Monday 31 March 2014

Green foil flakes mani (a review)

Heya folks! How are you doing? I got some pretty awesome news yesterday in my inbox, which is pretty awesome for you too, and that can only mean a giveawaaaaay! Yeah! We just need to iron some details out and then it shall begin. I am really excited, I haven't done a giveaway in such a long time! 

I also want to thank you for all the advices on the stamper in my previous post, they were tons helpful, the stamper works now!! Thanks, girls! :)

For today I have another lovely nail art toy for ya. Again Born Pretty Store gave me a choice in what to order for review and I wanted to try out this foil thing-y, it looked quite fun. Like flake polish, but without the polish and with bigger flakes. Awesome! You can find it on Born Pretty Store site under the name Fantasy Starry Holo Nail Foils Glitter Transfer Stickers Nail Decoration (item ID # 12413), I picked the pattern number #75. And I fell in love with the effect, the mani looked great ... if only it would last a bit longer!





I used RGB Sea as the base, a gorgeous dark green with green shimmer, it seemed perfect for the bright holo green foil.

The foil itself comes in a need square package and it looked like a decent amount of foil for under a dollar, but then I saw it unfolds in to a much bigger sheet! Awesome!



Now, for the pros and cons:

+ the foil is incredbily easy to work with, you have a tutorial on Born Pretty Store page that works very nicely, it is the nail art for dummies, really (which means it is perfect for me ;))
+ you use a very small amount of foil per mani, as a little corner can be used for an entire hand. For my nails I used approx. 2 cm x 2cm of the foil and I could still use it for a couple nails more, would I have them. :)
+ the effect is gorgeous, especially because it is so random, I love it! You cannot control where the foil will stick, which makes it a very asymmetrical mani
+ the removal is very easy, the foil does not bother the removal at all

- TC will dull the holo effect of the foil. Yes, it will still look nice and bright and metallic, but holo effect will be gone. Still, it is better to use TC because the alternative is:
- the foil without the TC does not last long at all. Meaning, I washed my hands, dried them with a towel and the towel pulled off the foil. I was quite disappointed with that. If you have any tricks, how to avoid that without dulling the holo effect, let me know, please!

All in all I love the effect, but I hate how it gets damaged so quickly! I will use it again, but with TC, so it will last as a normal manicure should. 


If you are planning to buy at Born Pretty Store, don't forget to use my code SSL91 that gives you a 10% discount on your purchase! :) 



 Do you have any tricks up your sleeve for this foil method?

Thank you for reading and commenting!


*Product sent for reviewing purposes, you can read my disclosure here.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Review of Double Sided Stamper & Scraper (Born Pretty Store)

Hello you guys! How have you been? My schedule is off the hook!! But we have a beautiful sunny day, I am waiting for lunch before I go back to my studies and then Español! Wiii! I am falling behind with my reviews, I am seriously late with some of them, so let us proceed with the review of the double sided stamper and scraper Born Pretty Store kindly sent to me. 

As you all probably know, I am trying to do more nail art and failing each year to achieve that goal, simply because I lack time for practise (even though most of nail art I tried is not time consuming at all). When I saw the offer of a double sided stamper, I said, why not, maybe it is easier to use and a new toy might make me do stamping more often. 
In the set (named 3Pcs/set Hot-sell Double Sided Stamping Nail Art Stamper & Scraper, item ID # 12024) you get a double sided stamper and two scrapers, one bell shaped and a classic shaped one.






The stamper fits into your palm perfectly, it is very handy that way. Plus the scrapers are both plastic so they do not scratch the templates. So far so good. But I had a big problem with the stamper. When I tried to do my first mani, it would not pick up the pattern from the template. Or it would, but very poorly, just some lines. I used the black stamping polish I also got from Born Pretty Store and when I switched to my old pink Essence stamper it worked perfectly. 

After that I tried to use the stamper with the white stamping polish from the Born Pretty Store set and with the silver Essence stamping polish. And it worked perfectly with them. After that I tried it with the black one again and again the pattern was very poor. What's up with that?!? What bothers me the most is the fact that I am using stamping polish from the same store that offers the stamper and it doesn't work with it? Major disappointment. 

I think the shape of the product and the scrapers are great, I will be using them instead of my usual credit card, as they do not damage the templates. But the fact that stamper apparently does not work with all stamping polish is a major turn-off. And all the varnishes were stamping varnishes. So go figure. I will use it for the white and silver polish I have, but the fact that I need a back up stamper just in case this one won't work with some polishes is bad enough that I would not recommend buying this product. It might work perfectly fine for you though. 

If you are purchasing something from Born Pretty Store you can use my discount code for extra 10% off (SSL91):







Did you encounter the same problem with this (or any other) stamper? Any advices on how to fix it?


Thank you for reading and commenting!

*Product sent for reviewing purposes, you can read my disclosure here.


Wednesday 12 March 2014

Stamping mani with Orly and Born Pretty Store

Hey my people! For today I have a manicure that I really like even though it was not executed as well as I hoped it would be. Still, I love the combo, I need to practice it even more!

This stamping plate was sent to me as a part of my review package, I already shown you the package in my New-in post. This template is called Exquisite Arabesque Floral Pattern, number QA65 (item ID is 12025) and I think it is my favourite from all the templates I own. I love the arabesque patterns!! So Born Pretty Store kindly sent it to me. Right now it is only 99 cents too, so if you feel like buying it, it is your chance to get it!




As you can see, the pattern did not come on the nail as perfectly as I would like it to. Still, from afar it looks fantastic. And I love all the patterns on this plate, so I will definitively use it more when trying to work on my nail art

If you are shopping at Born Pretty Store, don't forget to use my 10% discount code SSL91!






Do you have a favourite template?


Thank you for reading and commenting!



*Product sent for reviewing purposes, you can read my disclosure here.

Monday 10 March 2014

OMG Nail Polish Strips ~ Crow

Hello everyone! How are you doing? Hope you had a pleasant Monday! I slept today for 11 hours, catching up on my sleep, as during the weekend I barely slept at all. I had a blast at our Small Annual Meeting, it was fantastic.Right before I left I finally tried one of the OMG Nail polish strips. As I had a great experience with Incoco strips, I hoped these will not disappoint too, and they did not.






 The two designs I picked.

The strips themselves look pretty standard, the only novelty I noticed is the measurement of the sticker at the bottom of it.




I really love the design on Crow. A good friend of mine said it looks like Dalmatian spots from afar, which is also very cute, so it is a win win situation. :) 

Let's see, pros and cons system, yes?


+ Their site is very easy to use, I also like the fact that they split the designs into categories, plus their choice of designs is vast and great..
+ The strips are really easy to apply, and although I was sure they will be too big for my nails, they actually fit perfectly. 
+ They do not wrinkle with TC (I encountered that problem with the very first stickers I tried a while ago)
+ You can slowly remove them from the nail if you mess up the position of it. Do it gently in order not to tear up the sticker.
+ They lasted 5 days with very minimum chips even on my damaged (split) nails, which is admirable. I didn't do the full 10 days test, as I needed to change my manicure for the weekend, but I think I could pull it off for another day or two. Which is pretty neat, a great nail art mani for 6-7 days.
+ They have two different prices for the stickers, 4,99$ and 7,99$, all of them with actual designs, not just one nail polish colour. As I stated before in my Incoco post, I would pay their price for a good nail strips design, and OMG nail polish strips come even cheaper. It is a great deal, and if you wish to try nail polish stickers just to see if you like the idea, I would recommend you try these, it doesn't hit you on the wallet. 

- The removal is a bit tricky, again with the glue-ish nail polish. It is the nature of the nail polish strips, I suppose, but it does make a bit of a mess. 

The removal is actually the only negative thing I can fin in the Crow Nail polish strips. They are really great, I am a fan of nail polish strips, especially when they exceed my expectations on time of wear. Plus OMG Nail Polish Strips are affordable. The site also offers free shipping on all orders, so if you wish to try them out, now is a great chance to do that. 


Are you a fan of nail polish strips?


Thank you for reading and commenting!

*Product sent for reviewing purposes, you can read my disclosure here.

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Catrice ~ Berry Potter & Plumbledore

Heya my people! How are you doing? It's been crazy here lately, wohoo! But I really wanted to show you this beauty. Alas the pictures are not as good as I wanted them to be, IRL the colour looks much nicer. I feel like the shimmer is still a bit more tealish than on the pictures, you know? Those who have this colour, do you agree? 

Anyway. Naturally I bought this for the name itself. Geek references in make up names, that's what we want!! Lucky for me, the colour itself is gorgeous. It reminds me of a simple version of Royal Velvet by Orly, but it is different enough to have both.






I think that on the last one you can see the shimmer is in fact more on the teal side. Excuse the cable and the dust, I was improvising. :)


So yeah. New line of Catrice colours. I actually want another one, but the rest didn't really call me from the stand. But as I am on a mandatory no-buy (meaning I am too broke to buy nail polish), this might be the only one I buy. Luckily the brush on this Catrice was very nice to work with. It is not the brush from Catrice's former glory days, but it is by far better comparing to the previous two asortiment changes. Thumbs up! I needed three coats for full coverage, if that matters to you. The formula was good, it applied nicely. 

So yeah. One of those Catrice I would totally recommend! 

Which colours did you get from new line of Catrice, any recommendations? 

Thank you for reading and commenting!