Born Pretty Store Review - 3D Flower Decals

*Products provided in exchange for an honest review. Please see my disclosure policy for more info.* 

Tonight I have a review of some cute 3D flower decals from the Born Pretty Store! I really love nail art products from here because there are just so many fun, easy AND inexpensive products to choose from. It seems like they have new items up every time I look through their site (and they don't have just nail art supplies - I can get in trouble over there! ;) )

The nail art decals that I chose are super easy to use and really cute and pretty to wear. These decal easily peal off of the plastic film they come on and I'd say for the price, you get a TON of these things. There are 12 different styles ranging from roses, to daisies, to feathers and each style have variations therein. There are 25+ decals per style so overall, you get roughly 300 decals for a little under $5 (or cheaper with my 10% off code - SRL91!).

What I really appreciate about this set is the variety. For my first mani, I went with Julep's Francis and decal number TJ019. I love love love the fact that they provided a shape that would fit just perfectly in the curve around my cuticle! I think these are so pretty and add a unique and easy version of the half-moon technique with absolutely no effort at all.

There are very minimal instructions included with these but they are easy enough to use. Paint your base polish and let dry completely. This will make it easier to reposition the decal if you aim poorly your first few times ;) I used tweezers to place them were I wanted. The instructions also recommend that you place 2 coats of top coat over the top of these, but I had some issues with that. My top coat sort of bunched up around the edge of the decal which you can kind of tell in the first mani. For the second mani, I went without the top coat and I think it looks better. The only foreseeable problem with this is likely reduced durability of the decal but I think it's an okay compromise. These are also super easy to remove with some acetone - a bit more work than normal polish, but nothing you can't handle! **Ninja edit: so after not using a top coat, the decals peeled off fairly quickly so I'd recommend using a thinner top coat that hopefully won't bunch :) **

This look is Julep's Nellie with decal number TJ013.

Overall, these seem like a really quick and easy way to add that extra little something to any simple mani. I think if you use a thinner top coat you won't have issues with the decals bunching in any way. I can definitely see myself using these on an accent nail in the future. Be sure to use my code SRL91 to receive free shipping and 10% off your entire purchase! There only needs to be one more purchase with my code and then I get to host a giveaway for you guys!!

Happy Polishing :)

Clowning Around Birthday Nails!

Hi all! I'm not sure if you'll notice, but I've filed my nails down quite a bit. Tonight I realized that they were the longest they've ever been and I suddenly couldn't live with them anymore. I grabbed my glass file and got to working and then had the strong urge to give myself rounded nails for a change over my normal square shape. 

It feels SO different! I don't know whose hands these are! I think they are growing on me though and I'll live with them for a few days before deciding if I want to go back to my normal shape. I think they make my fingers look narrower? Who knows! 

Anyway, I was craving something fun and bright tonight and I recently adopted Clowning Around by Lush Lacquer and oh my word. It is so beyond fabulous. It has a ton of varying sized neon hex glitter in clear base so you can put it over anything your heart desires. There is absolutely no fishing with this polish ad it is packed full of the neon glitter. I paired this with Zoya's Jacqueline and I am just so in love! It's like a unicorn shook it's majestic mane over my fingers and this magic appeared on them. Or something.

 Since I never seem to be content with just polish these days, I added some round studs from my Born Pretty Store (use code SRL91 for 10% off) and I actually really love this mani. It's so different from what I normally do, yet it's like I have magic on my fingers!

What do you think of my semi rounded nails? Should I keep them or go back to squares?

Happy Polishing! :)

Seven Deadly Sins - Day 3: Greed

Happy Friday evening/Saturday morning to you all! I'm still holding up in regards to the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge and this week's theme was greed. The challenge phrase is what you might expect for one filled with greed: 

Remember, more is more...don't hold yourself back! 

Well, this meant that I pulled every single nail art item I own out of my Helmer and plopped it onto my workspace looking for inspiration. And I struggled to find it! I hate when that happens. I ended up being drawn to a gold themed Essence nail art kit that had some diamond shaped glitter and got to hand placing entirely too much of it over Milani's Black Swift. 

However, once I had done just one finger I thought my brain and hands were going to call it quits. To add to my frustration, I didn't even like how it looked after all that! Grr. I refused to give up on them though so I grabbed my Born Pretty Studs and added a few of those. 

Direct Sunlight

I never thought I'd say it, but I really love the rhinestone studs! The gold and black is just so fierce and bad-ass and I just love them! I wish I had done my entire mani with them, but hindsight is always 20/20. The best part about these studs is that you can reuse them! 

If you'd like to grab some of the rhinestone studs for yourself, use my code (SRL91) for 10% off your entire order plus free shipping world wide from Born Pretty :) If enough people use the code I get to host a giveaway that you all will have a shot at! 

Happy Polishing!

Born Pretty Store Review - Stud Rhinestones

*Products provided in exchange for an honest review. Please see my disclosure policy for more info.* 

I'm excited to share my newest goodies with you all - I recently received some stud rhinestones from the Born Pretty Store to review!

Born Pretty sells a variety of products (I actually bought my cell phone case from them!), with one of their specialties being nail art. While browsing their site, I was immediately drawn to these edgy stud rhinestones. They aren't your typical  "rhinestone" per say, and I think that's what I liked about them. 

There are a lot of really fun options to choose from in this set, but I started out with some gold elliptical rhinestones and Orly's Fowl Play (which is stunning and these photos do not even do it justice). Very simple, but very chic. In the words of an awesome co-worker, very Cleopatra. Um, yes please!

Application: 

There are a few ways to apply these, all of them I think relatively quick and easy. The first is to use nail glue. I don't particularly like doing this because I always struggle with removing it afterwards. Another option is to stick the studs directly into your base or top coat. The 3rd and final way, would be applying them to your wet polish. I went with option 3. 

While my base color was still wet, I stuck the stud where I wanted and let it sit for a bit. To make sure they stayed in place after the polish dried, I put a layer of top coat over the entire mani. I wore this look for almost 3 days and all studs were accounted for with no movement or edges sticking up. I was even able to salvage all of them to reuse at a later date. Pretty good value if you ask me. 

Because the studs/rhinestones are very thin, they don't protrude much on your nail like you might expect. Very nice for me because I know I would get them stuck in my hair or something silly like that. 

As I said before, there are a lot of options to choose from in this kit. 12 different types of rhinestones in varying shapes and colors (silver, gold, clear). 

The price is right as well. These are only $4.89 shipped. Yup, SHIPPED. Born Pretty ships free, world wide - pretty darn awesome if you ask me. I hate paying for shipping!

As I've mentioned here, Born Pretty was kind enough to send me a code that gives you 10% off your entire purchase. My code is SRL91 and can be used as many times as your nail art loving hearts would like. 

I also want to let you know that I don't received any compensation for you all using my code. The benefit of using the code goes to you guys, my fabulous readers. If my code is used 10 times, Born Pretty will sponsor a giveaway or contest on my blog where you all get a chance to win something fabulous from them. 

What are your thoughts on this sort of nail art? I'm a lover of hand painted art, but these are so quick and fun that I think I'll have to add them to my cycle of artwork. 

Happy Polishing! :)