Pink and Blue Holo with Metal Studs

Recently I was sent this set of beatiful studs from the Born Pretty Store to review.  Aren't they gorgeous?

This is a set of very shiny metallic studs in circles and oval shapes, in a variety of bright colours. See here for the details on the store website, where they cost $2.32 for this pack.  

I decided to wear these with some of my favourite holographic polish. I used Jade Deja Vu and Jade Mystic Gold, and then stuck on the studs using topcoat.  

The studs themselves are light, and have a flat back. Because they are quite large, I bent the oval ones slightly by bending them round a pen, so that they lie flush on my nails. This was really easy to do, and makes them lie on the nail much more easily. 

I think these studs are pretty fantastic, and they're even better paired with a sparkly holo polish. They looked amazing in the sunshine!

If you fancy trying out these, you can get an extra 10% off using my discount code. 

I received this product for review purposes, but words and opinions are entirely my own. I do not receive anything if you use my discount code, although when it's been used ten times, BPS will let me host a giveaway for my readers! See my Disclosure page for more details.



 

 

Hallowe'en Cobwebs and Other Spooky Stuff!

It's time for Hallowe'en nails! Everyone is doing them, so I thought I'd join in. 

Today I've done a variety of designs. My starting point was with the Cobweb Nail Stencils from She Sells Seashells which I bought recently. You can buy them here.  I used a couple, with two different combinations of colours. 

On my ring finger is two coats of OPI Push and Shove as a silver base, and then OPI 4 in the Morning combined with the stencil. On my middle finger is a base of 3 coats of Barry M Rockstar, with 4 in the Morning.  Rockstar is the black one from the Glitterati collection, and is a sheer black polish filled with silvery holo glitter that shows all sorts of colours. It's really sparkly!

On my little finger I had a base of OPI 4 in the Morning, and was making a pretty, geometric design using orange glequins. But then half way through I accidentally caught the edge of the pot and tipped them everywhere, so instead it's a thick pile of glitter in a random not-pattern!

On my index finger I have two coats of Essence Flashy Pumpkin, which is a fabulous neon orange that's lovely and glossy and opaque. I used a Barry M Nail Art Pen to draw a simple spider, and added black sparkly eyes with glequins. Apparently I had forgotten that spiders are meant to have 8 legs! Oh well. My spider is so vicious that she lost two legs in combat. 

On my thumb is two coats of OPI 4 in the Morning and a nail charm from She Sells Seashells. I just love this skeletal hand! I love the combination of shiny gold, sparkly diamante, and a gory subject. Lovely.  On a practical note, this charm is curved at the back so it sits really comfortably on the nail, and although it's fairly raised up from the nail, it doesn't have any rough edges or odd bits that catch. It stuck down perfectly easily with a couple of dots of nail glue. 

 
I never thought my battered old shed would be seen on my blog, but I thought it suited the nails! 

I quite like how these turned out! I didn't want to do cobwebs on every nail, as there are only ten on the sheet, and I wanted to keep some for next time too!

An InLinkz Link-up

Born Pretty Store - Birthday Bling!

It's my birthday today! I haven't actually done anything about it because I'm old and it's been a ridiculously busy week at work, but I have had a lovely lazy day with a long sleep and some wine, and I have been wearing SPARKLY nails!

As you may have noticed, I'm getting increasingly fond of 3D nail charms, especially the really sparkly ones! This is one I spotted on the Born Pretty Store website a while ago, and was lusting after for quite some time. And now I've been sent one to review!  This is item #9798 and is officially called "3D Nail Art Sticker Bling Rhinestoned Drop-shape Design Nail Art Decoration". It costs $1.99 at the moment, which is a total bargain!

As you can see, it's a teardrop metal shape in a gold colour, with lots of sparkly multicoloured rhinestones and some tiny pearly beads.  How PRETTY is this??

I wore it first over my earlier polish (see previous post) of Essie Naughty Nautical, a lovely shimmery green. 

I really like the charm paired with this greeny turquoise, as it matches some of the rhinestones and ties it together.  

Then today, as it was my birthday, I decided to really go for it, and put it with Jacava Knightsbridge Opulence (a goooorgeous shimmery pink which I previously received for review) and some more rhinestones. 

Not content with just the sparkles, I wondered what it would look like with a gold louboutin reverse polish on the backs of my nails, and the mega ridiculous sparkly ring I bought online last year (but have never worn because... well!) 

...and the answer appears to be BLINGTASTIC! 

The gold on the back of the nails is Barry M Gold Foil (the limited edition Christmas one). 

I'm in love with this 3D charm! It's comfortably chunky and has a nice feeling of weight on my finger, without being heavy or rough-edged. It doesn't catch on things and sticks down easily with topcoat, and is obviously easily reusable. It's slightly curved, so sits easily on the nail. I have very long nails at the moment and it fits easily on the nail. If you have short nails though it may overhang at the front, and that could look pretty cool too, for a special occasion! 

This charm is also available in a silver and white design, which also looks REALLY pretty! I think I will have to buy a couple of those too. 

If you do fancy getting something like this, they are currently on sale at BPS, and you can use my discount code to get an extra 10% off as well!
 

  This charm was provided for review purposes. See my Disclaimer section for more details.

August Polish Party: Glitter and Gems!

I'm sneaking in at the very last minute with my August Polish Party nails! This month, the theme was Glitter and Gems, and as I'd just had a sparkly delivery from the Born Pretty Store, I went for both!

I bought these 3D charms from the Born Pretty Store recently after I reviewed a similar set only without the colours. You can read that post here. This new set is item #12396 in the Born Pretty Store, and costs $3.79 for the pack. As you can see in my photo, the colours and shapes aren't exactly the same as those on the store website, but they're a similar mix.

I started with a bare nail, and taped off a triangle at the base of each. I then used a variety of glitters to pain my nails - from thumb to little finger they are China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, 2true Naomi, Zoya Sunshhine, China Glaze Material Girl and Zoya Solange. 

I then removed the tape, and when the glitter was dry, added topcoat, stuck the gems down while it was wet, and that was that. The topcoat held these fast with no problems. Yes, I wore sparkly glitter 3D rhinestones to do a Sunday morning Sainsbury's shop, what of it?!

These are reusable - I just wiped the backs with a bit of nail varnish remover on cotton wool when I took them off. I did manage to take off the foil backing on the first one I cleaned (a green one) and realised that that also removed the colour, so that particular one is now clear and sparkly instead. But a gentle wipe was fine for all the others, and I'll be reusing them soon!

Aren't they pretty? I love these 3D sparklies!

An InLinkz Link-up

Colour Me Crazy: Pink Week! (And I have gone crazy!)

This week is the Colour Me Crazy PINK week, and well... I have gone a bit crazy this time round! 

I couldn't decide whether to do a gradient, or stamping, or stripes, or flowers, or sparklies... so I did ALL THE THINGS! Wooo!

It is possible I went a touch too far!

So, from thumb to little finger, here's what I did.
Thumb: base of Barry M Rose Hip, freehand roses with Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, Barry M Pink Punch, Models Own Sun Hat and Models Own Coconut Cream.
Index: base of Barry M Pearl, striping tape, sponged gradient of Rose Hip, Strawberry Ice Cream and Models Own Bubblegum, and a neon stud from the Born Pretty Store.

Middle finger: base of Barry M Rose Hip, stamped with Jade Deja Vu and MoYou London Mother Nature plate 11. I was a bit disappointed that the gorgeous holo in Deja Vu doesn't really show here - the polish was too thin to stamp really.
Ring ringer: base of Barry M Blossom, embellishment from Original Sugar (see post with full review here.)

Little finger: base of Barry M Rose Hip, striping tape and Models Own Sun Hat.

Well! I kind of wish I'd also used some glequins too! If you're going to do it, do it ALL THE WAY I say!  What do you think?

An InLinkz Link-up

Holo Diamante Nail Charms - Born Pretty Store

Over the last few months I've developed a bit of a love for 3D nail charms. I always assumed I wouldn't like the bulkiness or the sticky-out bits, but it turns out I actually love them!  Today I have some stunning diamante 3D charms from the Born Pretty Store to show you!

As you can see, this is a wheel of 24 diamante charms, 12 each of a square design that's pure colourless diamante, and of an oval design that has a holo finish so it shows multiple colours. I used the oval ones for today's look. 

I applied these over yesterday's Essence polish, Me and My Lover (see here for details). They are just stuck down with topcoat. As the charms are nice and light in weight, topcoat is absolutely fine to stick them down with. These were secure and didn't feel at all bulky. 

I love these ovals, they are just SO sparkly, especially in the sunshine!

These are totally reuseable - I just wiped the polish off the bottom with a bit of nail varnish remover when I took them off, and they're good as new. 

Aren't they BEAUTIFUL? I think so!

You can get these from Born Pretty Store - they're item #14589 and cost $3.72, which works out at 15c per stud! And if you use my discount code, you can also get another 10% off on top of that, so they're a total bargain. 

  These charms were provided for review purposes. See my Disclaimer section for more details.

PACMAN NAILS! And Born Pretty Store Googly Eyes!

I was recently sent these fab googly eyes from the Born Pretty Store to try out. I was going to do smiley faces, but then I thought... PACMAN!!  Now, I have done Pacman nails once before, way back in 2012 (see original post here) but this time I thought I could do better!

For this design I used Barry M Yellow, Shocking Pink, Guava and Blood Orange, and OPI Roll in the Hague. I then taped off the nails and used Rimmel Black Out for Pacman's mouth and the ghosts' teeth. The teeth were made using tape which I'd cut with zig zag scissors.  I then added the googly eyes which I stuck down with topcoat, except on Pacman's face, where I added a dot of black first. 

The black under Pacman's eye splodged a bit, which made me a bit sad. Oh well!

I do love googly eyes!  These are Born Pretty Store's item #13861 Creative Mini Eyes (click for details.) They cost $1.28 for 10 eyes, and there are different sizes, as well as some REALLY cute ones with eyelids and eyelashes! Mine are the middle size plain ones. They're light and easily stuck down with topcoat or polish. I doubt they're really reusable, but at that price it's not really important! Plus, you can use my 10% discount as well.

Just for comparison, here is my original design:

 

Doesn't it look better with the googly 3D eyes?  I can't believe how much cooler they are! (Although maybe my round nails were better for the Pacman shape!)


These 3D eyes were provided for review purposes, but opinions are 100% honest. See my Disclaimer for further details.  
 

 

3D Pink Flowers with Pink Half Moon Textured Glitter

Today's nails are super girly and pretty!   I was sent these lovely 3D roses from my favourite shop ever, the Born Pretty Store. I wanted to match them up with something really girly and delicate, so what better than the Barry M textured glitters, Lady and Princess?

I started with a base of Lady, the white textured glitter. I then used hole reinforcers to paint another coat of Princess, the pink textured glitter over the top. I glued the roses on using a tiny dab of topcoat. 

I would have preferred more contrast between the white and the pink to make the half moons clearer; Princess came out looking paler over the white than it does on its own. However, they do match well with the delicate pink of the roses, so it does work nicely.

These roses are so pretty! I love them. They're very light, and stayed put really well with just topcoat. I didn't wear them for a full day though, and if I was going to, I would use nail glue rather than topcoat. I'm not sure what the roses are made of - it's not plastic, it's more like fimo or something like that. They're lovely and light, and not scratchy or clunky on my hands. 

These roses are item #6530 at the Born Pretty Store. There are 18 different colours available, and they cost $2.09 for 10 flowers.  You can also use my discount code for an extra 10% off all orders.

These roses were provided for review purposes, but opinions are 100% honest. See my Disclaimer for further details.  
 

 

Original Sugar 3D Nail Embellishments

I've never really tried 3D nail decorations and had recently been pondering the possibilities and thinking I'd like to give them a go, when I was contacted by Original Sugar and asked if I'd like to try some of their new Nail Embellishments. It seemed like fate!  

These arrived beautifully packaged in pretty gauze bags with ribbon ties, and the embellishments themselves are in cute little glass jars. There are 3 embellishments per design, and I have pink butterflies and crystal teardrops. 

Aren't they pretty? With packaging like this, they'd make fantastic gifts too, I think it makes them look really special.

First up, I tried the butterflies. I added these over Barry M Mist, one of the lovely Silk range (which no, I'm still not bored of!) and stuck on the butterflies using topcoat. 

They're so pretty!  The butterflies are curved, so they fit really nicely on the nail without sticking out too much. They're also nice and light - my hands hardly felt as though I was wearing them.

Topcoat was fine to stick these down firmly for an afternoon. They survived typing, driving, hair brushing and shopping without any trouble. I think if I was wearing them for longer, I'd stick them down with a dot of nail glue.  These are also completely reusable - I just cleaned the backs with a cotton bud dipped in nail varnish remover.

Today I tried out the teardrop shapes. I LOVE these!

I added them over Zoya Sunshine, a polish I love.  Like the butterflies, these teardrops are curved, to fit easily on the nail. Again, I stuck them down with topcoat. 

I really liked these - they're very slightly chunkier and heavier than the butterflies, and I really liked how that felt.

You can buy these embellishments on the Original Sugar website for £2.50 for a jar of 3.  There are ten different designs to choose from! They also have loads of other nail art stuff, some of which is really tempting!  For some of the other designs, Lauren at The Naily Mail has also reviewed these embellishments. She makes a really good point - that she'd like to see these sold in numbers other than 3. I think 3 is a good number, and £2.50 is a really good price, but I think I'd pay for ten of the teardrops, as they're SO pretty and I think a full hand of them would look fantastic! Can you IMAGINE how fabulous that would look?!


These were provided for review. See my Disclaimer for more details.