I'm back! I've been away on holiday (camping in the Lake District) with no internet, which was lovely. The only downside was that I broke the thumbnail on my blogging hand, really low down across the quick, ouch! So you won't be seeing my thumb in photos for a while!
Today I have another Born Pretty Store review for you. This is the stamping plate BP-40, which has a mix of floral and leafy patterns, a cute bow, a dog, and a couple of other patterns. The plate is available here on the BPS website - and it's currently half price, at only $1.50!
For these nails, I started with a water marble base, just because I fancied something different. I did this marble using Models Own Gold Digger, and Barry M Dragon, for a subtle pinky gold combination. I then stamped using Models Own Chrome Cerise and the rose pattern.
I love the effect of this design! And the colours look fab in the sunshine.
For some reason this plate didn't pick up the polish as easily as they usually do, although I only tried the one polish, so it's perfectly possible that it was that, and not the plate. I had initially wanted to use the bow design, but I couldn't get it to pick up the polish cleanly. The rose worked fine though!
The Born Pretty plates are such good value! You can also get an additional 10% off with 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.
Like the rest of the nail blogging world, I went a bit crazy in the Models Own sale last week and bought lots of the new Colour Chromes range. They arrived today, and Oooooooo! They're shiny! I'm not a huge fan of chrome and metallic polishes worn on their own, but I was excited because these are apparently really good for stamping. And they are!
This is a base of OPI 4 in the Morning. I then stamped using Chrome Cerise, and MoYou London Holy Shapes 04 plate. The Holy Shapes range is the latest MoYou collection - the marketing for it seems very 90s and geometric, but I think a lot of the designs on this plate look very Art Deco.
Cerise stamped really well! It's very opaque and covered the black easily. I know I misjudged a couple of the nails and didn't get them lined up properly, but I don't think it's massively obvious in real life.
Have you tried the Chromes yet?
OPI's latest new release is the Gwen Stefani range - there are swatches all over the place at the moment, and the one that really stood out to me was the 'mirror-shine chrome', Push and Shove. My beloved local shop posted on Facebook at the weekend that they were finally in stock, and they kept one for me. I dashed up at lunchtime today and got my greedy paws on one (and on another from the collection that I didn't know I needed! More on that next time...)
I've only tried one chrome before, L'Oreal Chrome Shine. That had a wonderful bottle, but the polish was just a silver that was very awkward to apply and was never very shiny. I'd heard that Push and Shove was tricky to apply, but I've seen some really good results online, so I bought it anyway. It comes with a free mini base coat, Lay Down That Base. The instructions recommend using two thin coats of Push and Shove over Lay Down That Base, with no topcoat, so that is what I did.
I like it!
Application is a little tricky. You have to be quite fast as the polish dries fairly swiftly, and it also drags and lifts if you go over the same spot twice. It's a little on the brushstrokey side too, and it shows up any lumps and bumps on your nails. When it goes on, it looks like a pretty normal silver polish. Then as it dries, it gets SO shiny!
Yes, it's not perfect. Yes, my nails aren't perfect. But look how shiny it is! While it's not as reflective as an actual mirror, or as shiny as actual chrome, or as chromey as Minx nail wraps (I still haven't tried those!), I think it's as shiny and reflective as you're probably going to get in a nail varnish.
OPI says that this polish is designed for 'one night only' wear - I believe that this chips quite quickly. I've only had it on for a couple of hours, so I'll update this tomorrow with how it's worn!
