Showing posts with label Born Pretty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Born Pretty. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2013

Me Looooove Cookies!

A few days ago, a fellow blogger got in touch with me to introduce her blog, Brush me Blush, and in particular a 30 day series of tutorials she has created with twists on the french manicure. I immediately spotted some ideas that I want to try out and she even sent me a few sneak peeks of ones that are to come. This is one of those and you'll be able to see the steps on her blog very soon.

The tutorial was for Cookie Monster half moons - absolute genius! I've been meaning to do Cookie Monster nail art since I got this flocking powder and I even bought googly eyes but I just couldn't get it right. Ria has nailed it with this tutorial!



I won't give too many of the details away - you'll have to wait for the tutorial at Brush me Blush - but I used NYC Water Street Blue, Essie Glamour Purse, Rimmel Desire and some flocking powder from Born Pretty to create this look.


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Sunday, November 18, 2012

31DC2012: Day 22 Inspired by a Song

Day 22's nails have to be inspired by a song and I struggled for a long time to come up with an idea. In the end, I just put my MP3 player on shuffle and waited for inspiration to strike. When Lana Del Rey's Blue Velvet came on I remembered this flock that I have from Born Pretty Store and knew it was meant to be!

Rie and Cris' nails for Day 22 of the challenge are very impressive! Go see!



I used one coat of NYC Water Street Blue* to my nails. Then, one by one, I added a second coat, waited about 30 seconds and dipped my nail in to the flocking powder. It comes with a really good brush that I used immediately after application to brush the excess back into the pot and it made very little mess. Because it's so fine, the bits that missed the pot just kind of blew away in to the air like dust! 

This powder is much finer and therefore way better than the stuff I used before and has even convinced me that a velvet manicure can be lovely when done right.



And here's the song that inspired the nails. Did you know the original version is by The Clovers from way back in 1950? You can hear that here. It's been covered by loads of people through the years but Ms Del Rey has managed to put her sombre, dreamy spin on it perfectly.


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Sunday, June 3, 2012

4000 Follower Giveaway! Day 1: Born Pretty Gift Card

It's been exactly 796 days since I started this blog and although I've had my fair share of ups and downs, I'm so glad I did! 
If you asked my nineteen year old self where me and my blog would be today, two years later, I'm sure I would have said I'd have given up by now. And yet here we are, 570 blog posts later, and I can't imagine what my life would be like if this blog wasn't a part of it. Oh god, how cheesy is that?!

To celebrate reaching 4000 followers and to thank you guys for reading, commenting and even just stopping by to look at the pretty pictures, I'll be holding four giveaways throughout the week! 

To kick start the festivities, today's prize is a $30 gift certificate to spend at Born Pretty, donated by the lovely team over at BornPrettyStore.com. My love for this online nail art supply store is no secret so I'm absolutely chuffed to be able to offer you the chance to get your hands on some of their amazing items too.

A selection of my items from Born Pretty. The winner will be able to choose all their own items.

Click 'Read More' to enter!
Rules of the Giveaway
You must be following this blog via Google Friend Connect.
If you aren't already, you can follow using the gadget in the sidebar or the button below.



How to Enter
All you have to do to enter is fill out the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post. There are a total of 5 possible entries to be earned. The first two fields are mandatory and for filling them out, you will receive two entries. The other three are optional but obviously the more entries you have, the higher your chance of winning.
Thank you and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will end at 12.01am (EST) on Monday June 25th 2012.
It is open worldwide.

The prize for this giveaway was donated by Born Pretty Store. Please see my disclaimer for more information.

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Monday, May 28, 2012

Born Pretty Glitters!

When I spotted these glitters in the Born Pretty Store, I knew I had to try them out right here, right now, oh my god, as soon as possible! I already have some hexagonal glitter in royal blue but I really wanted to add some more colours to my collection and Born Pretty are stocking a great range.

These pieces are just over 1mm in diameter and as close to flat as you can get so once there's a top coat over them, they don't snag on anything or tempt you to pick away until they've all somehow disappeared!

Hex Glitter Nail Art

Hex Glitter Nail Art

Hex Glitter Nail Art

I used Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream as a base colour. Then I took a toothpick with the end dipped in clear polish (to make it sticky) to pick up and place on the Gold* and Blue* glitter.

Hex Glitter Nail Art

Hex Glitter Nail Art

I was completely amazed at the size of the pots these glitters come in. They are so huge, and packed right up to the top so I don't think I'll ever run out. Just to give you an idea, here are a few pictures to of the pot with some familiar objects to give some proportion.

Born Pretty Glitter Pot

Born Pretty Glitter Pot

You can browse the selection of colours and shapes BornPrettyStore.com. They cost around $2.38 per pot but the price varies slightly with shape and colour. Don't forget you can use my code, SA5X31, to get 10% off your order.


*These items were sent for consideration. See my disclaimer for more information.

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Monday, March 19, 2012

Born Pretty Prettiness

I want to take a few minutes today to tell you about Born Pretty Store. I buy so many of my nail art supplies from them so I'm gonna give them a quick shout out. I know I go on about it all the time, but I really do love a bargain and Born Pretty have the cheapest prices of any online nail art supply store I know about. They've even been nice enough to offer a 5% off coupon for all you lovely readers, just enter SA5X31 at the checkout.



They sell everything you could ever need for your nail art from acrylic powder and brushes to fimo slices and rhinestones. Delivery is free worldwide and it takes about 2 weeks for my items to get to me here in the UK which isn't too long to wait if I'm not desperate for the stuff and I really don't mind because of the low prices.

 
(click any picture to go to the product page)

I should probably mention, lest I get accused of anything unsavoury, that I'm not affiliated with Born Pretty in any way and will not benefit financially or in any other form from you clicking any of the links in this post or using the discount code. I just really like their store!


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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Born Pretty Plate M73 and White Stamping Polish Review

As you may have noticed, or read here before, I never use Special polishes for stamping. This is partly because of the price tag but mostly because I have been lucky enough to find plenty of regular polishes that work well for stamping. You can see my list here, although it needs a bit of updating!

The white I use for stamping from Stargazer isn't 100% opaque so I wanted to try a special polish to get the extra oomph!

From the Born Pretty Store, I ended up ordering a white stamping polish [here] and the duplicate M73 plate [here]. 


I've written a quick post in the past with my thoughts on the BP plates [here] and everything I said still stands.

The image of the musical notes is not very well 'carved out' at all, there is next to no definition so I don't think I will be using it. But this is clear in the picture on the product page so at least you know with BP that what you see is what you get and they aren't using pictures that misrepresent their products.


I went ahead and decided to use the white polish with the swirly flower design which is the one I was most excited about and I cannot express how disappointed I was when my mani turned out like this!

My stamper hardly picked up any of the design and I'm inclined to blame it on the plate since my stamper has worked perfectly forever and the polish worked (albeit not that well, but we'll get on to that later) on the geometric design.


I don't think this white qualifies as a stamping polish. It's actually less opaque than the Stargazer White I use currently which you can see stamped here.


Konad Plate: Born Pretty M73
Base Colour: Collection 2000 - Hot Purple
Konad Colour: Born Pretty White Stamping Polish
Top Coat of NYC

So to sum up, I am disappointed with these two prodcuts from Born Pretty. If I was desperate for a white stamping polish this would probably suffice but I don't think I'll be using it. I'm going to leave it on my windowsill with the lid off for a few days to see if it works any better then. Also, the bottle is very small. I can't find exact details anywhere on the site or on the bottle but I would guess it's about 5ml.
If you are looking for a white polish for stamping, take a look at Marta's post here. She uses Sally Hansen Whirlwind white and it looks incredible, completely opaque! If anyone knows where to get this and would be willing to send it to me, please get in touch because I need it in my life!

As you can see, I only tried two of the designs from the plate. The scattered square design works great but the flower one isn't usable. It's no devastation because I only paid a few dollars for it but still, you expect your designs to come out no matter how much you pay. If the designs don't work, is it even an image plate or just a slice of metal?

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Pink Wednesday: I Missed You, Half Moons

I was scrolling through my archives a few days ago and remembered how much I like half moon manicures. It's been ages since I did one so I'm rocking the look today for Pink Wednesday.




I used BYS Flirty Sparkle as a base, Collection 2000 Moonlight Shine applied with a brush for the moons and some bullion from Born Pretty Store. All topped off with a coat of NYC Top Coat.


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Thursday, June 23, 2011

My Kind of Cool Aid

My Cult Nails order arrived last week and I had to go and pick it up from the sorting office because there was a £13 customs charge to be paid. If you're in the UK and are thinking of purchasing polish from a country outside the EU, consider yourself warned about these charges. I was hesitant to buy these polishes in the first place because it's quite unusual (actually, unheard of) for me to spend so much on polish and in the end they worked out at £9.50 each which makes me cringe every time I think about it!

Wow, way to start on a bum-note but don't get me wrong, I am really, really happy that I decided to bite the bullet and buy these. I went for My Kind of Cool Aid and Iconic from the 'Inaugural' Collection and Let Me Fly and Cruisin' Nude from the 'A Day At The Races' Collection. Every single polish applies like a dream and is perfect in two coats.


Konad Plate: Born Pretty M76
Base Colour: Cult Nails - My Kind of Cool Aid
Konad Colour: BYS - Glittering Purple
Top Coat of NYC