Born Pretty Store Review | Stamped Stars

Hi everyone! Man, I cannot seem to keep myself out of trouble. No sooner had I recovered from the flu then I sprained my ankle. It's minor, but still enough to hurt a lot and make work that much more draining. AND I broke a nail :(  it's the middle one on my swatching hand!

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

Fortunately it's just a small break on the side, and I was able to patch it up. It's behaving for now...

I got this stamping plate from Born Pretty Store and wanted to use that big star image in the middle, so that's what I did!

Red on Red Stamping... or, Nail Fail :P

Hiya! This post is actually coming at you from the archive, because 1) I couldn't bear to take off my little goat for quite a few days after my last post, and 2) I've been preparing for a trip to Perth in a few days! A great friend of mine is getting married! :D I'm doing nails for the bride and her wedding party, so I have a whole wheel of bridal-themed nails I'll show you, as well as pics of theirs, when I get back!

I did this manicure soon after I received my last Born Pretty Store haul, and I consider it a fail. It was a lot prettier in my head, but the red I chose for the base colour was just too similar to the red BPS stamping polish, and it barely showed up. I didn't post it at the time... But I figured I should show you anyway--it was pretty at some angles, and definitely falls into the "subtle stamping" category.

Checkered Border Nails

Hello, gorgeous!

Today's look is a transparent one with a checkered stamp and a trend I never really liked--a border around the nail. I think the way it looks with this pattern is awesome... but I'm afraid the photos don't do it justice. It was really cool in real life, but I'm disappointed with how the pictures looked when I viewed them on my computer today. I wish I'd taken a look before, and gotten another set before taking off this mani. So be forewarned--this isn't up to my usual snuff and I almost didn't post them! But I think it's good to show nail (and photo) fails, too--it happens to the best of us!

Indoors, flash

Definitely a cool punk-rock/grunge mani, right? Click the jump to see how it's done!

More St. Paddy's 20-fo-teen: Mallard Tartan Tips

Hello hellooo! Time for more St. Paddy's goodness:

Wow, these look so much better in person and at normal size >.>

Right! So... my idea was to do a tartan look with the colours of the Irish flag. I kind of succeeded. The base for these tips, in my favourite french-tip/half-moon hybrid (French moon?), is the bottle shown above--piCture pOlish Mallard. Such an awesome dark green with an olive shimmer plus copper and green flakies! The tartan pattern was painted with a thin striper brush and white acrylic paint, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri #460 Snappy Sorbet (the orange), and Stripe-Rite gold glitter.

I love Mallard, but I kind of wish I'd used a lighter, brighter green. Also a more true orange rather than Snappy Sorbet, which leans a bit coral, especially over a dark base. I like this look, but it doesn't scream Irish the way the image in my head did. I attempted to rectify this with a cute little shamrock on the middle fingers, which was done with a dotting tool, detail brush, and Essie Shake Your $$ Maker. It was cute, but I thought it needed more definition around the edges, so I attempted to do a sort of outline with a green Sharpie and managed to mess that up too. Argh! They looked neater before the last step, but I couldn't get it off, so I just gave up and topcoated with Seche Vite.

Smell that? It's the aroma of FAIL

I know the end product doesn't look too bad, really--just nothing like what I had in mind. Still, I'm glad I did this design. I love the tartan look, and definitely need the practice doing straight lines. My hands are fairly steady and vertical lines are usually okay, but horizontal ones are awful! Oh well. Every manicure can't be a favourite, now can it? :)

Come back next time and I'll have something nicer for ya. Thanks for reading! See you soon xoxo

Alphabet Challenge: X is for... Xtreme FX French

Hello again! I'm back with another installment of the Alphabet Challenge. Only two more letters to go! Today we have the letter X, and a manicure that looked a lot better in my head than what I managed to actually do. Oh well, you win some and you lose some!

This gets an X, as in a strike, as in two more and I am out

I suppose its fitting that the X manicure gets an X mark as far as I am concerned, lol. I like the idea, but I did it all wrong. Let me explain...

I started by painting a chevron French tip with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, then did a coat of OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre? on top--this is a very sheer, soft, French-manicure pink. So far so good! I then took Revlon Top Speed #902 Celestial FX to do the fun glitter on top. This is iridescent small glitter, then silver holographic moons, stars, and diamonds in a clear base. Really pretty! I painted a thin coat first to spread the small glitters, then used an orange stick to place the shapes. They don't come out well with the brush alone.

I wanted to do the X shape over the top along the chevron, to fit with the theme and (I thought) give it a nice edgy look. I used my Stripe Rite black for this, but since the big bumpy glitter pieces made it an uneven surface, and my silly self didn't topcoat to smooth it out first, the X shapes didn't come out straight :( I should have done those at the end! It looked OK from a distance, but I didn't like it at all up close.

Those holo shapes are really pretty in the sun, though!

see, looks better smaller >.>

Oh well, we all have a nail fail now and then. Join me next time as I make up for it with some really nice Y nails. Have a great weekend!! xoxo

Challenge Day #31: Recreate Your Favourite Challenge

'Ello loves! Last day of the challenge! I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed it, I'll be happy to get back to doing my own thing :D This has been a great way to kick off the blog, though, and looking back it's hard to believe I've already done over 30 posts--feels like I just started! I hope you've enjoyed this little journey with me, and that you'll also like the nail designs I come up with unaided.

Anyway, day 31 implores us to re-create our favourite day of the challenge. 99% of the nail-art community will call me crazy for this, but the day I liked best (and one of my favourite nail-art techniques of all time) was the WATER-MARBLE day! I think it's a fun and simple (albeit messy) way to create such delicate, swirly, pretty designs. Some people seem to have trouble with it--I've either been really lucky so far, or I just don't care as much about perfection and making every nail look the same. I think the randomness is part of its charm!

That being said, today's was probably one of the worst ones I've ever done. Maybe I was lazy--and I don't think one of the polishes I chose was playing nicely in the water, it dried too fast or something. I was able to save it, though--it was a win, then a fail, and then a win again!

I'm calling this my honey-marble. Doesn't it look golden-delicious? :D

I started with one coat of a-england's original Holy Grail. Adina (the creator of this awesome brand) has changed the formula of Holy Grail--the new one is a cooler-toned, antique-looking gold with a very slight greenish shimmer that looks really neat! I will have to order that one as well. But this warmer honey-gold is the "old" formula and the only one I've managed to get my hands on thus far. I then used it along with China Glaze Liquid Leather to do a black and gold marble design. I've been wanting to do this colour combination for a while, but I think I'll have to give it another go sometime. It didn't really turn out like I expected. Actually, before I added the glitter, it looked AWFUL. I was staring morosely at my nails going "HOW DID THIS BECOME SUCH A MASSIVE FAIL?" I wish I'd gotten pics at that stage, because you wouldn't believe how much different it looked.

Well, I was going to take it off and do something else--but this stage, this "I've given up, it can't get any worse" stage can actually be the breakthrough point for art, because then you say "what the heck, I may as well try something random, what have I got to lose?" I grabbed this random nameless gold glitter polish and brushed it on, just for shiggles.

And suddenly, magic. There are two sizes of gold glitters in a clear base here, and they just... somehow... brought everything together! The marble looks better and the parts that aren't so hot are covered by shinyness. I was instantly delighted, and also, hungry. I think they look exactly like honeycombs. Want to nibble.

Without flash, so you can see the impact of the glitter!

It's going to sound pathetic to you guys, but the way such a simple step made such a huge positive difference actually made my day. My smile was as sunny as my glimmery fingertips :D

The rarely-seen right hand. Pose is awkward, but I think the design came out better (or at least more consistent) on this one. Although honestly, it looks way better IRL than any of these photos.

So, there's my final challenge prompt completed, and a little glimpse into the sometimes emotional roller coaster that creating art can be.

Tune in next time for some fun animal print nails, and then I'll start getting some fall and wintery designs up! :D xoxo