Before & After: Stripes 'n' Kitties!

Hello!!

I've learned the sad lesson that beautiful nails and vigorous play with my dog don't go well together...sigh...I now have a case of the right-hand nubbins again, and even though I've tried to file them down as best I could, they still look a teensy bit janky.

Can something look a teensy bit janky? Idk. I'm gonna go with it.

Today's theme in the Crumpet Nail Tart's Got Polish challenge is 'Stripes'! Hey, vertical stripes make things look longer, right?

Because nail bloggers tend to always be showing new (or at least new-to-them) polish and tend to neglect the old beauties in their collection, this challenge is about using polish you've had for a long time, ideally over a year. I am so happy about having an excuse to blog about some old favorites, I can't even tell you. :)

For this one, I pulled out Cult Nails Iconic, a blood-rust color with very subtle rust-gold flakes in it:

You can see that the flakes are very subtle, and show up a little more or less depending on the sort of light you're in. This is the sort of flakie that is definitely work appropriate but still gives you a little dose of happy when you look at your nails. :)

For my nail art, I wanted to go for a Victorian-room sort of feel, so I drew on some scroll-type stripes with a Mash nail art pen, and put on some rose decals I bought somewhere ages ago (sorry, the packaging is long gone, so I don't remember the brand, but I'd guess Kiss). And since no cozy home is complete without a cat, so I pulled out some kitty water decals that Born Pretty Store sent me for review:

I was very happy with how extremely easy to use these are--you cut them out, submerge them in water for about 20 seconds, slide off the design, and position it on your nail. Cover with topcoat, and you're done, done, done. And these are very thin, unlike some other decals that are on thicker plastic which make them more difficult to position; These went on easily and stayed put where I wanted them to once I dabbed the water off.

Here is the final look:

What do you think? I am annoyed that the nails are a bit messed up, but I do think the design is cute, fun, and very fast to do. :)

If you like these decals, you can find them by clicking here; there are a ton more designs besides. I have a discount coupon for Born Pretty Store that my readers can use (not an affiliate link):

In fact...drumroll please...enough people have used my code that Born Pretty Store is hosting a giveaway on my site for a $20 gift certificate to their store! I'll have that giveaway all set up by the end of the week. :)

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to look at the other manicures linked below. :)

Hugs and loves,
M.

Before & After: Skelepunk!

(Some of the products in this post were provided for review. These are marked with '*')

Hello!

Recently, Born Pretty Store sent me a few items to review. One of the items was water decals*, which I don't think I've ever used before--if I have, it's been so long I can't really remember. Anyway, because I love all things Halloween, I chose that theme out of the four available. :)

For the base of my test manicure, I chose Finger Paints Sketch-y, a reddish-brown shimmer that nearly covers in one coat (I have two here just to be sure):

Finger Paints Sketcy-y, direct sunlight

Finger Paints Sketch-y, direct sunlight

Next, I layered over a coat of Lucky 13 Lacquer's Phoenix Lament, a yellow and orange shred glitter that looks like flames licking at your polish (can't wait to use this in a 'girl on fire' manicure!):

Lucky 13 Lacquer's Phoenix Lament over Finger Paints Sketch-y, artificial light

Next it was time to test out the water decals. Here is the set I chose:

Halloween Decals FTW!

And here are close-ups of each section:

The instructions are simple, and the decals are very easy to apply. Basically, you cut out your design, soak it in water for about 20 seconds, slip off the decal from the backing, put it on your nail, and cover with polish. 

I chose the cool skeleton guy sitting behind a pumpkin, and applied with no problems at all. The decal came off easily from the backing, and was easy to work with. It stayed where I put it when I wanted it too, didn't slip and slide everywhere, but when I wanted to move it to adjust it, I was able to do so. Here is the end result: 

There is a lot I love about these decals. I love how easy they were to apply; no special tools, no wishing you had three hands. I love the detailing on the decal, with all the different colors and teeny designs, which would be hard to get with stamping or free-hand. I also love how fast these are to apply--literally seconds is all it takes. 

However, there were also things I wasn't in love with about these. Some of the images I was most excited about (the faux 'portrait' images) turned out the be too small to really see the detail; if you look at the pictures above, you'll notice the details of the spooky pictures are really hard to see, and you can't tell what they are in some cases, even. This isn't a problem with most of the decals, but you definitely want to take that into account when deciding if there are images here that you'll use for the price. I've included a picture below with my thumbnail so you can see the relative size and detail of the decals: 

For me, there are enough decals on here that I can use to make this worth purchasing at the $3.99 price; for you, that might be different. The good news on this point is that two of the other sets, the nautical decals and the mask decals, have a higher percentage of useable images: 

Okay, to sum up: First, I love my little manicure! The glitter polish is gorgeous, and the little skele-puniken guy is extremely cute. In terms of the product, I think these are great for nail art if there are enough images in the set that you feel you'll use; the ease of use is amazing and the quality is extremely good.

Don't forget that I have a 10% off coupon that you can use for these and/or anything else in the Born Pretty Store that you want:

If 10 people use the code, Born Pretty Store will sponsor a giveaway on my blog. :)

Thanks for looking, I hope you liked the manicure! Hugs and loves,
M.

(The decals in this post were sent for honest review. The other products were purchased with my own money.)