Monday Review

Hiya!  Today I have a review of Born Pretty Store's silver square studs.  I love love love studs - the nail accessory, not the man variety, okay I like the man variety just as much.  Justin Timberlake is my weakness, his voice - dreamy, his bod.....oh wow, his bod - to die for!

Now that I've cleaned the drool off my face, let's get back to business!  Studs are everywhere these days, I picked up some of the sticker variety a while back and used it for my Tell me About it, Stud mani.  I loved the simplicity of what I did with them, but you only get a few in a pack and I wanted to try out some designs using more than one.  The package you get from the Born Pretty Store comes with about 100 individual studs (likely more, I've never been good with guess how many jellybeans are in the jar games!).  They come in a resealable clear baggie so they are easy to get at and easy to store.

Application was a little difficult for me because I don't own any inexpensive top coat - I'm a loyal Seche Vite user (yes, despite the shrinkage).  I think if you used a coat of inexpensive top coat to stick the studs on, it would work out way better.  I used nail glue - it totally worked, but you can see the line of glue I applied even though I applied a generous coat of Seche.

This design was inspired by Nicole at Polish Me, Please first attempt at a studded manicure.  Nicole is the QUEEN of stamping and her mani's always inspire me to break out the ol' Bundle Monster plates - which she recommended I buy!!  Check out the inspiration here.  If you're not following Nicole, DOOOO it, she is fabulously creative with her stamps and is also the sweetest nail blogger out there - she was the first person to comment on my blog AND follow me on Twitter!!

Just to show Nicole my stamping skills - I still need some practice, but I'm glad I managed to get the stamp on the  whole nail!

If you're interested in picking up some studs of your own (unfortunately no man varieties for sale yet!), visit the Born Pretty Store and look up Item ID: 2859 or click here.  You get the whole package for $5.73 - total steal!!  Plus, here's a 10% off coupon code - major score!!

Tune in Friday for my review of the Born Pretty Store black flocking powder - super excited to share this mani, so don't forget to stop on by!

Holla, N

Metallic-AH

Hiya Polished Peeps!  Metallic day for the 31 Day Challenge!!

I'm not really sure what constitutes as a metallic polish, so I stuck with the obvious -  gold.  I bought this recently and hadn't tried yet - I think it was my only untried.  I have to say, while metallic polish looks cool, it's so unforgiving!!  It's like a tight spandex dress, it shows EVERYTHING!  Your strokes have to be perfect, there's no room for error - ain't no seche vite going to help hide the imperfections!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Sally Hansen - Golden-I

Triangles:  Essie - Licorice

I used gold studs from Kiss

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

Check check check out the other lovely polished peeps doing the 31 Day Challenge by clicking on the links below!  Check back Thursday for RAINBOW!!  Oooo, I'm super excited for that one :)

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
 -Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
-Robin Sparkles 

Tell me About it, Stud!

My first foray into 3D nail art!  I've been reluctant to get on this bandwagon because the idea of having my hair caught in my nails every five seconds would drive me batty!  One of the things I bought on my birthday gift certificate spending spree at Walmart, as mentioned in my Caribbean Calypso post, was a package of Kiss Nail Artist Metallic Accents.  There's a huge stud trend out in the nail world lately - Sammy of The Nailasaurus does a bunch of really cool designs with studs, I was going to link to a few, but I like way too many of them, so just added a link to her site, search "stud."  I ended up really loving this mani and found myself being extra super careful not to rip the studs off - even the hubby commented on my nails, a very rare occurrence around here!  I haven't managed to get them caught in anything yet, which is amazing, I think the top coat really helps smooth out the edges.

Recognize the title of this post?  Extra special happy points if you do :)

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Barielle - A Bouquet for Ava

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N