Born Pretty Store Review - 2mm Pastel Square Studs

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* Press Sample

I'm absolutely in love with coloured studs and Born Pretty Store has brought out heaps in the last couple of months. They sent me some pink and peach 2mm square studs to review and they're so cute!

Source Item #6968

I looked to other nail art bloggers for ideas for how to wear these and came up with the following look:

OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons with 2mm square studs

Sadly my camera dulled down the colour of the pastel/neon studs and played up the dirtiness of OPI DPMB :( It looked much prettier in person, only I had to move some of the studs around a bit once I placed them on the nail; so some are smeared with the polish, woops! They say practice makes perfect, so I'll get on to that and maybe I'll also sharpen the tip of my wax pencil and see if that helps me apply the studs more accurately.

I did find that nail polish remover will take the colour off the studs too, so if you are planning on reusing them, you might have to settle for a silver stud. That kind of sucks but I had already guessed that would be the case.

The 2mm were a good choice for my small nails, but they also have a 3mm size available in all the same colours. Each bag of 200/100 respectfully is $2.99. I think I'll be buying all the other shades soon!!!!

BPS offer my readers a 10% discount and they have worldwide free shipping (makes all the difference I tells ya!!!) Next time you're after nail art supplies use coupon code QHL91

xxx
NPA

NPA Does Digital Nails Part I

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I had been dreaming of Digital Nails lacquers for far too long so I finally bought some! I got eight which is the perfect number for two separate swatch posts!

Raphaelle makes a real mixture of finishes. Today I've got some of her glitters to share with you.

Digital Nails ANUSTART

ANUSTART is inspired by Season 4 of Arrested Development. Tobias is at his misguided best with his 'new start'. There is appropriately some brown glitter in this one!! It's a periwinkle, navy, holo lavender and chocolate glitter mix in a clear base. With three thin coats you can reach opacity, but you need some Glitter Tamer to smooth it all out.

Digital Nails Red Wedding over Cult Nails Quench

Red Wedding is a rich mix of red hexes and large circles with red/burgundy holo micro glitter. I believe this one was inspired by Game of Thrones and a rather bloody wedding... I layered one coat over Quench, then topped it with Glitter Tamer to smooth.

Digital Nails Bonnibel

Bonnibel is a pretty pastel pink with iridescent, pink and purple hex glitter, plus medium pink glitters. I needed two coats for full coverage, then smoothed it with one coat of Glitter Tamer. She's real pretty!

Digital Nails Oh, Fiona

Oh, Fiona is inspired by Adventure Time - which seems to be a really popular nail polish collection theme with Indie labels. It's a shimmery pale flesh/nude beige with iridescent, white, yellow and blue glitter. There's a freshness to Oh, Fiona which I love. It feels rather Spring like.


You can get your hands on these and lots more at Digital Nails on Etsy.


xxx
NPA

Rainbows & Happiness Nail Wraps

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I found some really cheap and easy to apply nails wraps!

Rainbow Nail Wraps 

These are full nail stickers that stretch, file off and are easy to reshape around the cuticle once they are stuck on. I didn't do a wear test but I feel like they'd be good for 3-4 days with some top coat.

There isn't much in the way of design selection, but for $4 I'm seriously impressed. Usually I avoid wraps because they take me longer to apply than a regular manicure, but these ones went on pretty fast.

I bought these from Born Pretty Store. Next time you make a purchase feel free to use my coupon code for 10% off your order.

xxx
NPA

More Candy Lacquer Pretties

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LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG time, no see...

I'm not even sure why, but the blogging bug went bye bye, still I'm clawing my way back, I promise!
I'm on an unofficial no-buy for the month of September - ok it has been a week so far so maybe just til mid-September?
Luckily I just got a couple of good polish deliveries so there'll be plenty of manis to share for some time!


Today I've got my last Candy Lacquer order to share. I limited myself to just four this time - SO HARD!!

Candy Lacquer Fun Dip

Fun Dip is a Floam-style matte glitter mix with mainly neon pink, blue and chartreuse. I applied 3 coats plus some Glitter Gloss and Seche Vite for a smooth, even finish.

Candy Lacquer Fairyland over Picture Polish Twinkle

Fairyland is in the running for BEST Candy Lacquer EVER! It's a chunky mix of holo pink, purple, blue and green glitters in all shapes and sizes!!! I'm not huge on stars and moons but Fairyland makes it work! This was one thick/dabbed coat with a coat each of Glitter Gloss and Seche Vite.

Candy Lacquer Midnight Magic over Digital Nails Super Temp

Midnight Magic is a navy and black holo glitter top coat. The blue is sooooooooooooo gorgeous and the black looks sort of charcoal when it's doing its holo sparkle. I layered it over a bright orange with gold shimmer but it'd look fab over everything!! This was one thick/dabbed layer with a coat of Glitter Gloss and Seche Vite for a glassy finish.

Candy Lacquer Rose Water over Digital Nails So Disco

Rose Water is another holo mix with just pink and aqua blue glitter in a multitude of shapes and sizes. I layered one thick/dabbed coat over a pink scattered holo - SO SPARKLY! And topped it off with the aforementioned Glitter Gloss and Seche Vite.

I'm so glad Candy Lacquer is reopening tomorrow (August 28/29). Hopefully Sandra has some brand spanking new glitters to wow us with!

Which do you prefer: matte or holo glitters?


xxx
NPA

Isn't He Beautiful?

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Thank you everyone for the compliments on Electric Dream. Seems to be currently missing from the site, so I hope that is a good sign....
I did hear it is selling well so thank you for the support!!!! It means A LOT!

I want to share a gorgeous photo of Charlie with you today

He was getting a whole lot of love from some of the neighbourhood girls - and loving it. Charlie was born to be pampered morning, afternoon and eve!

Will put some effort in to a nail post soon - been busy with life :)


xxx
NPA

ELECTRIC DREAM : a piCture pOlish Collaboration Shade with Nail Polish Anon

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Shapes that shift

Shine so bright!

electric 

dream

Following Picture Polish Blog Fest 2012, the ladies at PP approached me to collaborate on a polish shade. I was so thrilled to be chosen and I hope you love the lacquer the team and I cooked up!

I immediately knew I wanted my polish to be coral. It is quite possibly my favourite colour. It always makes my skin look tan and it compliments my warm-olive skin tone. My inspiration for the shade was the coral I've seen while snorkeling in Fiji. My parents took us to Fiji quite a few times growing up; Nadi is only a few hours by plane and the locals are lovely and very tourist friendly so heaps of Kiwis and Aussies holiday there. We usually stayed on islands in the Mamanuca or Yasawa groups. Apart from the water sports, my siblings and I loved the snorkeling. The angel fish and the pretty pink, purple and orange corals never ceased to amaze me.
These are Namena Soft Corals:

PP already have a shade named Coral Reef,so I struggled for a while before settling on the name Dream Weaver for my collaboration shade.
However, when the prototype arrived it was so much brighter than I what I had had in mind, it was almost a glowing neon and the song Electric Dream jumped in to my head and refused to leave.

Here's its namesake Electric Dream by Shapeshifter; the sound of Summer 2006/2007 (the end of my first year of uni!)

Now on to the swatches!

piCture pOlish Electric Dream

Electric Dream is a creamy near neon coral pink loaded with gold shimmer and scattered with the silver holographic shards PP is famous for. EC is a serious chameleon. Sometimes a warm medium pink, then a shimmering coral, or an orange glowing with gold shimmer. Which means it is a disaster to photograph, always looking too orange - but the bottle shots are very true to colour, something about it being on my nails made the camera freak.

The formula is really buttery and two thin coats is all you need for complete coverage. My favourite aspect of Electric Dream is the three dimensional effect the holo shards give. If I look at it on my nails at a certain angle, the shards sort of rise up off the nail like a magic eye picture! Very trippy :)

Electric Dream is available now from Picture Polish On-line and their Network partners.

piCture pOlish

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xxx
NPA

OPI Couture de Minnie: Magazine Cover Mouse & Chic From Ears To Tail

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I'm enjoying a gloriously warm and sunny Sunday afternoon. The dogs and I are lounging on the outdoor sofas taking in the rays ;) You've gotta love a day like this in the middle of Winter!

I've been back at uni and working at a new clinic the past week so busy, busy; hence the lack of posts.

source

I thought the 2012 OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection was gorgeous, but this year's OPI Couture de Minnie blew it out of the water!!!
So far I only have a couple but I love them both.

 OPI Magazine Cover Mouse

 Magazine Cover Mouse is a pretty red-orange-pink liquid sand. There are flecks of gold and pink glitter that just make you fall in love!!!! It's seriously opaque too - you can get away with one thick coat. I used two thinner coats myself, but next time I won't bother.
MCM is pretty great glossy as well; here it is with one layer of Glitter Gloss:

OPI Chic From Ears To Tail

Chic From Ears To Tail is a bubblegum pink creme with fine pearl mica shimmer which is visible in direct light. The formula is a bit difficult with streakiness, but three thin coats looks great especially if you slap on some self-leveling Seche Vite! I am seriously lacking in the bright bubblegum pink department so CFETT is an instant favourite!

I just bought Innie Minnie Mightie Bow and I have my eye on Minnie Style too - poor wallet.

I have something really exciting and amazing to share with you tomorrow so stay tuned!


xxxxxxxxx
NPA