Nails Inc - Leather Effect - Noho (black)

This kit includes a unique matte/leather effect nail polish, studs, crystal skull embellishments, and crystal rhinestones. Very rockstar! The kit also includes nail glue and 2 wooden cuticle sticks.

This kit can be found for sale here on Sephora's website for $25.

The polish applies very easily. I found I got the best "leather" effect with 2 thin coats. When I used thicker coats, the particles didn't show a texture as well. It's like they got lost the more polish I used.

 Then I added some of the crazy cool rhinestones and embellishments from the kit.

I'm afraid the big crystal skull would not have any practical wear time because it's simply too flat. My nail beds are curved and any little thing could have snagged it off.

I also painted it on one of my cousins that was in town for the weekend and used some gold circle studs that I had lying around. You can see the difference here in how you apply the polish. The hand on top was with thin coats, the hand on the bottom ended up being with slightly thicker coats and that polish has a much glossier look and less textured.

*These products were provided for review*

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Heart Studs

I really wanted the oversized heart studs to work, so I molded them around my dotting tool until they were curved enough. It was pretty easy because the metal is soft. It worked perfectly to fit them to the curve of my nails. These studs can be found here for $4.89.

 My base polish is Color Club New Bohemian.

 I applied 2 coats of topcoat over the studs and I still managed to lose most of them by the end of the day. I think the topcoat has a hard time adhering to the metal of the studs, so it scrapes off with normal wear, and then edges free up and snag enough to pop off.

Regardless, it's a beautiful manicure for about 12 hours! Even if that's the best you can get.

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Born Pretty - Mixed Studs Wheel

Studs are one of the latest raves in nail art. Born Pretty sent me this mixed set of studs to review. They're awesome.... Sold here for $4.89. 12 different shapes/sizes. Stars, squares, rectangles, hearts, diamonds... You get it all. 

Here I've placed a few different shapes over Catrice Sold Out Forever.

I love, love, love these rectangles!

The diamonds are really cute too, but they are a bit too large for my nails. If they were curved a bit, they would lie flatter.

 

The large hearts and triangles from this set are a bit too big. I'm going to have to figure out a way to still use them. Perhaps they are soft enough to bend a bit? Otherwise they will catch and snag everything.

Don't forget about my coupon code:

 

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Studded Holly

This was my other idea for the Marquise studs from Born Pretty. I see that Katy from Nailed It had the same idea, so check out her's too.

Zoya Holly was the base color. Here it is before the studs were applied.

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Born Pretty - Marquise Studs & Beaded Chain

Another couple of items provided by Born Pretty to review. 

First up are these marquise shaped gold studs. They can be found here for $5.83.

I didn't have any trouble with them. They lie flat and adhered with just wet topcoat. My only preference would have been if they were smaller. They are quite large which limits what all designs you can do. I have another idea in mind that I will try and post at a later date.

For this look, I used KleanColor Cobalt to paint a french tip, then I placed the studs with a dot of topcoat. After that I painted the gold accent swirls with Essie Good as Gold. Then I topcoated the entire look.

The second item is this beaded chain that can be found here for $5.61. It's 100cm in length and that'll allow for a lot of different uses.

In this look, I was trying to line up the beaded chain along the half moon. You can see it didn't really work. :( The chain is too stiff to bend much. I used cuticle nippers to trim off the length I wanted to use, and it cut easily.

 

You can see the edges stick up even under topcoat.... I'm just not loving this beaded chain. I need to find another way to use them perhaps.

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Recreated Pretty Polish

I simply had to recreate this look from the Nailasaurus. I thought it looked stunning! I prefer how it looks on her nails though, the accent nail of studs sits awkwardly on my nail. I think maybe my studs are too big compared to hers.

I didn't have the exact polishes she used, so I used Lime Crime Milky Ways & Essence Multidimension The One and Only. Both sized studs are from Born Pretty.

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31 Day Challenge 2012! Day Eighteen: Half-Moons

Happy Caturday!! 

  And we are back on track! Today is day 18 of the challenge and that means Half Moons. These are the nails I wore to The Makeup Show last weekend and I got SO many compliments on 'em. This looks features all Cult Nails polishes and studs. 

  This look stared with Two coats of the amazing Annalicious. My camera really freaked out at this amazing shimmering shade of Tomato Red. I went for an edgy look with pointed half moons. For the pointy moons I used some scotch tape and Cult Nails Nevermore. I topped it all off with some Seche Vite then followed by Cult Nails Wicked Fast. 

 And here is the official look I wore for The Makeup Show. On my pinky is a Nail Veil by Chronicle Stones. These are a "love 'em or hate 'em" type of nail accessory. I absolutely LOVE them. They are so eye-catching and a nice touch for special occasions. I attached mine with a drop of nail glue and it held on all day long with no issues what so ever. Mine is the Pinky veil with a little dangly at the tip. I will have a post with more details about Nail Veils soon. 

  I really liked this look a whole lot and even more so that I actually got to wear it and my pinky Nail Veil. And I seriously cannot get enough of Annalicious. It is trully a spectacular color! Now don't forget to stop by my challenge partners Rie and Sam's to see their Half-moon looks for day 18!

(**Products provided for consideration**)

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Cult Nails Spontaneous Studded, Dried and Gradient

Good Morning!! 

  Today I have my Third look in the Cult Nails Untamed Collection series. This manicure features Spontaneous. This color really inspired me to do something sophisticated and just pretty. I really wanted to do a grown up, but girly manicure. Spontaneous is a beautiful, grown up shade with just a little something to make it interesting and unique. 

  For this look I started with a base of Enticing on all my finger nails, except my ring finger. My ring finger was done in Spontaneous. I wanted to do a manicure showcasing a contrast between the soft dried flowers and the edgy studs. On my accent nail I used some of my Cult Nails Studs. For my gradients I used Spontaneous and Enticing. Spontaneous was a little tricky to gradient with, waiting between "dabs" is best to allow the color to build up.
 To apply the dry flowers I did a coat of Seche Vite and then I set the flowers into the wet top coat very carefully with tweezers. I took photos before I top coated the flowers because I didn't know what adding a top coat would do to them.

(**EDIT**) I got the little flowers at a local beauty shop. I think they can also be found at Sally's and/ or Born Pretty Store.

  Spontaneous is a beautiful deep, smokey Amethyst Purple creamy base packed full of glowing Purple micro glitter. It is a beautiful polish, sophisticated and right on trend for Fall.

 Here is a shot of the mani after I top coated over the flowers. It didn't do damage. Just make sure to have A LOT of top coat on the brush to easily cover the flower. I love the finished look of this mani a whole lot. The contrast of soft and edgy is just right and the dried flowers added a lovely touch to the gradients.

 I only have Two more looks to go in this series! One featuring Annalicious and one featuring I got Distracted. They are both colors that are out of this world and I really want to come up with something special for them. While Deal With It and Untamed brought out a younger side of me, Spontaneous brought out the "lady" in me ♥. I can't wait to play with my last Two colors!

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

(**Cult Nails Spontaneous provided for consideration**)

More about → Cult Nails Spontaneous Studded, Dried and Gradient

Zoya Week! Zoya Elisa Stamped and Studded

Good morning lovelies! 

  Today's Zoya look features Elisa from the Diva Collection, Fall 2012. I wanted to do something very... Extravagant in a sense? I think I got what I was going for lol. When I look at this manicure, many things come to mind. Moulin Rouge costumes, a circus ring leader, a German gymnasts leotard or something else along those lines... IDK, but the diva in me is loving this look. It's not something I would normally do but Zoya Elisa brought "it" out in me.

 For this ornate look I started with Two easy coats of Zoya Elisa. Once my base was dry I did a fish-egg accent nail by mixing my Gold and Black micro beads together and sprinkling them over my wet top coat. For the fishnet design I used Bundle Monster plate BM209, Konad Black SP on my Index and Pinky nails and China Glaze Passion on my middle nail. I accented my fishnets with Golden and Black micro beads.

 Sometimes I really like venturing out of my comfort zone and doing manis that are out of character. Sometimes it goes great and sometimes not so much. I think this is one of those times where I am glad I went for it. I could see this manicure somehow being altered in color scheme to work for the Holidays...

Thanks for stopping by!

(**Zoya Elisa Provided   for consideration**)

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Zoya Week! Wednesday Two-Fer with Daul and FeiFei

Happy Humpday! 

  Zoya week carries on with Two looks today! I'm keeping it very short and sweet today as I do not feel very well. I spend the day in the hospital yesterday and today I'm going through the aftermath. Which, in a sense, is just as bad if not worse than the time spent in the hospital. But! I did manage to do these pretty gem looks with FeiFei and Daul.

  To see these Two gemmed looks just continue reading.

Zoya Daul

  For this look I started with Three coats of Zoya Daul. The gems I used for this amazing look came from Cult Nails. The great thing about the Cult Nails gem wheels is that each compartment has many different sizes of gems so it is really easy to create looks such as this. And let me just say that I LOOOOOVE these bronze gems. The look they create is just so cool and different! This mani reminds me of mermaids. A different kind of mermaid.

Zoya FeiFei

   With this look I kept it really clean and simple. These nails looked so AMAZING from far away. These Golden Studs from Cult Nails were the perfect touch for FeiFei. I don't think I was going for anything in particular with these studded nails. I just wanted something really clean and simple, but eye catching, to accentuate my beautiful FeiFei base.

 I hope you guys enjoyed these looks. I had so much fun playing with these colors and the gems. The shimmer and beauty of FeiFei and Daul pretty much demanded that I played with gems but keep it simple at the same time. I'm loving the results.

Thanks for stopping by!

(**Zoya products provided for review**)

More about → Zoya Week! Wednesday Two-Fer with Daul and FeiFei