Looking for Nirvana

Finally the weekend is here and finally I am going to try some dotticure that I've been wanting to try ever since I received Liz's box! This dotticure is inspired by the cute little makeup purse that was in my box.

 So I'm starting with Sinful Color's Nirvana, which was also in my box, which is such a beautiful brown polish! It's a yummy milk chocolate color with just a hint of red undertone.  It's opaque in two coats but I thought I better put one more, to cover my bad application skills. It has a shiny creme finish and it's the easiest to apply! Just look at this beauty!

Shot with flash

Artificial light, no flash

Artificial light, no flash

Then I wanted to make those dots in all colors, and I just learned it's not as easy as it looks :-(
I started with this, but I was not happy with the dots. They seems to me too small. Even my largest dotting tool did not manage to get any bigger dot and when I tried to force it bigger, I totally smeared the polish and it lost the dot shape:

So I took them off and tried again. This time I tried to use a straw to make the circles in white polish and then I painted over them with the colors and a small brush. But again it didn't turn right. I don't know exactly what it was but it's very clear that my mind was not present at time of painting...

I did keep this mani for the day but... I'm not happy with it. I will have to do it again soon! And figure how to create large dots that look perfect... Is it at all possible?
Well, these are the colors I used, from left to right: Sinful Colors - Nirvana, Zoya - Savita, Zoya - Lolly, Wet n Wild - Sage In The City, Essie - Van D'go, Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away, Nabi - Orange Matte and Milani - White On The Spot.

So, do you have any tips on how to create proper circles? Larger then the largest dotting tool from the 5 pieces set, but smaller then the common pencil eraser? I would appreciate any help on this!