KK Center Hk Review: Bronze 2mm Studs

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I know I shared these photos for Collab-Fest but I didn't mention the gorgeous little rose gold studs I used to jazz up Electric Dream

The 2mm size is perfect for my nails because there isn't much room for nail art to begin with! I just pressed the studs in to tacky lacquer and top coated with Seche Vite.

These will set you back US$4.50 for 100 pieces at KKCenterHk and you can use my 10% off coupon NPA10 too.

xxx

NPA

piCture pOlish Collab-Fest 2013

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piCture pOlish are always coming up with innovative ways to display and promote their lacquers, especially with nail blogers. 

Collab-Fest 2013 is just one of the reasons I love collaborating with them!

Today we celebrate all the amazing collaboration shades released this year.

And here's the other reason I love pp: 

they made me my dream polish!

ELECTRIC DREAM

I know my photos do my shade no justice (here, here, here and here are some colour accurate shots), but gosh darn it, I love them anyway!

Every single time I wear my collab-shade I find something new to love about it. Like today when I was taking photos in the last of the evening light, I realised it was all the colours of a summer's sunset! Pink and orange and gold! Got my very own tequila sunrise on my fingertips!!!

I've misplaced the labelled bottle so sorry about that... I've used about 1/3 of the sample one already - and in case it's not clear to non-polish hoarders; that is an unprecedented number of manicures using the same polish!

Wearing Electric Dream always manages to put a smile on my dial :)

Please visit all the other Collab-Fest posts from the amazing ladies who created shades with piCture pOlish this year. There are some real stunners I have huge crushes on, and some I'm lucky enough to already own.

xxx

NPA

kkcenterhk review: 2mm Circle Gold Studs

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*Press Sample*

I tried out a spiral pattern using these gold studs from kkcenterhk:

I applied these using nail glue and a rhinestone picker wax pencil. I like the 2mm size, they're better suited to my little nails, but you can also get 4mm sized studs if you like the chunk or have larger nail beds.
Compared to standard rounded studs these are more yellow and much more rounded as opposed to flattened. I didn't like them with top coat, but that might have just been poor application on my part.

I'm wearing Mod Lacquer Majestic with this look. It would've been cool to add swirl stamps to my pinkie and index fingers to make the look more cohesive!

Kkcenterhk have provided my readers with a 10% off discount code NPA10, be sure to utilise it the next time you place an order:

xxx
NPA

Simple Sunday - with OPI Skyfall & Star Kin Burganberry

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I got OPI Skyfall a couple of weeks ago. I actually bought it from Farmers' Red Dot Sale so it was only NZ$15... Still feels expensive but I really LOVE it and it has been sold out at my usual e-tailer for some time so I had to snap it up!!!

I wanted to do something interesting with Skyfall, so I attempted a chevron tip design, using Star Kin Burganberry which I posted alone *here*

I used French Tip Guides and the thickness and sharpness sort of varied nail to nail so in an attempt to make them look a bit more even, I added a 2cm gold stud to the top of the triangle on each nail! Plus the didn't pop enough without the studs.
I wore this as an honest to God full manicure and got compliments, yay!! It certainly beats my usual 4 nail swatch look!!!

Right now Buster is trying to give me a full body bath with his tongue. Hmmmm... that might be my cue for a shower :p

xxx
NPA

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

Red & Gold: KKCentreHK 4mm square gold stud review

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Press Sample

Ok, what do you do when an adorable little, white, soft and clean smelling dog is sprawled out on your bed sleeping at 10:30pm? I don't want him to spend the night on my bed because he was hell to crate train and I can't play favourites while the other dog is in his crate all night! But I don't want to wake him up, put him on the cold wet grass outside for a pee and then shove him in his cold crate! 

How hard is it for parents to be consistent with their kids?!!

Ooohhh, looks like he's stretching, now's my chance!

I'm back, poor Charlie's in bed. He gave me his puppy eye look, followed by his withering stare. Boy knows how to make me feel both guilty and anxious!!!

Today I've got a review of some square studs from KKCenterHK. I did some really basic nail art (hangs head in shame) because I couldn't think of anything else to do. They look great on the sparkly, red Chyna.

KKCenterHk 4mm square gold studs Zoya Chyna

These studs are great. Only, they're too big for my nails. Why aren't my nail beds wider?????
I could probably manage a 3mm stud but 4mm is just too wide for every nail besides my thumb. The curve of my nails = sharp edges don't make contact with my nail and end up as a hazard. I was scared they'd catch on something and be pulled off my nails.

Of course, if your nails are a bit bigger than mine (and some length would help too), you'll be able to rock these. The gold is very yellow so it'll pop with darker skin tones - I might need to break these out next summer!!!
You get a decent amount for US$5.28 (approx. 50 studs).

KKCenterHK have kindly offered my readers a 10% discount coupon valid through to January 2014.

NPA10

The discount code and link is always on my left hand sidebar too.

Have you bought any nail art supplies lately? Where do you usually buy from and what goodies are you using to create kick ass manicures?


xxx
NPA

Pahlish Nine [Studded] Ladies Dancing

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Ahoy hoy polish phenoms,

I have a cool square stud look for y'all today!

If you're wondering why my watermark is all over the place font and colour wise, it is because Photobucket have gone and changed their whole website and their new photo editor sucks arse!!!!!!!!!! Literally. Might have to go back to using Picassa or something else :(

Pahlish Nine Ladies Dancing with 2mm square gold studs

 I actually found it easier to achieve this look than I'd imagined. I applied 2 coats of my Pahlish base, then 1 thin stripe of a slow drying clear along the middle of 1 nail. I had plenty of time to place each stud in as straight a line as possible (some are a bit wonky!!!) before I sealed the studs with 1 coat of SV.

The only issue I had was having to shift around the studs if they went over the tip or too close to the cuticle of each nail. In that case I'd just sort of smooch them all up or down until they look centered and removed the studs which didn't fit.

I'm really happy with how they turned out, and when it was time to remove them, I just rubbed each stud with nail polish remover to get all the SV off and put them back into the bag for next time.

I got my studs from Born Pretty towards the end of last year with a whole bunch of other supplies that I need to use! For US$5.73 you get a really good sized amount of studs compared to other places I've seen. I paid $2 or 3 for exactly 20 pieces from Cult Nails once. Will never do that again!!!

I also have a 10% Discount Coupon for Born Pretty on the left side toolbar, use it!!!!

And here's Nine Ladies Dancing by itself.

Pahlish Nine Ladies Dancing

Nine Ladies Dancing is a beautiful pink berry burgundy shimmer with pink and green/teal glass fleck. One of the 12 Days of Christmas LE releases. Perfect for a night out with the girls! The formula was thick but easily thinned with some Seche Restore and was opaque in 2 coats.


xxx
NPA

Piper Polish Blue My Mind & Gold Studs

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I've made my first foray into nail art studs! And today is my nub reveal too, oh lucky you.

In my last Cult Nails order I got gold and silver circle and square studs, plus their awesome bronze rhinestone wheel! The first thing I've tried are the gold square studs.

Cult Nails Square Gold Studs over Piper Polish Blue My Mind

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They gold studs are pretty cool. I applied them using the pointed end of a cuticle stick and some Poshe base coat. Then I sealed them with a thick coat of Revlon Colorstay top coat. In the macro shot you can see it has dulled and sort of cracked over the studs but you can't tell in person.
The only thing about these studs I don't like is that they are $2 for 20 pieces. That just seems a tad expensive expensive to me, but I'm not sure how much other stockists charge. I assume they're reusable anyways.
They do come in a clear pottle which I like compared to a baggie.

Piper Polish Blue My Mind

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 Blue My Mind has a pastel blue base with a mixture of gold, blue, pink and turquoise/teal glitter. It's surprisingly opaque for a polish of its kind. Two coats gave adequate coverage and application was easy peezy! Unfortunately, I think the larger pink hex (like the gold) have bled/faded. I got BMM some months ago and this is the first time I've worn it, but it did have an equal mix of pale pink and gold hexes at first. Now it just seems to have gold, so something has happened. Luckily it still looks nice so...

I chose BMM because I wanted a soft colour for my super short (uneven) nails and the gold glitter gave me the iea to add gold studs. I did find that my nails are a bit to rounded for the studs to lie flat, so the corners catch in my hair etc, but they are good for scratching my back!!

You can purchase Piper Polish HERE and the studs HERE

Two days on and I'm still wearing this mani, woop, woop!

xxx
NPA