12 Colors Rhinestones Kit Review - Born Pretty Store

Happy Friday!  Despite my ravaged cuticles (due to neglect thanks to crazy, busy life stuff), I had a lot of fun doing this mani to review a product from Born Pretty Store.  First, the product.  This is their 12 Colors Rhinestone Acrylic UV Nail Art Kit W/Box & Pen.

 

There are two 12-compartment boxes filled with rhinestones and a rhinestone picking tool (fancy term for wax pencil).

One box contains 6 compartments of black rhinestones, and 6 compartments of crystal/clear rhinestones.

The other box is an assortment of colors.  There is crystal/clear, red, aqua, black, yellow/green, lavender, blue, green, orange, pink, light blue, purple. 

The wax pencil is something you could probably get from a craft store.  But since it came with the kit, bonus!

I really love the assortment of colors.  I do wish that the compartments in the assorted box did not contain more black and crystal/clear rhinestones since you get a whole box of just those.  I would have liked to have seen two other colors included instead.  Overall, the assortment and number of total rhinestones included is excellent.  It is really a deal, priced at $7.59.  And you can use coupon code GMG10 to get 10% off (you can always find this in my sidebar...check it out!).

The rhinestones are great quality.  And can I say how much I love the boxes!  Each compartment is numbered.  They are great storage boxes that can be re-used.  Love that!  And I must say, the wax pencil/picker tool made easy work of picking up and placing the rhinestones.  So...on to the mani!

First, a quick explanation.  Waaaayyyy back when I was in junior high and high school, I used to love playing around with nail polish.  Believe it or not, this was not a very popular practice back then (yes, it was THAT long ago).  My favorite go-to mani was to paint my nails to look like dice.  No tools, just good old-fashioned patience with bottles of white and black polish.  I would occasionally even paint my pinky as a red die (the advent of the accent nail???).  Someday, I will go through my old box of pictures from that time to see if I can find one that shows my nails.  But for now, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Anyway, when I saw that box half-filled with black rhinestones, I decided to go way back in time to recreate the look using rhinestones.  First of all, SO much easier than using polish.  Wish I had these...er, um, cough, cough, hack...*mumble* years ago.

I started out with a base of SH Double Duty, and added two coats of SC Snow Me White.  Then, using a little dollop of SV, I used the picker tool to pick up and place the black rhinestones.  I finished with a coat of SV and BAM...I was transported back in time.  Like I said, ignore the cuticles.  Sorry about that.  Truly trying to get my rear in gear.

This product was sent for review.

French Bows - The Last Easter Mani...I Promise!

Good morning and welcome to 3 more new readers!  Only 7 to go, folks!!!

For my mani yesterday, I wanted something soft, subtle, and sweet for Easter Sunday.  So I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  Then, I did four coats of OPI's Barre My Soul, from their new NYC Ballet collection.  It's a sheer that I wanted pretty opaque, hence the ridiculous amount of coats.  I did this on all of my nails, except my ringer finger, which I was going to use as a subtle accent.  On that one, I did four coats of OPI's Care to Danse, a sheer purple that is also from the new collection.  Then I taped off my tips and added Orly's Faint of Heart.  To finish it all off, I topped with SV, and added nail art - a sweet, little, yellow bow, to my accent fingers.  And for some inexplicable reason, my cuticles decided to look ginormous when I took the pics.  @^%#$!* REALLY?!?  Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and here's to a (hopefully) painless week!

Feature Friday - Peep Show!

It's Friday! First, welcome new readers!  Only 10 away from an amazing giveaway!  I've been gathering goodies for you...OPI, Orly, Sinful.  Bouncing off the walls excited!  PLEASE help me get there!!!  Oh, and if you didn't notice, I've added a page where I will post other blogger's giveaways as I come across them.  Go check them out!

So, here I have my Easter mani.  You may have come across this before because it was featured on Nouveau Cheap's Easter round-up, which can be found here.  From one G to another G - thank you!!!  Sorry I didn't get "in-progress" pics on this mani.  I was a little pressed for time (what else is new?).

I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  Then I did two coats of OPI's Alpine Snow (despite the fact that she's such a bish to me - we have a very unhealthy love/hate relationship).  I free-handed the peeps using ChG Sweet Hook and Sinful's Unicorn.  I used a dotting tool to add the eyes using Orchid's Truffle Maker.  I topped them all off with Spoiled's Shaken Snow Globe (darn those craptastic brushes!).

After submitting this to Nouveau Cheap, I decided I needed something different on my thumb.  So I attempted an Easter basket.  It didn't come out as I'd hoped, but then, these things rarely do.  Oh, well.  I started with ChG Cha Cha Cha for the grass.  Then I added Orchid Truffle Maker for the basket.  Using my beloved tape, I added CC Antiquated to attempt a woven look (fail!).  Everything was topped with SV.  In the end, I thought it was cute and enjoyed doing it.  I am actually planning a different, more "classical" mani for Easter day.  I'll post that on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!  And if you celebrate Easter...Happy Easter!

My Daughter's First Dotticure!

My daughter wanted me to paint her nails, which is always a huge task since she has the tiniest fingers.  She is 7 years old, but is actually quite small for her age.  So I decided to do a dotticure for her.  I used SH Double Duty as a base.  Then I did two coats of Maybelline's Prompt Petals.  Next, I added small and large dots using OPI's Alpine Snow.  I added purple dots on top of the larger white ones using Rimmel's Climax, except on her accent nail.  For the accent nails, I added a flower nail art to the larger white dot.  I then topped them off with a coat of SV.  She loved them and actually managed to keep them in good shape for a couple of days!  These pics were (obviously) taken before clean-up because she was too excited for me to take pictures of her nails using my "nail picture box."

Feature Friday: Marbled Mani

Hi everyone!  I think I've mentioned before that I get some of my inspiration for manis from artwork I've done and even walls I've painted.  This mani is an idea I've had written in my little mani-spiration notebook for a while now and I got the idea from walls I've painted!  Those walls actually inspired two ideas.  Maybe I'll try the other one for next week's Feature Friday.

Anyway, I've painted walls with a flat white or off-white base and then used cheesecloth to rub on a gray to get the look of stone.  Then, using black paint and a small paintbrush, I painted on veins.  To finish, cover the walls in a clear glossy finish.  So I wondered how this technique would work on nails.  It definitely takes some getting used to using polish as a medium instead of paint.  But I think it's okay for a first attempt!  And the name is not to be confused with marbling nails.  This is not a water marbling.

I started with one coat of SH Double Duty as a base.  Then I painted on two coats of OPI's Alpine Snow and topped it with one coat of Essie's Matte About You.  You will want to wait a while to make sure the polish is dry and won't smudge with some pressure.

Next, I cut a small piece of cheesecloth and painted on some SH Xtreme Wear Wet Cement polish on the tip of the folded cheesecloth.  I very lightly and quickly rubbed it on the nail.  You have to work quickly and try to make it uneven, with more polish is some spots and less in others.  If you rub it around too much, the polish will start to dry and clump up.  You also want to try to get as close as possible to the edges to avoid a white outline.

Then, I used ChG's Liquid Leather to paint on veins.  I diluted the polish to bring down the intensity of the black.  Using a piece of tape as a palette (very high tech, BTW), I put down a drop of polish.  Then I grabbed a very fine paintbrush and loaded it with nail polish thinner.  Then I grabbed a bit of polish and rubbed in around to the load the brush with diluted polish and painted on some veins.  Here is a pic of my very sophisticated palette and the cheesecloth I used.

I did not paint a vein on every nail.  I left one or two plain.  On my left hand (shown) I left my accent nail plain.  Then I topped it with SV.  Not perfect, but not horrible for a first attempt!  I'll try to do my other idea for next weeks Feature Friday.  Thanks for looking!!!

Chalkboard VDay Math Mani

I'm getting this in just under the wire (unlike my day late Superbowl mani!).  The day before Valentine's Day and here is my mani!  If you've figured it out by now, I am not a pinky flowery type of gal.  So I was trying to figure out how to do a Valentine's Day mani that was more ME.  Then I remembered something my hubberoo always used to say about us...one plue one equals one.  Awww!  The simple math made visions of chalkboards dance in my head (blame the teacher in me - we love chalkboards!).  So here is the mani...

I started with SH Double Duty as a base.  Then I used two coats of CG Liquid Leather topped with one coat of Essie's Matte About You.

Then I used tape (since my freehand sucketh) to do the math using OPI's Alpine Snow.  I finished it off with a teeny tiny pop of color by using CG's For Audrey to make a heart on my thumb.  First time trying dotting...not too shabby.  Sadly, my practice heart came out better than the ones on my thumbs.  Oh, well.  Can't wait to show the hubberoo!

And yes, I forgot to flip two of the photos prior to watermarking and didn't feel like going back to fix it.  Been that kind of day!