Today I'm trying out some more full-nail water decals from Born Pretty Store. These are a tartan design (which BPS call "colourful grid pattern", lol!) in a red and black colour.
As you can see, you get one large sheet of water decal, which you can cut into any size or shape you want. The decals are available here for $2.18. My pattern is #14, which on the website looks pink and brown, but which is actually a much nicer red and black design.
I didn't think there would be enough decal to cover all ten nails, so I decided to do three nails on each hand and do something else on the other nails.
I started with a base of plain red on three nails, and painted the other two with Zoya Storm, a pretty sparkly black. I then put the decals over the red nails. This meant that the yellow/orange part of the design wasn't actually visible over the red, but I think I prefer the plain red and black that I ended up with.
Application is really easy - just cut to an approximate size, drop into a bowl of water, slide off the card and apply to the nail. Then dab dry with some paper towel, and add topcoat. The topcoat melts off any of the decal overhanging the nail, and adds a super shiny finish to the nail.
I do wish the sheet had been a bit bigger, as I would have liked to have done all ten nails. As it was, I did six easily, and possibly have enough for two small nails to use later. It would not have been possible to do all ten of my nails though. But at that price, it's no hardship to buy two packs!
If you want to try these decals, or similar ones from Born Pretty Store, you can get 10% off using my discount code.
These decals were provided for my honest review. See my Disclaimer section for more information.
Lauren at The Naily Mail did some gorgeous geometric nails last month, and I've been thinking about the design several times over the last few weeks. Today, when I was a bit stuck for inspiration for what to do, I decided to do my own version of them.
I started with a base of China Glaze Pink-ie Promise (which is lovely, but takes ages to dry well!) and then used striping tape with Zoya Blaze and Barry M Xmas Limited Edition 2012 to make the pattern, and then I added a coat of Seche Vite for extra gloss.
This was easy peasy to do (apart from waiting for Pink-ie Promise to dry) but I'm in love with how it turned out! I love the colours together and I love the effect, and the contrast between the creme, the metallic and the sparkly Zoya.
I really like this design, and I think this will be something I will be doing again with different colour combinations.
I have done cherry blossom nails before, but it was a long time ago and I wanted something springlike this week. I was also in the mood to do something that wasn't stamping for a change!
I started with a gradient of white to blue, using Barry M Cotton, Huckleberry and Blueberry Ice Cream. Then I used Zoya Cheryl and a dotting tool to make the branches.
Then I used a fine brush and a mix of Barry M Rose Hip, Strawberry Ice Cream and Pink Punch to dab on the cherry blossoms.
I found this really hard to clean up! The gradient made a lot of mess round my cuticles, and I struggled to clean it up properly. I love the design though, and people commented on my nails several times at work today.
This is my March Polish Party design - this month's theme is Spring! Check out everyone else's designs by clicking the links below!
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!
I enjoyed wearing Zoya's Chyna yesterday, and it made me want to wear another of the Pixie Dust polishes. I couldn't choose between Solange (the gold one) and Dhara (the bright orange), so I did a gradient using both of them!
I love how this turned out!
The Pixie Dust polishes are quite hard to clean up if you get them on the skin round your nails, as you can see here. This isn't an issue usually, as they're really easy to control when you paint your nails normally, but sponging the gradient did make a lot of mess, that wouldn't all clean up.
I love how summery these look.
I added topcoat too, just to see what they looked like shiny....
Fabulous is clearly the answer to that!
I don't like my nail shape at the moment - several nails have broken short or been broken at the corners, so they're all really short, and several are rounded off. I wish they'd grow! I was looking back at old photos from last year, when they were really long and strong, and I don't know what happened! Oh well...
This week the British Nail Bloggers have started a new challenge, based on colours. This is a weekly theme - you can find more details here.
The first week's challenge is RED. I knew I wanted to do something that involved only using red polish, I didn't want to include other colours. I eventually settled on this, another version of the quilted design I tried previously (see here).
This uses Barry M Blood Orange as the glossy base - I used one coat. I then used striping tape to mark off a grid pattern, and added a coat of Zoya Chyna, the textured red glitter from the Pixie Dust collection.
I'm really pleased with how these came out!
I like the contrast between the glossy and the matte, and of the creme and the glitter. I should do quilted nails more often, they're easy to do and pretty effective.
Check out everyone else's red-themed nails here:
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.
I had lots of exciting mail deliveries this weekend! Apart from the light tent, and a big package of samples (more on that in a couple of days!) I also got some more water decals from my favourite nail art supplier, Born Pretty Store. Today I have these gorgeous black and white rose decals to show you.
The pack is item #12687 - click here for details. The pack contains about 3/4 white roses to 1/4 black roses and costs $2.86
I used a base of Zoya Storm, a lovely black polish filled with sparkles, and Barry M Lady, a beautiful white textured glitter. I added a coat of Seche on top of Lady before adding the decals, to give a smooth base.
I really like this look! The decals, as usual, are really easy to use - just drop into a small bowl of water (I use warm water to make it both easier and pleasanter) and then slide off the card backing and onto the nail. Pat dry with kitchen roll, and topcoat, and you're done.
I'm a big fan of colourful nails, but every now and then I like something monochrome for a change.
You can use my discount code for 10% off at the Born Pretty Store at any time, and you can use it multiple times. I love their selection of water decals especially - it's huge, and there are new designs being introduced all the time.
I received these decals 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 bought the polishes myself.
This week's Friday Challenge was on the theme of NAUTICAL... BUT NICE.
Yes, I know it's now Saturday! I usually do these nails on a Thursday night, but I was (ahem) otherwise engaged on Thursday and have only just had the chance to do these!
I wanted to avoid the common theme in nautical nails of the blue and white stripes, and the anchors, much as I always like those nails when I see them on blogs. I started by painting my nails with a base of OPI I Have a Herring Problem, a pretty dusky blue with lots of shimmer. Then I sponged a rough gradient over that using Zoya Sunshine on the tips and some Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream to lighten up the sky area. I also dabbed on a bit of Barry M Lady, a white textured glitter, over the top of some of the Sunshine.
I like how the glitter and the texture makes the sea look. And I like how the sky came out - sort of blotchy and stormy, with the dusty I Have a Herring Problem peeking through the prettier blue. I then used Barry M nail art pens in black and white to make the little boat, and added a few seagulls for good measure.
I love this matte, with all the texture showing. But then I decided to try it glossy too, and I like it that way too!
What do you think?
My friend hasn't seen this yet - I hope I pass muster! And I hope I'm forgiven for being late with the Friday nails; I did have a very good reason, honest!
I'm posting these tonight as I'll be busy tomorrow, but my Friday Challenge nails are ready!
This week, my friend's theme is... TURNING JAPANESE. Whilst I was very tempted to depict the fabulous 1980 pop song on my nails, in the end I decided to go instead with that beautiful Japanese image of cherry blossom.
I painted a base of one coat of Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream. Then I sponged on a gradient of Barry M Cyan Blue. It was a bit uneven, but I figured I'd be covering a lot of it with blossom, so I left it.
Then I painted the branches using Zoya Cheryl and a fine dotting tool. I thought the dotting tool would be better than a brush for making the knobbly branches. I also really like how the sparkliness in Cheryl made the branches look as though they were damp with rain or dew.
Then I used a very fine nail art brush and daubed on some random petals using Barry M Bright Pink. At this stage, I thought it looked awful - it was messy and ugly and nothing like blossom, and I almost took it all off.
However, I then daubed some more using Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream (paler pink) and Barry M Shocking Pink (deeper pink) and I think it looks a lot better! I topped everything with Seche Vite to finish off.
I'm so pleased with how these turned out! They're not neat, and they don't really want to be looked at too closely, but I think in a sort of blurry, impressionistic way, they look really pretty! At arm's length, I love the effect! I kind of wish I hadn't covered the branches so much, and left a bit more of them visible, but overall, I think my work friend will approve!
I've also thought recently that I've been getting better at doing my right hand...
Looking at these photos, I realise that this design is reminding me of one of my favourite poems ever, by Ezra Pound:
In a Station of the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
