Born Pretty Store Gold & Silver Flat Back Studs 17227

(Born Pretty Store Gold & Silver Studs were sent for review)

I was given the opportunity to review some gold and silver studs from the Born Pretty Store.  Let me start out by saying I love the packaging.  There are 400 pieces of varying sized gold and silver studs.  They come in a convenient wheel that has a sliding top so you only take out a few studs per section at a time.  This wheel has a pretty design around it unlike any other wheels I have ever seen.  It reminds me of a flower.  It makes turning the wheel easier. 

The studs included are rounded with flat bottoms.  The bottoms are great for adhering the studs onto your nails.  For my look today I wanted to feature how pretty these studs are and how they can add so much to a manicure very simply.  I started with L.A. Colors base coat-top coat then added two coats of Milani High Speed Fast Dry nail polish in Pink Express.  I let this dry and added my studs one nail at a time.

To make adding the studs easier, I pulled out all of the studs I planned on placing on my nails.  I also got out a pair of tweezers to help place the studs onto my nails.  To add the studs onto my nails, I used L.A. Colors base coat-top coat and dabbed a small amount onto my nail where I wanted the stud.  I then picked up the stud with the tweezers and placed it onto my nail.  I used the tweezers to move the stud into place before my top coat dried and pressed down on the stud slightly with my finger.  I did this one at a time for all of the studs.  It was easy to do on both my hands.  I let my nails dry for a while then added INM Out The Door top coat over the studs and then over my entire nail.               

I love this manicure!  I think it would look great with something dressy as well as something casual.  It was so easy to do and added so much to the overall look.  These studs stayed in place a long time!  I had no issues with them falling off prematurely.  There is so much you can do with these studs and I think they are a must have in any nail art arsenal.  These studs can be found at the Born Pretty Store here.  They are called 400Pcs/Box Newly Gold Silver Round Flat Back Acrylic UV Gel Nail Art Decoration Hot Selling Wheel # 17227 and sell for $4.14.  For 10% off all full priced items and free shipping please use my discount code SNDX31. 

(Born Pretty Store Gold & Silver Studs were sent for review)

Blog Your Heart Out Award

I was nominated for the Blog Your Heart Out Award by Colleen from Dream It Up Nails.  This award is to help create buzz about blogs who have fewer than 100 followers.  There are five questions to answer and you are asked to nominate five bloggers.   

Here are the five questions:

1.       What/who encouraged you to start blogging?
 One of my cousins has a nail art blog and I really enjoyed seeing all of her creations.  Shortly after I found out about her blog, I realized there were a ton of nail art lovers like myself with blogs.  Blogging about something I have always enjoyed seemed like a lot of fun, so one day I just went for it and started my blog. 

2.      How did you choose what topic(s) to blog about?
I enjoy painting my nails and also seeing how other people paint their nails, so blogging about nail polish was just the natural choice. 

3.      What is something that most people don't know about you?
I am a natural angler. 

4.      What three words describe your style?
Fun, Colorful, & Neat.  

5.      What do you like to do when you are not blogging?

I like to do lots of things like read, watch movies, and just enjoy life. 

I nominate:

1.      Joanne from Witch Nails http://witch-nails.blogspot.com

2.      Nail It Hot from http://ijustgotnailed.blogspot.com

3.      Lena from http://thenailartblogger.blogspot.com

4.      Sarah from http://www.pardonmynails.com   

5.      Brittany from http://iheartnailart24.blogspot.com

Thank you Colleen for this award!  What are some of your favorite blogs with fewer than 100 followers?  Do you have a new or up and coming blog?  Let me know in the comments.      

Chalkboard Hearts

Here is a manicure I created last year for Nail It! magazine.  I was included in their Jan/Feb 2014 edition.  I didn’t even know I was going to be included until I bought the magazine and saw my nails.  It was so exciting!  I went back and bought more copies of the magazine.

To create this look I started with a base coat followed by N.Y.C. Black Lace Cream.  When dry, I stamped the sketchy heart using an Essence Stampy Design plate and Salon Express Nail Art Paint’s Snow White.  I let this dry and then added Hard Candy’s Matte-ly In Love to mattify the whole design and make it look like chalk on a chalkboard.

I love the way these nails came out.  I had the idea in my head for a while because I thought the heart looked like it could be something hand-drawn—like a doodle.  I think white polish over black polish looks like chalk on a chalkboard when you add a matte top coat.  When I saw Nail It magazine was looking for heart designs to include in their Jan/Feb 2014 issue, it gave me the push I needed to get this look done.  This look came out just the way I imagined it and I am so happy with it.      

Animal Scene with Gradient ft. Born Pretty Store Image Plate 16

(Born Pretty Store Image Plate 16 was sent for review)

I was sent the Born Pretty Store stamping plate number 16 to review.  I was instantly drawn to the stand alone animal images on this plate.  I also really liked the rectangular animal/tree images on the middle of the plate.  I thought that scene would look great stamped on multiple nails for a continuous looking design.   

To start my look, I added L.A. Colors base coat-top coat followed by two coats of Avon Sunshine.  When this was completely dry, I used a section of a bath sponge and added Avon Creamsicle to the top of my nails near my cuticles towards the middle of my nails.  I then added INM Out The Door top coat to help blend my two colors together and protect my nails in case I made a mistake stamping.

After my top coat dried, I stamped the middle animal/tree scene on the stamping plate along my pointer to pinky nails with my black Salon Express Nail Art Paint.  To do this, I started with my pinky nail and painted the black polish on a small section (enough to cover my nail) of the far right section of the image.  I then scraped off the excess polish, picked it up with a large squishy stamper, and stamped the image on my nail like I would with any other stamping image.  I then placed the black polish a little to the left of the first section of the image I singled out to stamp on my ring finger.  I continued to move left on the image plate as I stamped my nails pinky to pointer.  That was how I got the continuous looking design onto my nails.  

For my thumb nails, I stamped the stand alone zebra and the stand alone elephant.  I let my stamping dry, then added Out The Door top coat.  

I love the way this manicure came out.  It reminds me of the opening scene of The Lion King when the animals are gathering to meet Simba.  This look also got a lot of compliments.  You can find this stamping plate on the Born Pretty Store’s website here for $2.99.  For 10% off this image plate as well as all other full priced items on the Born Pretty Store’s website you can use my discount code SNDX31.  The Born Pretty Store offers free worldwide shipping.

(Born Pretty Store Image Plate 16 was sent for review)