You know you haven't been doing your nails when...

You have no black polish, and you probably haven't had any for months.

Yup, not a single black polish. So for this manicure I used a coat of Sinful Colors Secret Admirer as the base, and black acrylic paint over it.

Honestly my nails have been looking rough the past few months. In part because I was busy, and in part because I was sick during the end of June and most of July, which totally threw my nails through a loop because I wasn't healthy in the slightest(I'm much better now). But they are finally starting to look decent. Huzzah!

So today I bring you these skull wearing crowns from the Born Pretty Store. I have been sitting on for a such a long time they no longer sell it(sorry, fail on my part). But I'm still going to review them. I love skulls and I love crowns, like any person with healthy interests, so you put a crown on a skull, I will like it.

This was honestly bigger than I expected, and would have looked better when I had longer nails. But either way they just fit. Application is always easy with these because of their size. Now for big 3D nail art like this you want to glue them down not just stick it into the polish, and don't even try and top coat it. And when you are done with big pieces like this, you can easily peel them off and use them again.

Now because I flopped harder than Ryan Lochte(ok not that badly), I actually don't have a link for where you can buy these and they don't sell them any more. So here are a couple links to some 3D skulls from them that I think you should check out. And remember to use are 10% discount code if you plan on buying them(or anything else from their site!)

 

While these aren't rhinestones to me they have the same feel, and they appear to be smaller. 5 currently on sale for $2.14 USD.

 

These ones are like a party/rave version of the ones I have. They incorporate both the skull and crown, and we actually reviewed them here before! Currently on sale for $0.59 USD. 

*Product sent for honest review

Can't go wrong with this!

Ugh, I've been feeling like garbage the past few weeks and it stinks! But I think I'm starting to feel a bit better *touch wood*. Today I have a UV polish for you guys from The Born Pretty Store. I have actually done home gel polish before, but I have no clue if I reviewed it and I'm far too lazy to check.

I decided to try this out specifically because it was matte and I have never seen a matte UV polish and I'm a sucker for matte polish. Now on Born Pretty's site they don't have instruction on how to apply it for those who may not know so I'll explain.

1) Clean your nails of residue with remover. 2) Add your gel base coat(I skipped this because...I forgot tbh), then cure under UV lamp 3) Polish nails, making sure not to get any on skin as it will cure there and be hard to take off. Then cure after each coat 4) Add UV top coat and cure. Skip this step if you want to keep the polish matte. 5) Wipe down nails with rubbing alcohol to get rid of excess residue.

Application of the polish was really easy, and it worked like all the other gel polishes I have used in the past. I was a little worried about wiping them down after they were matte, but in the end it was totally fine. Honestly the one big downside for me was the wear time. I started to peel after a few days and had tip wear early on. That being said I have tried a few at home UV polishes and they have all acted the exact same way even with a base coat.

The polish itself is BEAUTIFUL. It's a deep purple with copper flecks. It kind of reminds me of Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?. They feel like cousins. It applied easily with 2 coats.

Honestly I would recommend this polish as well as the others from the line. They are on par with polishes like Sally Hansen, but only cost anywhere from $3.82 - $7 on the BP site. Which is half the price if of most brands. Also they come in an awesome assortment of colours. Honestly when it comes to polish overall, Born Pretty is a fantastic place to go.

Have you tried gel polish?

*Polish sent for honest review

♥Valentine Gradient ♥

I'll be honest, while I still love nail art I don't do it nearly as much as I used to. Not only that but I find when I do do nail art now I'm never really all that happy with it. I just don't think I'm that great at it anymore(not that I was some super nail artist extraordinaire to begin with :P ). But for the first time I did some nail are that I actually loved and wore for days! Yes I had a bit of help, but I'm fine with that!

I decided I wanted to do a Valentines Day manicure, nothing too over the top though. So my manicure started with these stencil stickers from the Born Pretty Store. Each pack comes with 12 stickers, but you can easily cut them in two and make them 24. Even though the stickers are thin I didn't have a problem taking them off after 3 sponged on coats of Zoya Oswin and Barry M Majesty over a base of Barry M Rose Hip. Over all these were fool proof, and I think would make a great addition to anyone collection. They are easy enough for anyone to use, they are really hard to mess up, and you can get really creative with these. The only thing I noticed that was kind of annoying was the row in the middle. The plastic backing extends out on the sides but not top and bottom, so I needed to use tweezers to peel it off.

If you want to give these a go you can find them on sale here for only $1.99 USD(Original price $3.99 USD), and shipping is free, AND you can use out 10% discount code EAL91!

So is anyone doing anything special for Valentines Day? Not me. Will probably do something with the boy eventually, but it's really just an excuse to buy a bottle of wine and adult about how it has legs and stuff.

*Product sent for honest review

Dapper Dappen Dish

This is gonna be another one of those fast reviews.

Today I have for you this dappen dish for polish remover or acrylic liquid from the Born Pretty Store. What can I say other than I love it! No more dipping your brush into a half full bottle of remover and hoping you don't drop it. And it's just so much faster with this when you do a really messy manicure because you don't have to keep reaching for a bottle. It's not something earth shattering, but it just makes life a bit easier. It also comes with a cute little lid. It's not really functional as it's not exactly fitted, but it looks good!

If you want a dish, you can get one here on the Born Pretty site, where they retail for $4.87 USD. And don't forget to use out 10% discount code EAL91!

 *Product sent for honest review

Well that's a...texture.

Ugh I have been sick for the past week and it's the worst. Last Wednesday I had a rehearsal for something I was filming on Sunday, and I felt ok, but like I may be coming down with something, Thursday I knew for sure I was coming down with something, so I tried my best to flush it out. Tea, tea, honey, honey, meds and more tea. By Friday I felt waaaaaayyyy better, then I woke up Saturday morning feeling like crap, so I tried to flush it out again, but alas the damage had been done. I woke up Sunday and I felt horrible and went through the whole day filling up on meds and teas. I currently feel better, but I still feel like poop.

Now let's move on from nasty health to nails! Today I have more polish from Born Pretty. Thankfully this bottle came in one piece :P I wont lie this polish isn't exactly what I expected, but it is still very pretty. From the photo I thought it could be something like Orly Space Cadet, but the reality is the formula is incredibly thin, and you would need more than 5 coats for full coverage. That being said it looks beautiful when added over black. I used 2 coats, but you could also go with one.

The polish is a duochrome and it shifts between magenta, copper, and green with fine holographic glitter. It is technically a peel off polish, but I have NEVER gad a good experience with those so I didn't try peeling it off, also I didn't even realise it was peel off till I got it, as it doesn't say on the site. Now there were 2 things thing that was odd about the polish. The first was the texture. It was goopy, but not old polish stringy goopy, more like slime goopy. It made application...odd. Not in a horrible, unusable way, it was just weird. The second I'm not sure if it was the polish or my top coat, but the polish became foggy when I added Top Coat, specifically Seche Vite(You can see it on my middle and ring finger). Now this happens ever now and then with my Sally Hansen top coat, but never with my Seche. So I have no clue of it was the TC or the polish as the Seche has never reacted with anything else.

Overall this is a a ok polish for layering, but it's not the best. If you want to give it a shot you can pick it up over here on sale for $9.66USD. And use can use out 10% discount code EAL91!

 

 

Sad bottle!

In all the years I have been doing my nails, I have never had this happen. When I got my package from The Born Pretty Store I could immediately smell polish. To my horror I saw that the Chrome polish I was sent by Born Pretty had leaked and the bottle looked like it had been beat up despite being in what I would consider good packaging. I honestly don't know how much polish was lost because the bottles are opaque, while it clearly doesn't feel empty it for sure feels lighter than the top coat bottle, so I was pretty sure there was luckily more than enough to use for review!

So application of this was pretty easy so long as it wasn't over a base coat. I had originally used one because I had buffered my nails a couple weeks ago and you could still see the scratches. When I tried putting this over the base coat, you could physically feel the resistance of the brush on the nail. So I took it off and tried without the base coat, and it applied waaaayyyy better. I ended up needing two coats for full opacity. At this point the polish was shinier then most chrome polishes, but it looked nothing like some of the pics I had seen online, where it looked like someone poured metal on their nails. This is the only time I wondered if having more in the bottle would have made a difference as I wasn't able to do thicker coats because of how much polish I could pick up at once.

Then I added the Top Coat it came with, and it totally dulled the super shine, and once I was in the clear of day I could see it had also caused the polish to streak a bit. So I had done the manicure at night and by the time I was up at 7am I could already see tip wear, but I decided to push through. By 10am it was coming off in sheets and leaving me with silver tinted nails. By 7pm, after a few hand washes throughout the day it was pretty much 100% gone.

I honestly didn't like the end results. If the original polish only dulled a bit when the top coat was applied I would have actually thought this was a pretty fantastic silver. But the fact that it streaked and peeled odd like sheets less than 12 hours later made this not worth it. Now with that being said I didn't try it out with one of my regular top coats like Seche Vite. Maybe that would make a difference.

If you think you can make this work, head on over here where it's on sale for $9.99 USD. And be sure to use our 10% discount code EAL91!

Best. Polish. Ever!

Now my last review was sadly on the negative side(but I do plan on trying it out again w/o a watermarble. Today's post is going to be the polar opposite. I don't think I have ever said this is the first paragraph of a review but, buy this. Buy this now. I'm going to be honest with you I haven't been loving nail polish recently. Well I have been, but I haven't been into getting anything new. I feel like most polishes don't excite me. I look back on old collections and think "Why don't you make unique stuff like this anymore?" Well I think I may have just found the first polish in a while that made me swoon.

This is a thermal polish by VCND Bluesky in #09 from Born Pretty Store. It starts off as a vibrant purple polish, filled with various sizes of glitter. Then when the temperature gets warmer it turns to a beautiful sky blue, and back to the purple when the temperature is cold again. Application was super easy and I used 3 coats. Although I did notice it was a bit patchy when the polish was blue, but it wasn't a huge deal. In real life I rarely had the nails looking both colours at once, it was mostly purple until I washed my hands or warmed them up, but it would always go back to purple soon after. Although a few times it would stay on blue for a while and then slowly go back to purple. But I'm fine with this and with my permafrost hands I didn't expect it to stay the warm colour. I'm sure it varies from person to person.

So in conclusion, everyone buy a bottle of this asap. Each colour is so bold and beautiful, and the change is super dramatic. It is currently on sale at the Born Pretty store for $5.99 AND we have a 10% discount code (EAL91) AND shipping is free. EVERYONE WINS! And if you don't like this colour they have MORE! I don't think I have ever flat out said to buy something on this blog, so I must mean business... Buy it.

Hopefully this video works!

*Product sent for honest review

Blerg.

Maybe it's me, maybe it was the product, but this manicure was frustrating.

Today I have the liquid latex tape from Born Pretty Store. If you don't know what that is it's liquid latex that you place around your nails to make clean up easier. The first thing I noticed about this product was the smell. It smelt EXACTLY like lemon Pine-Sol which was a bit unsettling because I couldn't find an ingredients list on the bottle or the website.

ETA: When they read my post they immediately sent me a list of ingredients :) The only thing in it that is potentially "harmful" is the latex if you have an allergy.

  Applying it was easy, but unlike some other brands specifically meant for nails that change colour as they dry, this one looks exactly the same from the minute you put it on till the minute it dries.

For the review I did the most annoying manicure to clean up. The watermarble. Now I've actually tried this 3 time. The first time I did it with the watermarble and I only ended up using it on 2 fingers because removal was such a pain. It pretty much just came off in small pieces, slowly. The second time I did a thicker coat on a few fingers w.o even doing a manicure, just to play with it, and removal was fine and for the most part peeled off in one piece. So when I did this manicure I took note and did a thicker coat. It again was a pain to get off despite the fact that I did a thick coat. It would have taken me less time to take off the polish from around my fingers with a cotton swab. On the bright side I did love my manicure in the end.

Honestly I wasn't a fan of this product, but maybe I did something wrong. Maybe I'll give it another go because it seems to work for the other people on their site and it worked fine when there was no polish on it. It would be fab if I could get this to work. If you would like to give this a try you can find it here currently on sale for $2.99 USD. In addition you can use our 10% discount code 'EAL91'

Have you used this? Did it work for you?

Ps. This manicure was inspired by what's left of the boys of Take That and one of their outfits from their recent III tour.  I used Joe Fresh polish in Bloom, Sinful Colors Amazon and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue(Old version) and topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust.

:D

 

*Product sent for honest review

Rest! (And something else everyone NEEDS)

So I have been exercising guys, and today is my rest day. I have actually been trying for the past few weeks. Even my diet

*And that is where I left the post for almost 2 days*

When I started writing this I had just come home from a show where I hit the back of my head on the floor. I realised after writing one line, this post wasn't going to happen, the laptop backlighting was making my head throb even more. Don't worry I'm ok now despite being a bit behind now with some reviews.  So lets pick up where I left off.

Even my diet has changed for the better. And it's been great because I have actually been sticking to it for WEEKS now. Probably for over a month. And I know that might not seem like much, but for someone who hasn't exercised in probably 8 years this is a big deal. My first goal is to get my high school body back, which I think is feasible. I weigh about the same as I did then, but back then I had more muscles as I was athletic. I want my mini 6 pack back, and I want it better than it was before. Maybe I'll do fitness posts! But not today. Today is nails!

I have for you striping tape from The Born Pretty Store. But not just striping tape, striping tape that comes is different sizes! 1mm(which is stander), 2mm and 3mm. Can I just say I love these. First, the larger sizes are super east to handle, also it is sooooooooo nice to have options. 1mm is just so thin, and that can be great depending on what you are doing, but if you want anything larger you have to start cutting up bigger pieces of tape, which can be a pain. Or you have to double or triple up on the tape, which takes more time and is prone to mishap.

I think everyone should check this out. Striping tape is a great option for any level nail enthusiast and I think the larger tapes are must haves for any nail art lover. You can get a pack of three in either gold or silver over here on sale for $1.99 USD (Normally $3.28). And you can use out 10% discount code EAL91!

 

The order of use is 3mm, 2mm and 1mm in all three of the previous images.

*In case you want to know more about the other aspects of the manicure the base is Beyond The Nail's Winter Wonderland with Mattese Elite's Revolution sponged on top. And then the brown I used earlier was OPI's Over The Taupe. The full manicure was inspired by a mani I saw but I can't for the life of me remember who did it. So if you know please tell me :(