Monochrome Bow Mix and Match Nail Art

The second product I received for review from Born Pretty Store were these 3D bows. I chose to use them with mix and match nails and I think they came out quite lovely.

The bows have a slight curvature on the back, which helps it to stay on the nail better. They have just the right amount of bling for a manicure, with a rhinestone in the center of the bow.

I used OPI – Alpine Snow for my white, Nina Ultra Pro – Black for the Black, and Essie – No Place Like Chrome for the silver. The silver glitter is from LA Colors. I stuck the bow on using nail glue.

I went to my neighbor’s birthday party on Friday to do their nails and everyone loved my nails. And the best part was the bows lasted through all 12 manicures I gave! I’ll admit I was a little weary they wouldn’t last, but I’m so happy they did!

You can buy these 3D bows or any other nail art goods at Born Pretty Store. Don’t forget to use my coupon code: CY5J61.

Have a great week!!

*3D bows provided for honest review

Polka Dots and Bow Mix and Match + KKCenterHK Review

Today’s post is a week overdue, but that just means there will be two posts this week :)
I was sent a bubble nail foil for review purposes by KKCenterHK, and used it in today’s (last week’s) nail art.

I used Nina Ultra Pro – Black for the black polish. The white nail polish is OPI – Alpine Snow. I created the holographic polka-hexagons using Sephora by OPI – Beam Me Up Hottie! and for the base of my ring finger and thumb, I used Essie – No Place Like Chrome. I then the bubble foil and foil glue to add on the holographic foil. The bow was made out of clear acrylic and pink glitter.


As you can see, the top coat completely ruined the holographic goodness of the foil, and crinkled it a lot. I think if you were interested in using it, skip the top coat.
If you’d like to purchase this nail foil or any other nail art supplies, head on over to KKCenterHK and use my coupon code (nailtreasures) to get 10% off of your order!
Have a great week :)
*Foil and nail glue sent for honest review. I am not being paid for this post.

Portal Nail Art

I’m not sure how many of you know this, but I go to high school for half of a day, then go to a vocational-technical school for the other half. I go for cosmetology (shocker, right?) and today was the first day of tech. I loved it last year, and now that I’m a senior, I know what to expect and the year is basically a review for me :) Anyhow… everyone wanted to see my nails and before I let them see, I started with, “My brother convinced me to play a video game, and my nails were inspired by it.” Nobody actually knew the game except my friend who demanded a picture to show his friend who is also into the game.

My top coat was goopy and I didn’t feel like adding thinner to it, so it didn’t go on very smoothly and left some bubbles. Grr.

The quality of the photos below are pretty poor, so I decided to put more than the usual amount in, in hopes that it gives you a better image of the theme.

Now, I should explain them:
Index fingers: Companion cube (a cube that you use for an entire level. It will never threaten to stab you.)
Middle fingers: the logo
Ring fingers: two portals
My right pinky: “The cake is a lie.” (a sentence that is written over and over in ‘secret’ ‘rooms’)
My left pinky: the cake that is a lie (or is it?)

I hope you all enjoyed my Portal nails!

Have you played Portal? Have you done video game nails?

Thanks for reading!

Taupe Swirl Nail Art Tutorial

Today’s nails are really simple, but still pretty. I wanted to use one of my many taupe polishes, so this is what I ended up with.
I also rounded my nails a bit to make the squoval because my legs are really dry and sometimes inflicted damage on myself when curing the itch. TMI?

I used a base of Essie – Chinchilly. The white swirls were made with a white Stripe Rite, and I used L.A. Colors Art Deco – Gold Glitter to make a subtle golden line. I used a matte top coat to finish it off.


Are you a weeee bit curious on how I did this? I made my FIRST video!! I’m not very happy with it because the lighting is terrible and I was off frame a bit. If you have any tips, suggestions, etc., let me know. I highly doubt I will be making many videos in the future (mainly because it’s a giant pain!!!), but I do have a few in mind.

Thanks for reading!

Metallic Strokes Nail Art

Once again, I have let blogging slip away from me. Not cool. I know.
These nails are actually from two weeks ago. I have a lot of catching up to do…

For my base, I believe I used Rimmel London – French Rose, and then used the entire Mirror Metallics collection by Essie to create the brushstrokes.

I really like these nails because they are so delicate and neutral. They were also super easy to create (However, not so easy to capture in a photo).


Thanks for reading and looking as always !
Have a SPECTACULAR day!

Mint Manis For Talia Joy

Today the nail polish community has come together to remember, honor, and celebrate the beautiful Talia Joy. Earlier this week, Nicole over at Nail Polish Wars posted how she wanted us all to post our mint manis for Talia on Friday. I knew I had to join, and here’s what I came up with:


I used Essie – Mint Candy Apple for all of my nails with the exception of my ring fingers. For my ring finger, I used a base colour of OPI – Elephantastic Pink, then used Art Club – White to fill in half of my nail white. I then used Art Club –Black to create a leopard print on the pink side and a zebra print on the white side. I then used square studs (alternating from square to diamond) to line the border between the two sides.

I chose to create the animal print accent because her last instagram picture was her mint mani taken on a background of zebra print. I chose studs because I remember seeing her with studs on her stiletto nails.

On the day of Talia’s passing, her sister, Mattia, posted a video saying how Talia wanted her name to live on forever, and I know that will be true… Look at all of us that came together to simply post our mint manicures!
Thanks for reading, and if you have time today, I encourage you to post your mint mani and add it to the collection!

An InLinkz Link-up

KKcenterhk Image Plate Review + Nail Art :)

 

Today I’m very excited to share a review from KKcenterhk with you all. I chose to review their “N.NAIL Rock Lovely Skull Bow Rudder Anchor Stamp Template Plate” [NNAIL-SPPQA03]. I’ve never tried stamping (aside from the [lame] “Salon Perfect” stamping kit they came out with a while ago), so I was very eager to try this plate out. I can honestly see myself using all but maybe one or two of the images. It has bows, anchors, skulls and a helm.

The first design I came up with was inspired by the little bows on the plate that look like they have a stitched border. I’m calling this design “Cute as a button.” It has a bow stamp, buttons, and a needle and thread.

Creating this look was a breeze. The bow stamp went on perfectly with no problem. As soon as I put it on, I thought, “Yeah, I’m going to be finding excuses to use this stamper quite a bit!” And, boy, I did!

For the base of this design I used a franken polish I made. I was thinking of naming it “Poison Bluberries,” but my mom thinks “Mixed Berries” is more suitable. Which one do you think? Or, do you think you’re sooooo smart and have a better name?! Bring it!! (Seriously; I want to know what you guys think :) ). I’m not going to go through all of the polishes used, but let me know if you’d like to know any :)

The other design I came up with featured the skull and crossbones image. I don’t know what to call this design, but I do know that I LOVE it! The hardest part of this design was picking colours I wanted to use. I decided to use Orly – It’s Not Rocket Science for all of my nails except my ring finger and thumb nails. For those nails, I used Essie – Sew Psyched topped with Julie G – My Private Palace.

I was actually pretty uneasy with the colours I chose, but once I put the skull on, it brought it all together, and I didn’t want to take it off!

So, my experience with KKcenterhk’s image plate [NNAIL-SPPQA03] was great. I never knew how much fun stamping was! I think I’ll be ordering some more plates in the future! I feel like the plate I chose was perfect for me since I love bows and nautical themed things :)

What is your favourite design?

Thanks for reading!!

Sparkly Dotted Christmas Tree

These nails were inspired by a few pictures I’ve seen floating around. I was originally going to create a more detailed design, but had a lot on my plate this weekend, so I went for the easy, but oh-so-cute dotted design.

I painted my ring fingers white, and made french tips on the rest. I used Nina Ultra Pro – Leaf Me Alone, e.l.f. – Neon Green, Essie – Sew Psyched, and Finger Paints – Scenery Greenery, and Go Van Gogh! for the green dots. I painted one coat of China Glaze – Fairy Dust on each nail. I used a gold star spangle to top off my tree.

Thanks for reading!

Essie–Nothing Else Metals + Spangles and Hexagons

So, after a day of wearing Nothing Else Metals, I decided to make it even more attractive. I just added some purple heart spangles and small, purple iridescent hexagon glitters.

  

Essie–Nothing Else Metals

Essie – Nothing Else Metals is from Essie’s new collection, Mirrored Metallics. I always try to convince myself that I don’t need any new nail polish collections, but I couldn’t resist having this polish! Of course, there were others (gold, silver, blue, and copper), that were just as beautiful, so I might go back for the one or two…

This polish was a little difficult to capture on camera, so my advice is to just go to the store to see a bottle in person.

I used two coats:

Sunlight:

I’ve never really done any type of review, so here we go:

I really like the effect the polish gives: It is very shiny in both the sun and shade. It also dried unexpectedly fast! The thing I do not like about the polish, however, is that the application was tricky ( I polish my nails by creating a bead of polish in the middle of my nail, then pull it down the middle, and then go back and make two more swipes down the sides of my nails. Because this is a metallic polish, I tried to even the streaks out, but when I did that, it created bald spots). Another thing I wasn’t very happy with was that the polish shows all of your imperfections, including the bald spots, creating bumps. Make sure your base coat doesn’t have any bubbles in it, because it will definitely show up once you apply the nail polish.

So how was my first review? Any complaints? Questions? What is your opinion Nothing Else Metals?