I would be interested in participating in a nail art project for their latest product, X Out. First of all, let me say how flattered I am to be asked to participate in this project. My blog is little, and I don't really promote it, so to be noticed at all is a very cool thing for me. I'm also a big fan of Pro Activ (my skin has always been a challenge, and I started using Pro Activ about 4 years ago. It made a HUGE difference for me.), which just made it even cooler.

The challenge here was to create an X Out inspired Nail Design. Since X Out's Manifesto is about "confidence and putting your best (break-out free!) face forward", they will be donating $200 per post to Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center.  As those of you who have been reading me for awhile know, this is close to my heart since my daughter was recently bullied to the point of contemplating suicide.  Of course I'm going to want to do this! I'm also thinking of ordering some of this for my daughter. Ya know, since she is having those wild PMS breakouts like I tend to get!

And so I set to work! Here is my inspiration, the product packaging and the X Out Manifesto:

I don't know about you guys, but I had a TON of ideas buzzing around in my little head. I managed to narrow it down to 3, which I then created on a nail wheel. I had a very hard time settling on just one, but in the end I chose the simplest, yet still eye-catching design. I love how this looks, and it's received the most compliments of any mani I have ever created!

I am loving it! I decided on multi-sized, overlapping dots since it reminded me of the bubbles on the packaging. I chose to fore-go an accent nail since it ended up detracting from the mani. I had originally planned on wearing an accent nail with the "X" logo and the dots creating the shape of the banner, and it came out pretty cool, but just didn't look as clean.

To create this look I used:

1 coat OPI Nail Envy Matte
1 coat Instant Artificials Base Coat
2 coats Finger Paints Black Expressionism
several different sized dotting tools
nail art brush
L'Oreal Paparazzi Pleaser (Purple)
L'Oreal Now You Sea Me (Teal)
Milani White On The Spot
1 coat Barielle Advanced Pro Gel Top Coat
1 coat Seche Vite

What do you guys think of my Dastardly Dots? Would you wear a mani like this?

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to check out X Out!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber


**All products featured in this post were purchased by me with my own money. No compensation of any sort was provided to me in exchange for the content of this post.**