Born Pretty Store Review: Triangle Nail Art Studs

   Hey y'all! Hope you've been well :D Today, I have another Born Pretty Store review to share ^^ This time it's triangular nail art studs, that are super easy to use, and can spruce up your mani in minutes. The studs are 3mm and come in gold or silver. Each pack contains approximately 200 pieces, so there's plenty to play around with. I chose to go with the silver triangular studs in this super girly - but edgy - Valentine's day inspired mani.

Packet of Triangular Nail Art Studs

   I was aiming for a heart shape at first, using the studs, but ended up with two floral shapes instead, which works out just as fine :P The studs don't need anything special to stick to the nail, I just use regular top coat to stick them on, and another coat of top coat on top to seal them in. Though, if you reallllly wanted to make sure they didn't come off too easily, you could always use nail glue to cement them in place (: 

   For the mani's base, I used Chi Chi Don't You Know Who I Am?, and topped it off with a reverse glitter gradient using Shades Of Phoenix Zeus. 

Throwback Thursday NOTD: White and Silver

   Hey y'all! So everyone on Instagram knows what #tbt or #throwbackthursday is, so let's bring that over here and do a #tbt of our own!

   A few months ago, I did this gold and white mani which I absolutely loved. It was so clean and simple, but oh so blingy too!

   Although I already did a white and silver remake of this design last week, I wasn't too keen on it, so in the spirit of #tbt I thought I'd try another white and silver recreation, and I gotta admit, I may like this version more :P 

   I used my ever faithful Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Revlon Silver Screen, Chi Chi Celebrity Meltdown, and an assortment of loose glitters and studs from the Born Pretty Store online.

   It actually came together pretty well, and is the sort of mani I would wear on my own wedding day: clean, classy, and complete with cut outs and studs!

   I mean, I'd love to wear something fun, bright and neon but deep down I know I want that fairytale white dress to walk down the aisle in, so these would be a perfect match. Not too splashy, but not too subdued either :P

NOTD: *shrugs*

   Hello there lovelies ^^ Hope everyone's had a great start to November! My goal for November is to continue this flow of blog posts that I've successfully upheld throughout October - hopefully another 2 month hiatus is never going to happen again or at least far from the horizon! 

   And of course to think of other ways to engage with you guys, I know NOTD posts get a tad repetitive, so I'll try push out more than just that this month :D I was also thinking of starting up a facebook page, would any of you be willing to follow my posts on there as well?? 

   So, back to the reason we're here... NOTD: I have no idea what to call these. Yes, that's what I've called them, unless y'all have something a little more creative? :P

   I used Sinful Colors Endless Blue (I think I've used this in the last 3 or 4 manis!! It really is my go-to-blue), and Ulta3 Citrus for the coloured panels, and Sinful Colors Black on Black for the outline and triangle accents. My lines are kind of wonky, but the studs take the attention away from my shaky handwork :P 

This design actually makes my nails look more rounded than almond/ stiletto shaped. Makes them look heaps shorter too =S They're also a little underwhelming, so I didn't really wear them for very long (took them off an hour later :P) but that just means... more nail art to look forward to tomorrow!

NOTD: Ikat Hearts

   HI GUYS! A PINCH AND A PUNCH FOR THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH! *pinches* *punches* :D Now that that's out of the way... NAILS!

   Oh how I've missed doing an ikat pattern - I just love how it can look messy, but look good looking messy! The ikat heart is one my most fave designs, I could never grow tired of it.

   I bought Essie Mint Candy Apple a couple weeks back, and had yet to find a mani to use it in, until now. Thought the baby blue would be the perfect background for some cutesy ikat hearts :P For the actual hearts themselves, I used W7 Fuschia (my new favourite neon pink!), Ulta3 Spring Break (my new favourite purple!) and my ever faithful Sinful Colors Endless Blue. 

   The golden heart stud and the black round studs are from here on the BornPrettyStore website. You get 3 wheels of various shaped/ coloured studs, and therefore are open to a bunch of new combinations when doing nail art. I'm slowly hoarding all the studs! :P I have a 10% discount code if you do end up purchasing anything on their website - just type in XFSQ10 at checkout!

Born Pretty Store Review: Fluorescent Studs

   Hey y'all! Hope you've all been good :D

   Today, I have some exciting news to share with you guys. The Born Pretty Store have recently contacted me to do a review for them and I happily accepted. What I have for show today are these fun and colourful fluorescent studs. They come in 6 bright colours, 2 different shapes (squares and circles) and are all organized in a handy little wheel container. I was so excited seeing these tiny pieces of goodness in front of me, I went a little stud crazy.

400pcs 2mm Round Square Fluorescent Dark Colors Stud Rhinestones Nail Art Decoration w/box

   Or was that an understatement? :P MY NAILS LOOK LIKE CANDY!! They look like little candy skittles on my nails, I love it!!

   With 6 fluorescent colours to choose from, and two different shapes... I had to pick all of them! Having such a selection means I had an awesome time mixing and matching the studs on my nails. At first I thought I may have gone a tad overboard, but I was quite liking the in-your-face over-the-top look of them, and I've been wearing them for 4 days now! Can't bear to take them off :P

   The studs look great over the colourful nail base, and work well with the crystal rhinestones too. They're about 2mm in size and are pretty flat - once pressed into the polish and after a layer of top coat, the stud isn't protruding too much off the nail.

   I used 4 BYS polishes and 1 Australis polish (all Australian brands) for the bases. From thumb to pinky: BYS Clowning Around, BYS anyone For Tennis, BYS Steal The Limelight, BYS Baby Let's Cruise and Australis #totesamaze.

   You can purchase these studs (and a bunch of other great nail art accessories - go crazy!) from the Born Pretty Store here. I also have a 10% discount code for you to use on your entire purchase: XFSQ10.

   Overall, I love these studs! They're fun, versatile, and with 400pcs, I'll definitely be using them in plenty of manicures, especially in Summer where all the bright colours come out :D    

*The item/s mentioned in this post were sent to me for my 100% honest review. This in no way affects my opinion of them. For more information, please read the Contact and Policy page of the blog*

Clean, fresh and classy: Gold on White

   Don't y'all just love the look of white nails?! I've always thought they looked nice and clean, and would've loved to wear it as a full mani but were always too boring to wear alone. But then I saw a gold on white mani on IG (Joelene over at @glynnavyre) and was inspired to do some gold on white nails of my own!

   So blingy and bright.. I love it! The most troublesome to do was the middle finger. I didn't have any gold loose glitters so I had to improvise and fish out the larger hex glitters in my Femme Fatale Cosmetics Eventide polish. They're all not the same hue of gold and some are holographic, which works out just fine for me, because it looks even more blingy! It took ages, but I think it was well worth it! It's my favourite nail from this mix n match mani.

   I used 2 coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White as the base, the 2mm gold studs and striping tape are from the BornPrettyStore, and the gold polish is Orly Glitzy. 

   *Eeep I also managed to take a decent non-awkward picture of my cinderella hand :D There was no way I was going to fish out more glitter from Eventide, so I settled for a glitter gradient instead. 

   Sometimes I feel bad for my dominant hand.. it always gets the crappy end of the deal where I'm too lazy and not bothered to make it look as pretty as its other half. Talk about favouritism hahaha

xx Christine

Flirty Floral Print

   SO PURRRRRTY *star struck eyes*

   Of course, these beauties are inspired by Candice from MrCandiipants. That square frame is absolutely genius! Check out her tumblr for the tutorial! :D

   So for my version, I used a deep purple base colour (A Max Factor polish that doesn't have a label.. since I may have ripped it off unknowingly :P). For the flowers I used Face of Australia Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy, BC Co Shade 13, Ulta3 Honolulu, Tangelo, Tahitian Lime and Frog Prince. The studs I used were 2mm silver square studs from the BornPrettyStore. 

   In other news, I'm currently using Duri Rejuvacote to help with the splitting and peeling of my nails in hopes that my nails will finally grow out like they used to. *fingers crossed*

Femme Fatale Cosmetics: Winter Hyacinth

   Sophie from Femme Fatale Cosmetics recently turned 27 and had a surprise 27% flash sale,  so obviously it was too good of a deal to not take advantage of! I ended up purchasing Femme Fatale Cosmetics Winter Hyacinth, Eventide and Party Grenade. 

   First on my 'to try' list is Winter Hyacinth:

   It's a teal jelly with pretty pink and purple circle, hex and diamond glitters. This is two thin coats over Chi Chi Plastic Fantastic. For the accent nails, I topped the Chi Chi with crystal mylar sheets, and 2mm square studs, both from BornPrettyStore.

BornPrettyStore 2mm Silver Studs

Mornin' y'all! So as I said in my last post, my recent BornPrettyStore purchase arrived in the mail this week and amongst the goodies were these 2mm square silver studs. I've purchased studs before from their store, but they were the larger 4mm sized squares.

The 2mm squares are a lot smaller, and I think much cuter :P So I decided to pair them with a pink and purple half moon gradient and glitter!

I used Australis Bombshell for the base colour and Ulta3 Orchid for the purple half moon and gradient. For the glitter accents, I used KattClaws Bubblegum Princess. The studs are just placed on with a small dab of nail glue, and then the whole thing is sealed off with a quick dry top coat.

Keepin' It Cool

   This week has got to be THE HOTTEST week in Sydney in like forever! Temperatures have reached 47degrees Celsius and it's said to continue into next week *gulp* 

   So to keep it cool, I paired KattClaws Polish 'Community Pool' with Sinful Colors 'Endless Blue' and silver square studs from the BornPrettyStore online to create this mix and match mani.

   I'll be keeping this post nice and short as I've also received the new set of nail art brushes, loose glitter and mylar sheet sets, also from the BornPrettyStore, and I'm itching to try them!!