Tipped Review

Hello friends!!

Today, I have a review of Born Pretty Store's french tip stickers.  I've been dreading writing this review because I wasn't a huge fan of this product, but I've promised myself that I will always be honest with my reviews, so here it goes.

I received these with my glequins, the review can be found here, so the shipping was fantastic.  I'm always surprised how fast items from the Born Pretty Store ship, plus it's free shipping - double plus.  I know french tips are a little passe, but I thought these would alleviate my complete inability to do a french mani with two colors. The package comes with stickers to do chevron tips and also a swirly one, which is kinda neat.  The main issue I had with these was that the stickers are so thick it's hard for them to stick flat against your nail without some gaps, which of course leads to bleeding lines.  Plus, the stickers were too sticky and ripped off part of my mani - mind you, it could have been because I didn't let the base color dry enough, but it was still sort of a bummer.  I tried the "stick to your skin a couple of times before applying" trick and then they didn't stick!!  It was a bit of a balancing act to say the least.  The neat swirly stickers were so long, you loose the cool swirl and only end up picking up a slight swoop.  I also found that the stickers for the french tips were a little too straight for my nail, I think this is also due to the length.  Out of the three types of tips, I preferred the chevron ones, although I did have to maneuver my fingers so that I was holding down the sticker to prevent bleeding.

Despite the negative experience with this product, I would totally continue to buy products from them even if they choose not to ask me to review products for them again.  The value for what you get is just too good to write them off for one bad experience.  Plus, the total cost for this was $1.58 for three sheets with enough to do your all of your nails twice, which is so worth it.  If you think this product would work for you, you can order it here, or search the Born Pretty Store with item ID 4093 or 3pcs French Circle/Arrow/Fancy Manicure Tip Guides Strip Nail Art Toes.

Bonus right hand shot!!

Here's what I did with the regular french tip stickers, you can create some cool cut-outs , but again it was hard for the stickers to stick.

Until Jan 31, 2013 you can use the special code found in the banner below to get a 10% discount on anything you order from the Born Pretty Store - the selection is huge and it's not just nail products, they also sell phone cases, make-up and wigs.  There is so much to choose from, I promise it will totally be worth your while!

It's too bad these weren't thinner stickers with a little more stick, because then they would be fabulous for those of us newbs who can't do two toned french tips!!

Holla, N

Dotty French

Homework time!!  Who gets excited about homework?  This girl does!

It was my turn to assign the homework and I choose black and white.  I feel like these are two huge staples in my collection, plus it can be used for mostly anything so the possibilities are endless.  I'm excited to see what Becca from Nail Narcotics comes up with - something fabulous, I'm sure!!

I committed the sin of all sins for a nail addict, I didn't use a base coat.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like this mani, so just wanted to try it out first, I ended up liking it so....one mani without base coat isn't going to kill me - I hope!

White:  Barielle - Going to the Chapel

Black Lines:  Essie - Licorice

I used black and white acrylic paint for the dots.

Top Coat:  Pro FX Quick Dry

Holla, N

Jersey Bomb

Happy Monday!  I typed that with a scowl on my face, why do Monday's have to suck so bad?

I just finished watching 3 hours of Jerserylicious, oh how I love that show, the drama, the make-up, the clothes, the CHEETAH print!!  So tonight's episodes (which airs on TLN in Canada on Saturday's and Sunday's) was the Season 3 finale and the two hour follow-up special with Vivica A. Fox (totally random by the way).  I love how Gayle fires Tracy and Gigi at the end, I understand she's hurt and all, but how petty.  I can't wait for Season 4 to air in Canada!!  Here's my ode to Jerseylicious, hope you enjoy!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Base Color:  NYC - Park Ave

Cheetah Dots and Accent:  Sally Hansen - Grey Area and Revlon - Elegant

Black Outline:  Sally Hansen - Black Nail Art Pen

Red:  Sally Hansen - Cherry Red

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

Hello Purple

I survived glamping!!!  So, my lovely friend pointed out how camping in a trailer is not technically glamping and I have to agree.  While we are protected from the elements in our lovely trailer, we were still missing out on a few essentials.  1.  My lovely comfortable bed, oh how I missed this - we actually bought a new bed the day before we left, but because a standard bed doesn't fit into our trailer we had to have it special ordered, so we were stuck with our crappy foam from the 80's.  2.  Running, hot water.  While we do have the ability to have water in our trailer, it can only hold so much, so we had to be careful of when we flushed and we couldn't use the water to wash dishes etc. etc. 3.  A fridge bigger than a cereal box, then we could actually store more than hot dogs and beer - while this may sound perfect for most of you, for this picky eater, it just doesn't cut it.


All in all it was a great 5 days, I lasted 1.5 days with no nail polish, but during a milk run to Walmart, I couldn't resist temptation and bought the essentials.  I ended up having to give all the girls manis and I promised to post them on my blog!

Clockwise from the top left:  Hubby relaxing on his new 0 gravity chair; Cousin's beautiful mani;  sister's creative photography; Tucker enjoying the outdoors; more sister's creative photography, my first camping mani.

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Purple:  Barielle - Grape Escape

Glitter:  Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Big Money

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

Mellow Canary

Hiya!  I was so in love with yesterday's mani Pretty in White that I've done a variation of the same thing today, except in yellow - cute, hey?

I'll be incommunicado for a couple of days and will be sporting naked nails (cringe) because we are going GLAMPING!!  Woot Woot!  So excited to get away and enjoy our new to us trailer.  I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to sleep up off the floor, have heat, hot water and a toilet while camping, hence "glamping."

So don't miss me too much, I'll be back to entertain you all later next week - hopefully with the same length of nails - perfect excuse for the hubby to do all the work - excellent!!

Base Coat:  Seche Vite

Pearly Yellow:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Quick Canary

Yellow Dots:  Sally Hansen Hard as Nails - Mellow Yellow

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

Brain Block

This nail addiction is never ending, I just can't help myself from buying nail polish.  I swear, I spend so much money on nail polish.  I'm not as bad as some of the folks out there, spending $100 on a bottle of "indie" nail polish, but I do buy a lot.  I usually look for the polishes on sale, I just can't bring myself to spend $10 on a bottle of polish, cheap I know.

This weekend, it became a mission to go to the local Zellers because they are going out of business and everything is 20-50% off.  I managed to get a couple of bottles, but the selection was crap and they had pulled all the polish off the racks and shoved them in plastic storage containers, so it made it difficult to find things.

Anyhoodle, the reason for the long story, is that I've had a huge nail polisher block tonight and have changed my mani THREE times!!  At Zellers I bought this great reddy black polish that is sooo cute and I wanted so bad to do something cool with it tonight.  It didn't turn out how I had hoped it would, so off it went.  This is actually my third mani, the second one was so bad it's not even worth mentioning!!

Base Coat:  Orly - Bonder

Pink:  NYC - Times Square

Purple - NYC - MoMa

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

True Love's Hair

Black is the color of my true love's hair...not a super fan of this one, but I've got to work tomorrow, so no redo tonight.  I love the look of matte over glitter and holo, but wanted to switch it up with doing a modified matte french manicure.  I used tape to make the straight edge.  I was inspired by Chloe's Nails and her tape tutorials, which are pretty great, check it out!

Base Coat:  Orly - Bonder

Main Color:  Wet n Wild - Black Creme and Maybelline - Twilight Rays

Top Coat:  Seche Vite and NYC - Matte Me Crazy

Holla, N

Pinkin' it Up

I recently had to cut my nails to match the digit that broke, so I haven't done a french manicure in a while.  My nails are still a little short, but it works.  I also tried my new Salon Express stamper, I didn't let it dry long enough and there's a little streaking, but it's still cute.

Main Color:  NYC - Pink Promenade Creme
Glitter Top Coat:  Sally Hansen Hard as Nails - Rock Candy
Heart:  NYC - Black Creme
Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N