Review: Born Pretty Store Black Cat Water Decals

**product sent for honest review**

Hey all!! I had a different post planned for today but this weekend while I cleaned some things out and finally found some Born Pretty Store water decals I had been looking for-- they were sent to me in January, my laptop stopped working, and then I misplaced them and couldn't find them for ages! But here they are! I got these black cat water decals -- they are nicely detailed and can work over a multitude of colors, provided of course that it's not too dark!

These were easy to use, though with a few caveats. The designs are pretty small, so a smaller pair of scissors might be helpful to cut them out. I also had a little bit of a difficult time removing them from the backing, but in the end it wasn't a big deal and they went easily on to my nail. For my manicure, I used a base of Darling Diva Rey, and then added two decals to my index and ring fingers. But I wanted to make a manicure that was a play on my name, so here you go!

Here's a look at my manicure:

And a close-up of my index nail:

And my ring nail:

I think these are pretty cute! You can see that the details transfer pretty well, especially on the index nail, though I did end up losing some on my ring nail. Still cute though! I'm really with how this turned out!

Check out Born Pretty Store for tons of nail art products and use my code CRK31 for 10% off your order!

**product sent for honest review**

Born Pretty Store Review: Nail Stencils and Liquid Tape

**Products provided in exchange for my honest review**

This review is so overdue it's not even funny. I had all my pictures ready to go and bam! Dead laptop and so this wasn't posted and wasn't posted. Major fail. So today I have two of the products from the Born Pretty Store that I was sent for review! I used them together to create a Seahawks manicure back in January for the playoffs which is why I'm combining my reviews here! The polishes I used here are two Seahawks themed polishes from Lucky 13 Lacquer-- I will have a post on them later!

First up, I received some nail vinyl stencils in pattern NK02. This particular set has six of each patterns (with two patterns, there are 12 total stencils). They are attached to a thin, flexible piece of plastic, and then have a little envelope to keep it safe.

Another item I received for review is the White Peel Off Liquid Tape, which is also advertised as a peel off base coat. Here I have only tested it as a latex barrier system to prevent polish from getting on the skin, not as a base coat. In the photo below you can see that I applied the nail stencil, then put the latex barrier down around my cuticle. Remember: this product contains latex so you shouldn't use it if you have a latex allergy!

I then applied my polish of choice over the stencil and took the stencil off before it could dry:

To better showcase the flakies and the stencil pattern, here's a picture taken inside my shower (no one was showering at the time, rest assured--it's just a good place for an indirect light source):

You can see my free edge got a little messed up because I didn't have the stencil adhered to my nail properly, but overall I think the honeycomb diamond pattern looks cool with the shifting flakies!

Overall, I thought the stencils were pretty nice and while I need a little more practice with them myself, they worked well and I would definitely use them again. I am less sold on the liquid latex skin barrier. It did work as advertised and prevented any nail polish from getting on my skin, but I thought it was difficult to remove and some of it was very stubborn and clung to my skin, even after scrubbing at it in the shower the next day. Maybe it will work better as a base coat, which I will try in the future!

And remember, you can use the code CRK31 for a 10% discount on your purchase from BPS!

**Products provided in exchange for my honest review**

Born Pretty Store Review: Multifunctional Tweezers

**sample provided for review**

Hi all! Sorry for such a quiet week-- I was busy Wednesday-Friday and I'm really bad about scheduling posts. In fact, I just don't. Sorry! This week should be better! Tonight I have another review of a product from the Born Pretty Store! This is the last product I received, a multifunctional tweezer. These tweezers are described as being made of stainless steel and can be used for many nail art purposes.

These were nice hefty tweezers, a bit bigger than I expected. I would stay that the mechanism is a little stiff so does take a little bit of pressure to open them!

Here's a close up of the end:

As you can see, these have a blunt point, as opposed to pointed ones. These were rather large compared to the 2mm studs I got to review (you can read that review here) and when I tried to use them to put the studs on my nail, I ended up denting my polish. Whoops! Maybe with practice, but I think these would work better for larger nail charms or studs. They were really great in helping me position the water decals I used and I think they will be really helpful for applying and removing striping tape.

Here's a a little peak at what my set up looked like, in case you're interested:

As always, you can use the code CRK31 to receive 10% on nail art products from the Born Pretty Store! I've really enjoyed reviewing these products and looking forward to exploring what else they have to offer!

**sample provided for honest review**

Born Pretty Store Review: Floral Water Decal!

**products sent for my honest review**

Hi there! I have another product from the Born Pretty Store to share with you today! Nail decals are a very popular item from BPS and there are a lot to choose from. I decided to go with these Colorful Motif Flower decals-- there are four designs to choose from and I picked XF1188.

This is what they look like in the package:

There are even instructions on the on the back, which are sort of helpful, but I think could benefit from some clarification.The first time I used these, I browsed the instructions and applied them like a normal temporary tattoo. WRONG! If you do this, the decal will be upside down and your manicure will look like this:

Whoops! That's not right. So I did a quick Google search to see how other bloggers do it and a key step that is left off the instructions (or not very clear at least to me) is that after you get the decal wet, you need to slip the decal off the paper and then onto your nail! Leave the decal in the water for about 30 seconds, then use tweezers or your finger nail to slid the decal off the paper and get it into the position you want on your nail. It takes a few seconds to adhere to the nail afterwards; I recommend using a paper towel (as the instruction suggest) to press down on it gently and suck up any excess water. The instructions suggest using a hair dryer to help it dry and stick-- I didn't find this necessary, though I'm sure it couldn't hurt! Once the decal was stuck go my nail I added top coat and it was perfect!

For my final manicure, I once again used Julep Janet for my base color. I chose two of the designs and put them on my ring finger and my index finger:

So pretty! I love the finished product. I definitely want to get some more decals, especially floral ones because I am on a real floral kick right now.

Once again, you can use the code CRK31 to receive a 10% discount on any purchase from the Born Pretty Store!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and a happy Mother's Day!

Born Pretty Store Review: 2mm Mixed Rhombus Nail Studs

*samples sent for honest review*

I have something fun to share with you today! I was recently contacted by the Born Pretty Store to review some items, and if you've never heard of the Born Pretty Store, well... get to the website asap! They have a ton of stuff, but most importantly to this blog, a whole section dedicated to nail polish and nail art. They are based in Singapore, so shipping can take awhile, but the prices are super reasonable and they have a ton of stuff! As soon as I got the email, I knew I wanted to review some nail studs because I have never used them before and wanted to give it go! I chose these 2mm Mixed Rhombus studs which are a mix of shapes and neon and pastel colors. I figured there would be a lot of things I could with them and it was a nice mix of shapes and colors. Win win!

When they arrived, they looked like this:

Just in a little jar, all mixed together. And they are small! Empirically, I know 2mm is not large, but I was surprised at how tiny they were! That may sound silly, but it's true. To actually use them, I dumped out a small amount onto a paper towel in my work area and then turned them so they were right side up. They were a bit tricky to move around because they were so small, but using the edge of my nail or a toothpick worked well. If you have a pair of fine tweezers/forceps, those would work too! I tried to use a pair of tweezers I also got from the store (review to come later) but they were a bit too large for these studs. In the end, using a toothpick with a dot of top coat (not quick drying) worked the best to place them on my nail.

Here's the final look I ended up with! I used Julep Janet as my base color. I then went for a mix of colors-- I was inspired by those enamel necklaces that are popular right now and want to do something reminiscent of that. That's the design on my ring finger. By the end of that, I was having so much fun that I decided to add the circle studs on my middle finger. I love it!

There was a definitely learning curve to using these, but I was able to catch on pretty quickly and once I did, I didn't have any issues! I am looking forward to playing around with these more and creating some different designs-- it's a lot of fun!

If you're interested in trying out some nail art products or need some supplies, I have a coupon code (CRK31) you can use to receive a 10% discount! There is a ton of stuff on the Born Pretty site, so be prepared to fall down a rabbit hole. I believe you need an account to use the code-- once you login there should be a place to enter it! Happy shopping!

*samples sent for my honest review*