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!

Happy New Year!!!!!! - Orly Mirrorball

So my new years eve was uneventful, which was fine by me. Honestly my new years eve goes one of two ways. It's either super uneventful or I end up dry heaving on the side of the road yelling at bicycles. Apparently there is no such thing as in between for me.

Not only was mt NYE super uneventful, it was super last minute so I didn't do proper nail art. So I decided instead to just wear polish that I thought fit the occasion. I ended up choosing Orly Mirrorball, because it made me think of the giant ball drop, at midnight in Times Square. I would love to see that in person one day from the comfort of a hotel room. You couldn't pay me to stand crammed outside in a pen, probably a good 5 blocks away from the actual Times Square, for 12 hours, in the freezing cold and probably having to wear a diaper, because you can bet I'm going to have to pee at some point.

Back to polish. This polish is a silver linear holo, with larger pieces of scattered holo glitter. I used three coats, although I may have been able to get away with two. I just wanted to make sure my yellow nails didn't show up in the light. The formula was ok, but not the best. While it was pretty easy to control, it felt watery at the same time and I just didn't love application. Now I have heard people say they love this polish and others say they were disappointing. I honestly think the large glitter makes this polish. If you took them out it would still be pretty, but it would just be another silver holo. Also if you are someone who likes your polish to be super holo in all lights this may not tickle your fancy. It looks AMAZING under the sun or direct light, but in some lights falls a bit flat. Again in cases like that, the bigger pieces of holo glitter save it. If you are able to get your hands on this polish, I suggest you get it!

First Holiday and Finger Paints Swatch of 2013 & The Holiday Manicure That Never Was. Plus I meet the creepiest man yet!

Creepy man story!  I haven't had a good one in a while eh?  So a couple days ago I was looking for an external hard drive for my laptop.  I was going to get one that was made for just Mac.  Instead I got one that was made for Mac and Pc, but it had to be reformatted to use with Macs.  In case reformatting it was too hard, or a pain due to my poopy laptop I knew I had to keep the receipt, just in case I had to go back and exchange it for the Mac specific hard drive.  I'm out of the store 30 second when I realized I dropped the receipt.  Since I wasn't far I decided to retrace my steps.  While looking for it I thought I saw a guy looking at me, but I was paying more attention to finding the receipt.  When I was directly in front of the store, I feel someone behind me, directly behind me.  I turn around and the guy I thought may have been looking at me was.  "Hi" he said.  He was close enough that I could feel, and smell his breath.  At that point I went into the store to try and shake him off.  As I walked into the store I turned around to see if he was still there.  He was.  And he said "Don't walk away pretty lady".  It's safe to say I walked away as fast as I could.

Now let's talk about something else!  Polish!  So this year I wasn't really crazy about any holiday polishes.  But when I got a coupon from Sally's I decided to try some of Finger Paints Polish.  This is from their LE Enchanted Winter Holiday collection.  Not only is this my first Finger Paints of the year, but it is one of my first Finger Paints of EVER!  

This is called Snow Crystals.  It's a textured sparkly, silver polish, with fine glitter and small pieces of silver hex glitter. Went on in 2 easy coat.  Unlike a lot of textured polishes it doesn't look that different when you add top coat.  I think it's because it's already so sparkly to begin with. It really does remind me of sparkling snow.  I can honestly say that I wasn't really into textured polish, but Finger Paints has for sure made me change my mind! Get it now from Sally's before it's gone!  Finger Paints retails for $5.29 USD.

Outdoor - No topcoat

 Indoor - Topcoat

Finally after wearing these for 4 days I decided to add a little Holiday Cheer to them.  I wanted to try Candy Cane nails again.  So I got out some striping tape and red polish and did my thumb.  And when I looked at it the first thing that jumped into my head was... "Eh."  I felt nothing.  It wasn't horrible or anything I just wasn't loving it.  So I decided just to take the whole thing off. 

Is there any one else out there who was on the fence about textured polish? Or are you someone who wont finish a mani, if you're not feeling it?  And I don't think I need to ask about creepy men.  I think we can all wish they didn't exist.

Adventures In Stamping: The Second Attempt

My first attempt wasn't that bad.  Since then I can honestly say I haven't tried it again, until now.  Today I have for you the MLS301 Born Pretty stamping plate from the Born Pretty Store.  As you can see it's pretty much a big plate o' fun.  Lightning, candy, Robbie Williams tattoos(if you know anything about his tattoos you'll get this).  I decided I wanted to use the starts and put it on top of some textured polish.

I'm learning that stamping itself isn't that hard. I just need to work a bit on placement and such.  But I will say one thing I noticed after using a more expensive plate vs. this was the sharpness of the image.  You can tell with this plate that the sharp crisp edges were a a bit lacking.  But nothing to make a fuss over.  I made sure I used an old plastic card rather than a metal scraper that would scratch up the plate.  Clean up was easy as pi.

Overall I'm excited about this plate and can't wait to use it again for some nail art.  My next idea involves rainbows.  Maybe.

If you want a plate like this head on over to the Born Pretty Store.  You can find it there for $1.99 USD.  And you can use our 10% discount code 'EAL91' for an even bigger discount.  AND shipping is FREE!!!

How was my second attempt at stamping?

*Product sent for honest review

CYBERNAILS!!! You shall like these nails!

It has been months since my last Doctor Who mani!  And as we all know, that is wrong.  For this round I decided to do some old school Cybermen, and an old school Cyber Controller.  Even though I haven't really been able to watch the older series :(  First off they were simple to do.  I used a base of Revlon Metallic, Essence Black is Back and acrylic paint, as well as striping tape for the mouth.  Another reason I went with these guys is because I think they look much more terrifying than the new versions.  Less going on with their faces actually makes them creepier.  They sort of remind me of medieval torture masks.

Now big question since we are talking Who.  What do you think of Peter Capaldi?  I am super excited!  I think he's wicked talented actor.  If you haven't you should check him out in the show The Thick of It.  It's a super funny show and he is fantastic in it.  He was also great in Doctor Who a few years ago ;)

So tell me, what do you think of the mani and Peter?!?!

 

I would like Peter to play the Doctor as Malcolm

Revlon Metallic: What are you doing?

I'm on a metallic roll!

Now normally I'm not a huge fan of Revlon BUT I found this for $1!  And I figured I didn't have anything like this so why not.

Metallic is a silver foil.  I only needed 2 coats for this, although I should add it did bubble.  I think it was because my coats were a bit too thick, but the bubbles weren't massive so I had an easy fix(When the polish is dry, but still somewhat tacky, gently rub the polish to smooth it out).  Now my big problem with this polish actually came almost two days after originally putting this on.  I decided to do some bad ass nail art to spice it up.  This involved putting more top coat(Seche Vite) on.  About 5 minutes after I put the top coat on the polish started to lift like CRAZY around the edges.  I eventually got them under control with some acetone.   I have never had this happen with a polish before.  This is also weird because I originally put Seche on when I wore the colour on it's own and nothing happened.

Has anyone had their polish lift up after you put on top cat(this is a typo that I liked)?  Has anyone ever decided to forgo tocoat and instead use a cat?

Lightbox

Sunlight

 

You can see the lifting around the edges.  Also the polish looks a bit off because I edited out the nail art :P

Incoco Nail Polish Appliqués in Rock On!: Another First!

So a few weeks ago I tried nail wraps for the first time and I really did love them.  So when Incoco asked me to review some of their nail polish appliqués I of course said yes.  I figured they were the same idea so I was excited!

Within the exterior white packaging, the appliqués are in a smaller air tight package.   A pack contains 16  double-ended strips. Instructions are on the back. The set I got is Rock On.  It's a blue and silver snakeskin look.  Pretty badass eh?

 

First off I didn't put base coat on because it said on the front of the package that it also had base and top coat.  Next I had to cut some of them(which was easy) because some didn't fit me correctly.  I cut them while they still had their clear cover and paper back.  I found this easier than cutting them without the support as the polish strips were floppy.  I found the strips were relatively easy to apply.  Because they are year polish they don't have as much give, so if you are stretching them out be careful as it may tear.  And while you can lift it off your nail and realign it it dose begin to loose its stick quickly.  Even though it said it was already topcoatified I added some because a couple were beginning to peel because it was no longer sticky(Index and pinky finger) and I had some areas that didn't lie down properly on the nail(which you really cant see in the photos).  So far I have been wearing it for just over 24 hours and so far so good.  Showers and all!  Finally even though it says on the package to use these imadiatly I was left with 6 left over.  As soon as I finished they went in a sealed bag.  I want to still try and use them again!

 

I really, really like these but I will admit they do need a little more practice and patience as they are less forgiving then the previous wraps I used.

If you would like of set of these or any one of their other fun designs head on over to Incoco's website where they retail for $8.99USD!  I still have 2 more sets of these that I'm super pumped to show you guys!

*Product sent for honest review.

I'm just running in circles...

So as you guys know, The Born Pretty Store sent us some lovely things to review recently, and today I'm showing you my pick!

I got the 1.5mm silver circle studs, and I am SO pleased with them.  They were easy to use, they stuck well and don't fall off easily, and look really, really nice on.  I wore these to work at my yoga studio and had about 20 people ask where I got them done.  I've had them on for two days now and they're showing no signs of falling off.  They also don't catch when I have my hands in my long hair, which - to me at least - is pretty freaking great.

I decided to put them over a dark purple base because I wanted a colour that worked with my skin and still let the studs show, so here are these awesome studs over two coats of NARS Koh Lanta.

Do you guys love this easy nail art as much as I do? I'm already planning to wear them again.  These are just so nice and fun.  You can pick them up from Born Pretty Store, you get a lot of them so it's well worth it.  

Remember to use our discount code EAL91 for a 10% discount.  Not only that but shipping is always free!

*Product was sent for honest review

Spiky Nails!

So I decided I needed to give these Nail Art Manicure Spike Studs a go the minute I saw them on the Born Pretty Store website.  Badass chic at it's best!

These studs are easy to apply, I just smashed(well placed gently with my fingers) them into my topcoat.  Although had I been wearing them longer then a few hours I would have used nail glue(I will tell you why I didn't wear them for longer in a second). The studs are just over 5mm high.  I honestly don't think I would ever wear these are more than an accent nail.  As cool as they are as you can see they can be a tad overwhelming if you go crazy with them.  In the end when I took them off I used acetone on the bottom and removed the polish that had stuck to the bottom of them.  This did not appear to ruin the finish.  Which I am extremely pleased about because that means even though I have 10 I can hypothetically use them more than once.  The square nail studs are also from the Born Pretty Store also and the microbeads from Michael's.  I also used OPI's Black Onyx and My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

I received a pack of 10 for $2.98(USD) although they are current on sale for $1.99(USD).  Alternatively you can get a pack of 100 studs for $7.99(USD).

 

Now the reason I didn't wear this manicure longer was the rest of the manicure.  I went all out and did a skittle, but for some reason my Seche Vite went and ruined it all.  It didn't shrink my polish, it made these weird bubbles.  Not air bubbles like when you polish is to thick, the polish kind of separated into bubbles that reminded me of spotted polish.  So I just took it off.  Le sadness.

Anyways sad manicure aside if you would like some of these amazing looking studs go over to The Born Pretty Store and grab some!  And remember to use our discount code EAL91 for a 10% discount.  Not only that but shipping is always free!

Literary Lacquers - Bionic Mmmm-Detector & My Secret Garden: Time to dust off those teal and erotic fiction tags.

So Amy the lovely lady, and brains behind Literary Lacquers was kind enough to send some bottles for me to review.  Before I get started let's just talk about what Literary Lacquers is(just in case the name itself didn't clue you in :P).  All of her polishes are based on books!  Which I think is an brilliant idea.  She will never run out of collections.  Also let's be honest it's a great way to make your fingers look pretty and at the same time maybe you find a book to read that you otherwise might not have found!

Today I'm starting out with 2 colours from Literary Lacquers collection inspired by erotic fiction.

First off is Bionic Mmmm-Detector.  Inspired by Nicholson Bakers novella Vox.  Which is written completely as one one phone sex conversation between strangers.  The polish is a black jelly base filled with tiny blue, aqua and teal glitter.  And it's also laced with fine silver shimmer which gives it an extra pop.  Now as someone who does not wear teal(at all), I feel found myself liking it a lot! I used 3 coats on every finger MINUS my ring finger.  I used one coat of Bionic over a single coat of of L'oreal After hours(a dark blue almost black crelly.)  There wasn't a huge difference but it tended to bring out a BIT more of the blue and it did take away slightly from the overall effect.  But nothing to cry over.

 Two coats of topcoat used.  Although one coat would be fine.

The next one My Secret Garden is inspired by Nancy Fridays book of the same name.  Which is "Hundreds of real women responded to Nancy Friday's call for details of their own most private fantasies. My Secret Garden is the daring compilation of those fantasies."  The polish is a glitter top coat filled with pink, blue, green, and light purple matte glitter and filled with smaller iridescent glitter.  I layered it over Essence Oh My Glitter! and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  I used one thick coat on each.  I loved how they looked on both the lighter and darker colours.  My suggestion would be if you want the iridescent glitter to be more visible layer it over something darker.  More subtle(but just as pretty) layer it over something lighter.  This polish is like spring in a bottle :)  I suggest everyone buy it and then wear it to church for Easter.

And yes this is actually different from the 3 previous photos.  The white is China Glaze White Ice and the pink is CG Free fall.  In person they both looked horrific.  They are old polishes that would not dry and made application hard.  And since I actually wanted to wear this after a couple photos I removed it.

 Now I don't read any enough erotic fiction although I'm pretty sure I know a thing or two about the types of thing that go on in some of the stories ;).  So I personally can't say if I like any of these book or the other books in her collection.  But I do know after this I probably will go out a grab a couple from this list.

You can find these polishes and more over at Literary Lacquers Etsy shop here.   The polishes(15ml bottles) retail for $10USD.  And follow Literary Lacquers on facebook.  Oh also once the page hits 1000 followers(Currently at around 950) there will be a big giveaway! Anyways, stay tuned for more Literary Lacquers!

*Products were sent for honest review.