I've been away to my parents' for a few days, so haven't painted my nails or posted here. But now I'm home and I've borrowed my mum's Dior Rouge Maya. Isn't it gorgeous?
This is two coats of Rouge Maya. One was very almost enough, but one or two nails weren't entirely opaque, so I added a second. I wore this for a day without topcoat, and it was a bit dull on the surface by the end of the day, so these photos are with topcoat.
This is a really lovely consistency and quality, and I love the flat, rounded brush.
Tonight I then stamped over the tips with Konad Black and MoYou London Mother Nature plate 11.
I like the idea of this more than I like the execution - Konad Black always seems to smear slightly and end up looking disappointing. I need a better black stamping polish! Still, I'm quite pleased with how this ended up.
Today I want to show you some really cool water decals I got from the Born Pretty Store - I love this set!
Look! This is a crazy set of decals - there are moustaches, top hats, glasses, bow ties, random shapes, playing card suits... all sorts!
For this first look, I used two coats of Dior Delice, a lovely shimmery orange polish. The decals are lovely and thin and easy to use, just like all the other BPS decals I've tried. I wore these nails for three days, and the rabbit made me smile every time.
For this second look, I've used two coats of Barry M Heather (the Silks range is really getting a lot of use!) and some of the bow tie decals and a heart. I added the bows to the nail tips to give a sort of French-mani look.
I love these decals! They're so quirky and random, and there's a huge range of looks you can do with them. I've got plans for a black and white and red playing card design, which I'll post soon I hope.
The decals are item number 10747 (click for details) which cost $3.39 - and as you can see, there are hundreds of decals here!
As always, you can get 10% off any Born Pretty Store orders using my discount code, and the shipping is free too!
These decals were provided for review purposes, but opinions are 100% honest. See my Disclaimer for further details.
I have to say - I have no interest in American Football (or actual football, come to that) although I do like baseball, even though I don't follow it these days. But I do know a nice gentleman who is a fan of the Denver Broncos and who is watching the superbowl tonight, and who I will be seeing tomorrow, so I wanted to do some nails that fitted in. They also had to be moderately subtle, as I need to wear these to work tomorrow.
This is two coats of Dior Delice, and some blue striping tape. That's all.
I quite like it. Blue and orange are a nice combination, and it's nice to use striping tape for something other than painting over and then removing.
The tape is sticking out very slightly at the free edge of my nails, so when it's totally dry I'm going to file a bit and topcoat again I think.
I also cut my nails yesterday, as they were getting really long and starting to annoy me a bit. They'll grow again, I just wanted a change.
I saw this in Boots the other day and couldn't resist! I love a nice glossy topcoat!
This is Nails Inc's Kensington Caviar Gel Effect Plumping Top Coat. It was £12 in Boots, which isn't cheap, but which is cheaper than many other good topcoats. I was definitely attracted to the idea of gel look nails, without actually having gel nails.
I decided to compare it to some of my other topcoats. Left to right we have Seche Vite, Dior Gel Coat, Nails Inc Kensington Caviar and Sally Hansen Mega Shine.
This is one coat of each over Zoya Chynna, which is a highly textured pixie dust polish. Index is Seche, middle is Dior, ring is Nails Inc, and little finger is Sally Hansen.
I LOVE Seche Vite - it's really magical for drying quickly, and is glossy and long lasting. However, over textured polishes it sinks right in and needs at least 3 coats to be glossy, so it's not the best for this. This photo is two coats of each topcoat, although the second coats of the Dior and the Nails Inc are very thin, and the second coat of the Seche is actually a second and a third!
The Dior Gel Coat is really really nice; super glossy and long lasting. It isn't cheap though, at about £18, which seems very extravagant! The Sally Hansen is ok, but isn't particularly glossy. It's shiny, but not very thick, so it often needs two or three coats.
The Nails Inc topcoat is really good! It's more or less indistinguishable from the Dior one (I prefer the Dior brush, but the Nails Inc one is fine). This last photo is with Nails Inc over the disappointing Sally H, and over the Seche (which still left some texture after three coats) and over the thumb.
Also - isn't Zoya Chynna amazing with topcoat?!
It's Sunday afternoon and the sun's shining, I'm indoors watching tennis and eating garlic-stuffed olives (yum!) and playing with my nails. Rather than leaving my Dior Delice alone (see post here) I decided to play with the second set of water decals I got from the Born Pretty Store, and ended up with this fruity look!
When these decals arrived a few days ago and I started trying them out, I found them quite fiddly to work, and couldn't get the fruit ones to lie flat, and the plastic seemed quite thick and unflexible. However, a bit of patience today led me to realise that warm water worked wonders! I used cold water last time. This time, I peeled off the protective film, cut carefully round each piece of fruit with my small sewing scissors, and then plopped the bits of card into a small bowl of quite warm water. After 20-30 seconds the decals slid off the card and easily onto my nails, and were really soft, flexible and mouldable around the curves of my nails. I then dried them carefully between two layers of cotton wool, and gave them a quick blast of the hairdryer, and covered with topcoat - and they're perfect! I don't think you can see the edge of the decals now, and I certainly can't feel it with my fingertips..
These decals are item #5625 in the Born Pretty Store, and cost $3.99 for one large sheet (there are hundreds of fruits and leaves - or you can choose one of the other, flower or butterfly designs.) I really love how this looks - it's so cheerful and bright, I think. I'm looking forward to doing some kind of autumnal art with some of the orangey red leaves, later in the year. Some of the fruit makes me think cocktails too, so I've got a vague plan for some cocktail nails!
As always, you can use my Born Pretty Store discount code for 10% off in the Born Pretty Store.
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.
I made the mistake yesterday of reading Manicurator's blog just before I went into Debenhams and past the cosmetics counters... and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the Dior counter... I spotted the Gel Coat... I may have squeaked a bit... and before I knew it, I was leaving with my pretty bag containing Dior Gel Coat and Delice.
Oh isn't this pretty?! Delice is a lovely, shimmery orangey coral. It looks gorgeous in the sunshine.
Application for Delice was superb - the brush is lovely, quite wide (but not too wide for my nails) and rounded (a bit like the Rimmel Pro brush, but nicer) and the formula just slid on perfectly and hardly needed any clean up at all. No brushstrokes, self-levelling, smooth and buttery... It dried evenly and quickly, and just looks beautiful, I think. This is two coats, with Gel Coat topcoat.
The Gel Coat is really nice! I tried it on a bare nail while I was still shopping, and it's so glossy! Really ultra glossy and shiny, and even though I only finished my nails about an hour ago, it's dried to a superhard finish.
This isn't cheap - Debenhams sells Dior for £18 per bottle (10ml) - but on reflection, it's only £5 more than Butter London, which Boots sell for £13, and so far, I'd say this was far better in quality than the Butter Londons I've tried. Whilst I can't go spending £18 on nail varnish very often, I'm glad I bought this, and I think I deserve a treat.
