Flowery Water Decals from Born Pretty Store

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*Product(s) Featured provided for review. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information** 

Hello Lovelies! I'm actually posting during the day, two days in a row! Woohoo! I had actually planned on posting this yesterday evening, but my schedule wasn't about to let that happen, so here I am.

Today I have some really cool Water Decals that I received from Born Pretty Store to share with you. I have no idea why I don't use water decals more often. The few times I have used them I have really loved them, so you would think I would wear them more than once or twice a year. These water decals came out so awesome that I've decided that I now need a complete arsenal of them!

In all honesty I wasn't entirely sold on them when I saw them on the sheet, but the design was so pretty that I took a chance. I'm glad I did! On the nail these look awesome! And water decals are so quick and easy that you really can't lose.

I chose to use mine over 2 coats of Salon Perfect Baby Blue, and I love the results!

Love it! What an awesome way to spice up a plain manicure! I had several people ask me how I did this manicure, which always means it's a win.

These Water Decals were so simple to use. Just pop the decal into a cup of water for 20-30 seconds, remove from the water, slide the design off the paper backing and place onto the nail. They aren't sticky, so you have a bit to move the design around if you don't place it perfectly the first time, and if it dries before you get it right? Just wet the decal with a few drops of water and move into place. Add topcoat and you're done! Couldn't be any easier, right? They wear incredibly well too - I had no lifting or peeling with these and I wore them for over 24 hours. Removal is simple - just remove normally with acetone and they melt off in seconds.

I need more of these! Born Pretty Store has TONS of water decals, and I plan on grabbing some ASAP. If you are interested in these decals, you can find them at BornPrettyStore.com, item number 4579, pattern number 5 (or just click here!). They sell for a whopping $2.03 with free worldwide shipping. For that price? You really can't go wrong, am I right?

Born Pretty Store also carries a plethora of nail art supplies including rhinestones, nail art brushes, polishes, glitters, glequins, rhinestones, studs....the list goes on and on. If you haven't checked them out yet, you really should! Their prices can't be beat and the quality of their products is top notch. Can you tell I'm a big fan? You can also save 10% off your order by using the code below:

Have you tried water decals yet? What did you think?

I'll (hopefully) be back later today with some awesomeness from Nail Pattern Boldness!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

*Product(s) Featured provided for review. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information**  

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Autism Awareness Month - Autism Awarenss Nail Art with Born Pretty Store Glequins

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 *Product(s) Featured provided for review. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information**

 Hello again lovelies! I mentioned in my previous post that I would be back with some Autism Awareness Nail Art, so here I am!

I have decided to save my daughter's story for tomorrow though - it's very long and hard to write, and considering it's already Midnight here, I have to bump it to tomorrow. 

Autism Awareness Month and World Autism Awareness Day are very meaningful in my world, and it's only fitting that I celebrate them with Autism Awareness themed manicures. Awhile back I received a pack of 12 different colors of loose glitters, or Glequins as we like to call them, from Born Pretty Store. I decided that they would be perfect for some blingy nail art!


 For this manicure, I chose Rimmel Blue Eyes Girl, a bright, saturated blue, for my base color.  Then I added blue, red, and gold (I don't have yellow) Glequins in the shape of the Autism Awareness ribbon on my ring finger. I used more of the blue, red, and gold glequins to make some rows of stripes on the rest of my nails and voila! I am really happy with the results, even if my rows of glequins aren't even. I did this at night and my lighting in my polish corner is terrible - I literally couldn't see what I was doing half the time! Still, I really dig this manicure.

Not too shabby for my first time working wtih Glequins, right? Not to mention that whole not being able to see what I was doing! I need to find a desk lamp that doesn't create a ton of glare! I also apologize for the scratches on my top coat - I didn't get to photograph these until about an hour ago!

These particular Glequins are part of a set of 12 from Born Pretty Store. Each jar contains more glitter than I'll ever be able to use, and the entire set sells for only $6.45 with free worldwide shipping.

These glitters are so incredibly versatile! I love all the colors, and they are the perfect size to use alone, with stamping, or mixed in with other decorations. They're high quality glitters which do not fade, apply easily (All I used was some top coat and a dotting tool), and lay perfectly on the nail. I have yet to loose a single glitter, and I've been wearing this for over 24 hours! In fact, I'll be showing you a few more manicures with these soon! You can grab a set of your own by visiting BornPrettyStore.com. This set is item ID 3103, or you can click here.

If you have yet to check out Born Pretty Store, you really should head on over and see all the fabulous nail art products and polish they have to offer. They offer quality products of all kinds for a steal! Shipping is incredibly fast and Born Pretty has some of the best customer service around. You can also save 10% on your entire purchase by using the code below ( Just click the picture to go straight to the store!)

 

 Are you a fan of glequins? Have you tried them yet?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber  
  
 *Product(s) Featured provided for review. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information**

Press Sample

Born Pretty Store 3D Nail Appliques

Hello again lovelies! I thought you might like to see some actual nails today!

A few weeks ago I received these really cool Nail Appliques from Born Pretty Store. They're different sized clear rhinestones set in a clear Applique. They immediately reminded me of raindrops, and I knew I needed to try these out over polish. I chose Bettina Orchidae, a gorgeous soft, pastel teal as my base color.

Now, I'm not sure if these are actually meant to go over polish,  but I did love the final look. I do need to mention the my lighting tends to make the applique ALOT more visible that it is IRL. In person, you can't see the clear parts of the sticker at all. It really is just my lighting, and I really want to make that clear.

This is what my nails looked like when I was done. I chose to keep Orchidae on her own on 3 fingers, and used the Appliques as double accent nails. This is before I  applied top coat as well.

Again, let me mention that these do not look as obvious IRL. My lighting shines right through them and made them seem less transparent. Once I added top coat, they looked even better - smoother and clear. (but I had killed my camera battery by then!)

I do love the way these looks, and I really want to try these on bare nails.  It's a fast and easy way to give your mani some bling without having to hand place rhinestones or studs.

The Appliques:
At first I thought these were stiff, since they are on a very stiff plastic backing. I was pleasantly surprised when I removed the first one from the backing and found that they are actually quite thin, flexible, and stretchy. You do need to be careful not to pop off the Rhinestones while you are pulling them from the backing, but that only seemed to happen at the far end. These come in a pack of 16, in a few different sizes.

Application:
I was really amazed at how easy these are to use! Once I removed the strip from the backing, I set the strip onto my nail, slid it around until it was aligned, smoothed it down and removed the excess from the tip. To remove the excess, all I had to do was tug on the free end of the strip, and the excess just popped right off! No need to mess with filing the edges, which appeals to me because I don't like anything that removes portions of my free edge. They also fit pretty well considering my insane C-Curve!

Overall I really like these! I've never really been much of an Applique fan due to the filing of the excess, but I really like these!! I'll be wearing these as accent nails often!

You can find there on Born Pretty Store's website, listed under Item ID: 4550 or by clicking here. Packs of 16 retail for $5.37 and there are 10 different designs to choose from. Born Pretty Store also carried tons of nail art supplies, Nail polish and stamping supplies so be sure to check it out! Make sure to use the code below to save 10% off your order!

Are you a fan of Appliques? What are your faves?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Cobalt Velvet Manicure and Born Pretty Flocking Powder Review

Hi lovelies! It's a late post day for me since I spent the day hanging out with my little man. There is just something about this age (2 1/2) that is soooooo sweet and adorable. He's really starting to let his little personality shine, and he's just the sweetest little guy. So much fun!

Today I have a really cool mani to share with you all. This is my first Velvet Manicure, and I have to tell you guys....I love it! This look isn't for everyone, and it certainly isn't practical, but if you're looking for something fun and striking, give this a shot! I can't tell you how many people stop and stare and then want to "pet" your nails. It's really great fun!

I started with a base of Maybelline Color Show in Sapphire Siren, a deep Cobalt Jelly. I love this color, but this polish was fairly runny and I had some issues with pooling. Not a good quality in a deep blue, since staining around the cuticles is always an issue with this kind of highly pigmented blue. I used one coat of Sapphire Siren, then opened up my Flocking Powder from Born Pretty Store. I applied a second careful coat (cleanup after using the flocking powder is not a good idea since acetone melts the powder), then took my flat and wide tweezers and picked up a good amount of flocking powder. I sprinkled that over the wet polish, making sure to cover the entire nail. When I was satisfied with the coverage, I used my finger to gently push the flocking powder into the polish. I let that sit until I was finished with all my nails, then used a big fluffy brush to sweep off the excess powder. The result is not only fuzzy, but fairly striking!

Here is the final result ( please excuse the little owie on my pinky. My son threw the mail keys into a cactus yesterday and guess who got poked in a few places):

Isn't that cool!?! I can't believe I waited so long to try a Velvet Mani!

The flocking powder I used is from Born Pretty Store, Item #4507 in Blue. The powder comes in a huge pot, way more than I could ever use! You can check it out here, or by clicking the picture below. 

That's a huge tub of flocking powder! The flocking powder alone retails at $5.80, and there is also a kit that includes the powder, matching polish and a brush. The kit sells for $18.99 and you can take a peek at one of the colors here.

I found this powder VERY easy to use. For the price, you get an amazing amount of product, and you actually use very little for each manicure. It's a great product for special occasion manicures, or when you just feel like being a little bold.  This wears well, and you can even wash your hands without issue. The flocking powder looks a little funny until it dries (less than 5 minutes) but will be just as fuzzy as before once it does.  Removal is easy peasy, I used peel off basecoat but also tested acetone removal and this just melts right off in acetone and takes just seconds. The only downside to this kind of manicure is that for the first hour or so, you will find little flocking powder fibers on your fingers!

I had a blast wearing this manicure, and it's one of my all time faves.

Don't forget ! You can save 10% off your entire order from Born Pretty Store by using my code (shown below) at checkout! Born Pretty Store offers all kinds of nail art supplies, as well as iPhone cases, jewelry, and a full line of Hello Kitty! I know alot of you lovelies order from BP, so don't be shy! Use the code!

What do you think of the Velvet Manicure trend? Would you rock this look?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

**Items in this post were sent for review. Please see disclaimer/legal page for more information**

Halloween Manicure!

Hi all! It's almost Halloween, which means the obligatory Halloween mani, right? I don't normally do anything really detailed for Halloween since I'm usually busy wearing colors from Halloween Collections (if I can find them out here) and with 2 excited kiddos it can be hard to find time for intricate nail art. However I did manage to find some time today. When I sat down to work on this, I had one idea in my head. I had no idea this mani would grow into a 2 hour nail art-fest, but I'm glad it did. Not only because the results are kinda cool, but I was also able to really test out some new Nail Art Brushes.

I started this Mani with Wet N Wild Megalast in Toxic Apple as my base color. Then I went in with Sinful Colors Snow Me White,  Petites Vintage Grey, and Petites Eggplant and sponged on some spooky fog type spots. Then I grabbed my awesome new nail art brushes (sent to me by Born Pretty Store), and went to work on each nail. Here is the result:

**Disclaimer** This was a very messy mani to create, and my skin reflects the trauma of pure acetone clean-up. Sorry! It's being babied as I write this!

And here are some macro shots of my fave nails:

Thumbnail: Tombstone with skeleton hand resting on top

Index: Cold, Creepy Tree with strange shadows falling beside it (could it be a psycho with a chainsaw? A Zombie? A 6 armed, chainsaw wielding zombie?)

Ring: Zombie-style Angry Kitteh, standing on a wall in front of a full moon (partially obscured). Note the blank, soul-less eyes.

Not Pictured in Macro: Middle Finger: The Grim Reaper. Note his Scythe and skeleton fingers.

Pinky: Weird spider that didn't come out anywhere near planned.


These are not perfect, but they came out much like I wanted them to, save for my pinky, which came out wonky since I didn't realize that it would be such a pain to try and paint something over the spiderweb that served as the backdrop for that nail. Nonetheless trying to paint it in a chrome polish. It's supposed to be some sort of creepy alien spider, but it looks more like a wacked out disco ball. Oops! I'm happy with them, enough that I'm going to enter them into the Born Pretty Store Halloween Nail Art Contest. 

This mani was so much fun to work on, despite it being done entirely with straight nail polish and nail art brushes. I don't usually freehand this much at once, I'm not all that good at it, but I really got caught up in this mani.

The nail art brushes I used were nothing short of perfection. These brushes come in a pack of 4, and are smaller detail nail art brushes. They have shorter, pointed tips and are meant for precision work. I've been looking for brushes like these for what seems like forever! I've purchased a ton of brushes in the past year, and I'm usually disappointed from the get go. But these? These I love! I initially tried these out for my Inspired By A Book Manicure, and loved them, but decided to really be able to give an honest opinion, I needed to work with them a bit more. Sometimes brushes can be great the first time you use them, and then they fall apart the next. These held up perfectly, even through repeated cleaning, dips in water and acetone and obviously, a ton of use. After I finished this manicure, which consists of multiple layers of color, different sized fine brush work and some blending, the tips of the brushes were as perfect as when I first opened them. The handles are thin as well, giving these brushes a comfortable feel and easy grip. I did not remember to take a pic of the brushes before I used them (Being sick clouds my head a little), but you can find them at Born Pretty Store, Item ID #465, or just click here.  They retail for a measly $3.51, with free worldwide shipping. Your order will ship out within 24 hours, and I have yet to wait over 8-9 days for anything from Born Pretty. For those of you that freehand, I seriously suggest taking a gander at these. I have no idea why I didn't think of looking at Born Pretty for brushes like these before, but they are by far the best brushes I have ever used for fine lines in nail art. 

Also, you can receive 10% off any order from Born Pretty Store using my coupon code, shown below! They carry a large array of nail art products, including this brush set, flocking powder, studs, glitters, rhinestones, etc. 

What do you think of my Epic-For-Me Halloween Manicure? Should I stop bombarding you guys with freehand art now? ;)

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

A England Camelot ravmped Double Feature: Mattify and Flakie Goodness with Finger Paints Twisted

Hi All! It's Saturday, Yay! One more day until my hubby as 4 glorious days off! Woohoo!

I have to tell you, I love A England Camelot so much that I could not take it off. Instead, I decided to revamp it. Not once, but twice. Yes, I truly am in love with Camelot. First, I decided to mattify it using my fave matte topcoat, Warpaint Beauty's Mattify. I found this little gem on clearance at Hot Topic a loooooong time ago, and I truly regret only grabbing one bottle since this Matte top coat is the best I have used yet. It stays Matte even after washing my hands and applying moisturizer! if you come across this one, don't pass it up!

Here's a couple of shots that I took to show my hubby the Matte effect with Camelot and Mattify. These were taken at my polish table with just a lamp, so my apologies about the distracting background.

I took these pics after washing my hands several times and moisturizing (albeit lightly). Check out how that matte finish is still completely matte! And as a bonus, it shows off that darned bubbling from my stubborn Seche Vite! But man! Matte Black makes for some sexay nubbins!

After I wore Camelot Shiny and Matte, I decided it needed some flair. I had picked up a couple botle of Finger Paints Twisted when they first came out, but I swapped both of them with polish friends that were clamoring for them and couldn't get them for less than a small fortune. I thought I could live without is since I have a ton of Flakies, but I ended up really regretting not keeping one for myself. Thankfully, the ultra-awesome and incredibly talented Kat of Hooked On Polish had a bottle in her fab giveaway that I was lucky enough to win. Score! I thought that Twisted would be an awesome pairing against Camelot, and I was pleased as punch with the result.

Twisted is an amazing mix of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue color shifting mylar flakies in a milky looking base. In the bottle it looks like an irridescent rainbow, but on the nail, well that's when the magic happens. These flakies tend to show better over darker colors, but also look very cool against lighter colors - they're just not as in your face that way. This is 1 - yes, just 1! - coat of Twisted over Camelot. It's a bit rough around the edges, but hey....that happens when you upgrade a mani 3 times, right? ;)

Oh how I LOVE a good flakie! And check out those colors! Twisted is by far one of my very fave flakies. Honestly I love all the Finger Paints flakies and really wish that they weren't LE's. And seriously, Twisted is making the nubbins look fab, right? ;)

Formula and Application were stellar. These flakies are ultra-smooth for being so dense. They lay flat on the nail and apply evenly - no need for Gelous of Glitter Tamer here, and no dabbing around on the nail to place them evenly. If you have a chance to get your hands on any of these (although my faves are Twisted and Motley), do it! They're worth it!

What do you think of Twisted? Do you have a fave flakie polish and/or matte top coat?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

P.S. Still unrelated: Don't forget to use code KWL91 at checkout for 10% off any order at Born Pretty Store! If we reach 10 people using the code, I'll be having a giveaway!