Review: Born Pretty Store Flakies

It's the weekend, hurrah!  Although I did only work one day this week (and that wasn't work so much as watching people present and eating a free lunch)...but still, weekends mean family time :)  And even more so this weekend because the in-laws have come to stay!

Today I have the second item I received for review from Born Pretty Store.  Prepare yourself for holo flakie goodness.

Honestly, the pictures do not do this justice (blogger fail...oh well!).  I literally gasped when I applied it.  I do like me some sparkle...

I was a little confused by the instructions though.  Not that they weren't clear, more that I was a doubter.  So it says for a full coverage mirror look you should cure your no-wipe gel top coat and then dab it on - the pot even comes with a little applicator by the way!  Alternatively, for more of a flakie look, the instructions say to apply to your top coat before curing.  I didn't understand how it would stick after curing, so I went for the flakie look.

The flakes are mostly a lovely warm purple and dark blue.  Then there's also holo glitter in there so you get the flashes of that as well.  Frankly, it is perfection.  Oh and it's shown here over black polish for best effect of course.

I used this with gel polish as per the instructions (I'm a stickler for following the rules don't you know).  When I googled for reviews of it though whilst trying to sort out my confusion about when to apply it, most reviews I read had just used it on normal polish applied to wet top coat, so that's also an option.  If you don't use gel, you don't need to miss out!

You can find this glitter here, and the colour I've used is #3.  Don't forget, shipping is free to wherever you are in the world and you can get 10% off with the code LKL91.  And while you're there you might as well treat yourself to a few other bits...

Review: Born Pretty Store Thermal Gel Polish

Happy Thursday!

Our heatwave here in the UK is still going strong, and somehow I've survived.  We bought a gazebo earlier this week so now we can actually go out in the garden rather than cowering in the house with the blinds all closed (this skin was not made for sun exposure).

Today I have the first of my latest haul of Born Pretty Store products to show you.  Just so we're all clear from the offset - I LOVE THIS.

So what is this?  Well it's only the most fabulous thermal gel polish I have ever seen (also the only one, but let's not let that take anything away from it's wonderfulness).  I've long been a fan of thermal polishes, what with them basically being magic and all, but I haven't tried a gel one.  I was a bit dubious...I've found in the past that sometimes thermals don't work that well if you paint it on too thick, so I wondered how well it would work what with gels generally being thicker.

Well, it worked bloody wonderfully.

When it's warm, this polish is a sort of hot barbie pink.

When cold, it went to a really deep purpley mauve.  I know these are like the vaguest colour descriptions ever, but they were hard to pin down!

What I really loved about this polish is that most of the time it had an amazing gradient effect.  I have pretty cold hands and the last thermal polish I tried was just constantly the cold colour unless I put my fingers in hot water (which obviously I did).  I also love the gradual transition between the colours rather than a sharp line between the hot and cold colours.

The picture below shows the polish transitioning from warm to cold.

And lastly, for your amusement...  I have Raynauds but for some reason decided it would be a good idea to photograph this polish after taking the bins out in the cold.  Evidently my ring finger warmed up quicker than the others...

If you would like your very own fabulous thermal gel polish (and you should) you can find it here.  The colour I'm wearing is BP-11 Strawberry Shake.  Don't forget, shipping is always free and you can get 10% off your order using the code LKL91.  Happy shopping!

Born Pretty Store Shells

Bonjour!

I hope you're all having a lovely Tuesday.  They're better than Mondays at least.

I have another Born Pretty Store product to show you today.  Born Pretty Store sell about a million and one nail art products (don't quote me on that...), amongst which are these little shells.

I don't know what to call them...charms? Studs?  Anyway, you get the idea!

Now, I do like to use a stud or gem near the bottom of my nail (I did a post about it here in fact), so I thought that could be a manicure to do with these :)  Plus a little glitter gradient.  I toyed with using an aqua-ish colour for a nice mermaidy look, but I settled on a light purple in the end.

Now, because I'm a terrible blogger I can't actually tell you what polish this is.  Oops!  It's either OPI Planks A Lot or You're Such a Budapest.  I really should start making notes...  The glitter I do know!  It's Saffron 07.  I think the glitter is too chunky really - the shells are a bit lost amongst it.  Does anyone know a good fine silver glitter?  Ideally like Barry M Gold Glitter but silver (hopefully I'm not just being stupid and haven't noticed they also do a silver!).

The shells are easy to work with though :)  Could pick them up with a dampened toothpick as I normally do with all my studs, stuck on well with topcoat, and although they're a little bit 3D they don't stick out too much from the nail to be a problem.

If you'd like to 'get your shell on', check them out here.  They're only £1.63 a pack, and I didn't count how many there were, but suffice to say there's plenty for a fair few manicures..  I've shown you the 3mm ones here, but there's also a 5mm available, and both sizes available in gold.  As always, you can use the code LKL91 to get 10% off your order, and shipping is free worldwide.

Born Pretty Lace Decals

Hello lovelies!

So it's a bank holiday weekend and naturally the weather is glorious!  Haha, I jest of course.  It's the middle of the afternoon and it's so grey outside that I've actually had to put the lights on.  And genuinely, I don't know how it's possible for there to be so much rain.  Another one of those moments I'm glad I love in a top floor flat.

British summer is the best.

Anyway, I really need to give the flat a good clean today ready for my fiance's return tomorrow.  But obviously I (and my nails) hate cleaning, so instead I'm posting this Born Pretty Store review.  This time I have some more of their wonderful decals, for quick, simple nail art :)

So these are the decals!

They're lace sort of designs, and you get 10 black and 10 white.

Let me firstly apologise for the quality of this photo...I did these while I was up in Liverpool and didn't have my light box!

Anyway, so yes, this is what I did with them:

I used them over OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons.  I think from the shape of them they're really intended for almond shaped nails, so they kind of didn't really fit very well on my nails.  And some on them I thought were very small compared to others (i.e. my middle finger) so I had to add in a few little black dots on all the nails to try and balance them out a bit.  And then I thought they still looked a bit odd with just a touch of black lace on the tips, so I sponged some Barry M Gold Foil on to try and make the rest of the nail a bit more interesting.  In hindsight, I'd sponge the gold on first so that you could put the lace overlapping it.

If you've read any of my Born Pretty Store reviews before, you'll know I'm a HUGE fan of their water decals.  But honestly?  I was really disappointed with these.  Not just the shape, because that might be fine for other nail shapes.  Not just the size, because that's down to personal taste.  But they were NOT easy to use.  They kept folding over on themselves when I slid them off the backing paper and I couldn't unstick them, which meant I ended up with bits that I couldn't use (so I stuck them off the end of my nail) making the decals smaller.  I've never had this problem with any other Born Pretty Store decals, so I don't know if these were thinner than all the others I've used or is it was just because of the sort of long thin shape of them.

If I haven't put you off though and you do want to try these out, you can see them here.  Each sheet costs £1.18, and as always you can get 10% off these or anything else on the website with the code LKL91.

Happy shopping! And I hope you all have a lovely weekend (fingers crossed for some sunshine tomorrow...).

Born Pretty Store Chains

I didn't disappear again, honest!  I had an exam last week so I went in to hermit revision mode.  Don't know why I bothered though - it was awful!  Wine in the pub afterwards was lovely though...all's well that ends well.

I have a few Born Pretty Store nail art products to show you again, the first of which is this chain:

I've seen these around for a while, and I'm always somewhat intrigued by them.  They don't seem like they'd be the easiest thing to use!

It turns out they weren't too bad actually :)  I snipped them with some nail scissors (easy enough as long as you cut between the beads!) and stuck them on with top coat.  I actually - you may want to sit down for this - used tweezers to position the chains.  I know right...  My mum bought me some great angled tweezers for Christmas which I now use for everything.

I did some skittles so you could get a few ideas how to wear them - that's a heart on my thumb in case you can't tell (it's totally obvious from a different angle, ahem...).  I just did this manicure for this review, but if I was wearing it longer I'd probably file down the beads overhanging the tip of my little finger if going for that sort of look.  The beads aren't too dense so I think it would be do-able.  And I almost forgot!  The polish is OPI Gouda Gouda Two Shoes.

If you like what you see, you can purchase this chain (and a whole host of other colours) here.  It's £1.54 and you get a whole metre.  That's a lot of beads.  Don't forget, you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off and shipping is free to wherever you may be in the world.  Happy shopping :)

Born Pretty Store Studs

Hello everyone!  Sorry I've been so quiet recently, just don't seem to be able to find any time to blog (good job I have all these lovely guest posters helping out!).

I had a...erm...interesting weekend.  We went down to Eastbourne on Saturday, stayed in a hotel with a jacuzzi bath and snazzy shower, went out for some tapas, yum yum yum!  My eye was hurting a little though, but I just wore my contact lenses anyway, because that's how I roll.  Sunday morning my eyelid was like half the size of my face (well...near enough) and my eye was sooo sore.  We drove down to Brighton, whilst I hid from the sun behind sunglasses.  Long story short, I have an ulcer on my cornea and had to go to eye hospital.  Boo :(  And now I'm not allowed to wear my contact lenses for a month...hmph.

Anyhoo, my fiance suggested I do some eye ulcer nails.  That's not what I've got to show you today though, you'll be pleased to hear!  I have some rather lovely neon studs from Born Pretty Store.  BPS has a huge selection on nail art products, as well stationery, accessories and other bits.

The studs are round and 2mm.  They come in a little packet of approximately 200.  It isn't quite as ideal as a pot I don't think, but the packet is at least resealable.

I used Barry M Grey for my base colour, then added tips with Max Factor Cactus Green and Disco Pink, then added large dots of Disco Pink on my accent nails and added studs on top.

The studs were as easy to use as any other studs I've tried, and didn't stick up from the nail too much.  Colour-wise, I thought they were really pretty, although I would say they were more pastel than neon.  Although, I should add, the colour on the website is accurate.

You can see these studs here, costing only £1.91 per pack (this is #6 I've shown you).  As always, if you decide to make a purchase you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off, and shipping is free worldwide.

Time for me to put some more eye drops in...

A Little Parisian Stamping

Bonjour my lovelies.  TGIF!  Do you have anything nice planned for the weekend?  I'm off to a conference in Brighton on Monday, so me and my OH have decided to make a weekend of it.  Tomorrow night we're staying in a hotel with a jacuzzi in the room...pretty darn swish.

Today I have another product I was sent from Born Pretty Store to show you!  Born Pretty Store has a huge selection of nail art products, including loooaaads of stamping plates, which is what I'm showing you today :)

This plate is QA42, and it has lots of Paris-y images!  There are four different versions of the Eiffel Tower (which is actually the reason I chose it, and I've ended up not using any of those images!), as well as the Moulin Rouge and a couple of airmail-type images.  And Big Ben.  I don't quite understand why that's there, but there we go!

First of all I decided to use the airmail images.  I struggled a little with the image transfer, but no more than I usually do with Konad or MoYou, so I can safely say that's down to operator error.  As I mentioned when I last reviewed a Born Pretty Store plate, they don't have any backing on them.  I read a review once that said the edges were sharp, but I jabbed at myself with it (all in the name of a thorough review!) and it was fine.

I used Barry M Matt White and Bright Red for my base colours.  Then I stamped with Barry M Gold Foil and Konad Red, and added some airmail envelope tipes with my Sharpies.  I probably should've used some tape to make this neater, but you know how I hate tape...

Next I decided to go for the Moulin Rouge image!

When we went to Paris we didn't really have much time to look at the Moulin Rouge...it's in probably the dodgiest area I've ever been, so we took a quick photo and were on our way!  Then we passed a shop that had Eiffel Tower shaped...er...toys in the window.  All very charming.

Anyhoo, I used Barry M Black and stamped with Konad Red again, then added a couple of rhinestones to my other nails.

All in all, I think the Born Pretty Store stamping plates are as good a quality as any others, and at £1.29 each they're a lot cheaper than some of the alternatives out there.  You can check out this particular plate here.  Don't forget, shipping is free worldwide, and you can get 10% of any purchase with the code LKL91 (and you can use it as many times as you like!).

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Starry Starry Nails

Hello lovelies :)

Sorry I've been a little quiet recently!  I've had these photos on my laptop ready to go for days, but motivation to write a post has been at zero.  And last night I fell asleep whilst watching Coronation Street and so went to bed at 8pm.  And I'm still tired, how does that even happen??

Tomorrow I shall be venturing into theatre for the first time to watch a sentinel node surgery.  Fingers crossed I won't faint!  Then on Saturday, HOPEFULLY, my lovely fiance should finally be home!  Fingers super super crossed!

So anyway, what am I showing you today?  Some more fab products from Born Pretty Store :)  For anyone who hasn't come across Born Pretty Store before, they sell a whole array of nail art supplies and polishes (and other cosmetics if you're so inclined) at super cheap prices.  Today I'm showing you some glittery star stickers!

This is only half the pack (it's folded over).  It is seriously huge.  We're talking about 700 stickers, in a range of sizes.  So you won't have to rebuy anytime soon!

First of all I went for an all-over starry look.

I used Barry M Grey for my base and then randomly stuck some stickers everywhere, cutting some of them in half because I think they look nice when they go off the edges :)  I will reiterate that these are stickers...not that that isn't clearly stated on the pack...but...er...  I cut out my first star, dunked it into my glass of water, and waited 10 seconds.  Tried to slide it off and it wouldn't budge.  OK, must need a little bit longer.  Stuck it back in for another 20 seconds.  Still wouldn't budge.  Hmm...this is going to take a while!  Stuck it in for another 30 seconds.  STILL wouldn't budge!  As I was trying to force the thing to slide off, I bent the paper and it popped off...  Oops, not a water decal.  Most definitely a sticker.  And very easy to peel off the paper.

The stickers sat quite happily on my nails, no sticking up or curling or the like, and I don't thin top coat dulled the glitter at all.

For my second manicure I decided to use the stickers like I like to use studs, over Barry M Matt White and Orly Miss Conduct.  I used different size stars on all my nails :)  I hadn't quite given my white polish long enough to dry here, so I couldn't press my stickers down properly, which is why the corners look slightly raised here.  Top tip: don't be impatient.

Verdict?  I think they're fab.  And they're also available in other colours if you're not a fan of pink.  You can see them here.  One sheet costs only 99 cents (65p) with free shipping to wherever you are in the world.  Don't forget, if you decide to buy these or anything else on the website, you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off.

What do you all have planned for the bank holiday (if you're in the UK!) weekend?

Black & White Challenge #4: Glam or Cute

TGIS!  (We all know Saturday's better than Friday).  What are you all doing with your weekend?  I was going to wander in to town today and pick up a few things for my fiance's birthday, but I'm feeling nice and chilled out in the flat, so I'm going to be lazy and put it off until tomorrow instead!  So today I'm just going to paint my nails, read a bit...maybe clean, if I get really desperate.

Anyhoo, on with the nails!  Day 4 of the Black and White Nail Art Challenge was glam or cute.  My initial idea for this was to have black nails, with blinged up white accent nails.  I was also planning on sticking a bow on somewhere, but when I went to do that last night it turned out my bows were pink not white...whoops!

Anyhoo, it ended up being totally different to what I started off intending.  And I don't really like it, but there we go!  I'm already days behind, no time for redoing manicures lol.

I used Barry M Matt White on all my nails, then I added Barry M Hologram to my thumb and ring finger, and added a Born Pretty Store pearl heart (because these were white!).  On my other nails, I added a coat of Barry M Black Multi Glitter, and removed with cling film.

Two more to go!  Hopefully I should have all the manicures posted this weekend!  Then maybe I should give up on challenges for a bit...

More Fabulous Born Pretty Store Water Decals

In case you couldn't tell, I love water decals from Born Pretty Store.  Today, I have these ones to show you:

I saw these on the website aaages ago, so I was very excited at getting the opportunity to review them.

There are 15 images in the pack, so there's plenty for you to make mistakes.  And if you don't make a mess of any of them, you have a few left over for accent nails, hurrah!

There's a picture of these on the Born Pretty Store website over a pink base, and they are stunning.  But I thought I should be a good little reviewer and show you them over a different colour instead.  I went for OPI Mermaid's Tears.

I found the decals took a little longer than usual to soak (about 40 seconds).  No idea if this is actually the decals, or if the heat did weird things to them.  But anyhoo, 40 seconds and they happily slid off the backing paper.  Really really easy to use, and you've got a little bit of time once you place them on your nail to reposition them before they dry.

I totally love these, I think the pictures are so beautiful, and I love that they're all different.  The only negative for me is that they're slightly translucent, so I think you lost a lot of the pretty colours when you use a dark background.  I shall be using the remainder of my pack over a paler base!

You can check these decals out here (these ones are G074).  As always, if you decide to treat yourself to some nail art goodies or anything else from Born Pretty, you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off :)

Born Pretty Store Polish Review

Hello, happy Tuesday!

Today I have a polish that I was sent from Born Pretty Store to show you.  I was so excited when I saw these go up on the website, I was itching to get my hands on one!

They have the rather catchy name of Candy Color Glitter Sparkle Yoghurt Series.  The bottles are quite a cute shape, and not a bad size at 10ml, and the brush is quite similar to a Barry M brush.

The colour I have to show you is #17.

The polish consists of red a gold medium hex glitters, with silver microglitter, all in a lemon jelly base.

Coverage was good, I used two coats for these swatches and I didn't have any problems with dragging or the glitters clumping.

And here's a macro shot!  I love that silver glitter in there so much.

You can see this polish, and all the other colours, here.  They cost $4.36 (£2.94) and shipping is free to wherever you may be in the world.

Don't forget, if you decide to make a purchase of this or any of the other nail art goodies, you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off.

Born Pretty Store Stamper (and a little 4th of July)

Good evening :)  I suppose I should be saying good night really...definitely past my bedtime!

Today I have a stamper from Born Pretty Store that I was sent to review.  You may have seen similar stampers on some other blogs recently, as I've seen them pop up in a few other places too.  They're a little different from your Konad style stamper, and here's why!

There's no plate, scraper and stamper here, it's literally just the rubber stamper with the images on it.  I chose this plate because it has full nail designs, and I do love me a full nail design.

So the way you use these is obviously a little different from stamping plates.  You paint the polish on to the design (as normal), then use a toothpick or similar to gently swipe off some of the excess - you really don't need to be too neat at this point.  Next, to remove the rest of the excess gently stamp on to some paper.  My top tip is this - stamp it on to paper as many times as you need to to get rid of ALL the unwanted polish.  I was a bit worried at first that if I did it too many times I'd start losing polish from the design, or that it would all dry and it would transfer!  But it was fine :)  So stamp away.  Finally, just stamp it on to your nail!  I used a rolling motion like I would with Konad.

The first thing I noticed when I unpacked the stamper was the size of the images.  They are really small.  I was so disappointed!  There was absolutely no way they were covering my full nail (except my little finger, but that is weirdly teeny), so I didn't even try.

So below I have two nail art designs that I did with this stamper, using it just over part of the nail.

For this look I used Barry M Black, Star Gazer 232 and a Konad stamping polish.  I fully intended to stamp the star design, but it was like 10:30pm and apparently I forgot that's what I meant to do, and ended up with zebras instead.

It took me a few attempts to get these so that I was happy with them.  I realised at this point I wasn't going to get nice clean lines with these, so I decided to embrace the messiness and go for this messy 4th July manicure!

Here I used Barry M Matt White and Nails Inc Southwark, and Konad stamping polishes again.  You can see some of the stars came out really well as I got a bit more practice.  My little finger though...they're more blobs than stars.  You can also see on my ring and thumb nails that because of the shape of the stamper, it's really hard to get right up to the cuticle.

So, my final verdict?

Hmm...I'm really not sure actually.  I really don't think you'd be able to get the same kind of crisp lines that you can with stamping plates (well, that you can if you're better at stamping than me!), but I did find it a lot easier to use than plates.  The fact that you just stamp away on paper until you've got rid of all the excess is so much less faff that the scraper, and I felt like I didn't have to work so quickly.

So, I'd probably buy one again over a stamping plate, but not full nail designs because, well...they don't cover your full nail!  I'm eyeing up A25...

You can see this product here.  They're $2.99 (£1.98) each, with free shipping worldwide.  And don't forget!  If you decide to buy a stamper or anything else (anything at all!) from Born Pretty Store, you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off.

PS. Happy 4th of July to all my American readers :)

Sticker Nail Art

Happy Sunday!  I hope you've all had a nice relaxing weekend :)

I have another product from Born Pretty Store to show you today.  This time it's a sheet of gold nail art stickers.

This sheet is HUGE.  There are 12 different sections each with 25ish stickers, depending on the size.  12 multiplied by 25ish = a lot.

There's a great selection too.  There's lots of bows and some pretty frames and flowers.  There's also some cute little characters with phrases such as 'I love you', and I love the jewellery-looking stickers on the top right - how great would these be for some tips??

Here's a couple of looks I came up with.

Firstly, I saw the crowns and came over all patriotic, so I did this simple British manicure.  God Save The Queen and all that.

The polishes I used here were Barry M Gold Foil and Matt White, OPI Flick Chick Cherry, China Glaze Manhunt and Barry M Gold Glitter.  Then I used Sharpies to draw the Union Flag, and topped it off with a crown sticker.

There's not a lot to say about the use of the stickers - they're as easy to use as you'd imagine!  Just peel them off and stick them on :)  I didn't have any issues with tearing, and they smoothed out lovely with one coat of Seche Vite.

Next up, I thought these baroque-style stickers would make great half moons!

Most of the designs come in three or four different sizes, which means they fit all the nails nicely :)  Here I used China Glaze Call of the Wild, with Barry M Gold Foil and Gold Glitter for the accent nails.

You can see these stickers here.  They're $4.51 (£2.98) with free shipping worldwide.  As always, if you decide to treat yourself to anything, you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off (which means you can buy 10% more :p ).

The Most Fantabulous Water Decals In The World

As promised, here's the second set of water decals I have to show you from Born Pretty Store!

Oh my giddy aunt.  Straight on with nail art pictures!

Here's the first manicure I did!  As I had hoped, the white ones were see though!  Yay!  So I blobbed on some pretty colours and applies the decals over the top.  They are faaaabulous.

The decals are super easy to use - just cut them out, peel of the protective plastic, soak for 10-15 seconds and slide off the backing paper.  And when I say 'cut out', this is what I do...

Personally, I find it easier to cut them out really roughly and then just clean them up with acetone (as you would polish) afterwards.  You can of course cut the shape out right in the first place, but I'm terrible at judging the right size lol.

Next up, even more fantabulousness...

I don't think words can actually convey how much I love these.  Actual photos of leopards on my nails!  Aahhhhhhh!  Epic.

There are, obviously, enough decals for four full sets of nails. But of course you can just use them for accent nails, and make them go further :)

It's worth mentioning, all the decals were translucent, so I put them on over a coat of white to make sure the colour popped :)

So if you love these as much as I do, you can find them here.  They cost $3.99 (£2.65) with free shipping worldwide.  And don't forget, you can use my code LKL91 for 10% off any purchases.