Tough Girl

I chose to an edgy look for this one. Combination of pink, a girly bow, and barbed wire.

These rhinestone bows can be found for $2.98 at Born Pretty.

The wheel comes with 12 individual bows. (Mine had a freebie extra black bow that was loose within the bag this wheel was sealed in. Bonus Jonas!)

I used Wet N Wild Pom Pom Kelly layered over a white polish to make it pop. 

Then I stamped black with BM 323.

These bows are quite big. I put it on my middle nail because it was just too overwhelming to the others.

They are completely flat, no curve to them. This makes them hang and catch on every little thing. This can get annoying very quickly.

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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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Shimmer Polish - Irene + Born Pretty Rhinestone Picker Upper Thingy

Check out Cindy's Etsy shop, website, or facebook for more information on purchasing. Or you can always email her directly with your paypal address and the colors you would like to purchase:

shimmer484(at)gmail(dot)com

The minute I realized that Cindy sent me Irene, I knew I would be recreating this look from Wacky Laki. I loved her idea from the first glance I had of it.

 Here is a bottle shot of Irene and a simple swatch of one coat layered over Zoya Farah.

 I used the same image plate as Anutka, Mash40. The square studs are from this stud wheel sold at Born Pretty. I just put them in this different container. The white pencil thing is actually pretty awesome. It's a rhinestone picker-upper-thingy. It's center is a waxy material, so it gives you just enough grab onto the rhinestones to position them and it releases easily.

 

 The handy dandy rhinestone picker upper thingy is sold here at Born Pretty for $1.99 (for 2 pencils)

They came like this and I just used a standard pencil sharpener that I had in my office to get the point pictured above.

Here is a quick and poor quality (sorry) video to demonstrate just how easily it works.

It works just as well on large rhinestones or decorative items like these big bows. 

(Also a Born Pretty product 10pcs for $3.99)

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Quick French

Here is a pretty simple french tip design I did, and quickly regretted. The rhinestones drove me nuts. 

 A regular white french tip (I used Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud), you can freehand or tape them off, whichever you prefer. Then I used a skinny striper brush to line the smile line with Sally Hansen Rapid Red. Then secured a red rhinestone when I applied topcoat.

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French Spiderman

Another superhero inspired french, I'll try to keep coming up with designs and make this a mini series. I'm enjoying it!

 

Spiderman

 

Tutorial:

1. Tape off your tips and paint them a dark red. I used Color Club Red-ical Gypsy.

 

2. Stamp the spiderwebs from BM13 along the french. It's ok if it extends onto the nail bed, spiderwebs are naturally messy. I used China Glaze Millennium to stamp.

3. Stamp the spider from MASH38 onto an accent nail.

I used Konad Special polish in black to stamp.

4. Apply a thick coat of Seche Vite topcoat and while it's still wet, attach some royal blue rhinestones.

 

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Coral & Blue Pinterest Toes

I'm really loving these mixed pattern pedicure designs! And some more stripes for my big toes? So fun! These lasted 3 weeks :) It helped that I used nail glue to attach the rhinestones. 

I copied this design found here. I plan on doing these again, but perhaps then I'll use more pastel shades like the original. 

I used Orly Snow cone, theBalm Coral Reef-ined, and Kiss Nail Art Striper in white. A mix of rhinestones from god only knows where. I've forgotten.

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Born Pretty Pastel Oval Rhinestones

These rhinestones can be found here at Born Pretty for $3.45. You can see it's a wide variety of pastel colors that are available in this wheel. Click to enlarge the pic and look at the duochrome goodness on the black oil slick ones on the bottom right. I have to find something special to do with those!

This is a simple look I came up with.

They are pretty straight forward as far as rhinestones go. Simply place them while your topcoat is still wet, or use a little nail glue. They do have a bit of height to them as you can see in this picture. But there are no rough edges to catch or snag things. I chose to not apply a layer of topcoat over these. That usually softens the definition of the facets.

I started with my naked nails, masked off the half moons using hole reinforcement stickers. Then I applied 2 coats of a China Glaze Spontaneous-ish franken. (It was a nearly empty bottle of Spontaneous that I added something from Ulta to... it was just a teal shimmery polish that didn't really change Spontaneous at all. But you can see faint shimmer bits... so hence the disclaimer)

Then I freehanded these little lines using a medium striper brush and Color Club Secret Rendezvous.

Then set the rhinestone on while the topcoat is wet.

Don't forget that you can get a discount at Born Pretty by using my coupon code:

More about → Born Pretty Pastel Oval Rhinestones

Another Teal Deal

Sorry for the short break. My long work days crept up on me and left me too tired to worry with having my posts scheduled ahead of time.

Here is a look I wore earlier this week. It's quite simple to recreate for any of you new nail art enthusiasts.

An inverse glitter gradient with a single stamp and rhinestone on the accent nail.

Here is how you can recreate it yourself!

Start with 2 coats of China Glaze For Audrey

Then I used a makeup sponge to add LA Girls Glitter Addict - Nostalgic to the cuticle end
& up about midway on the nail.

Then I stamped using Silky Polish Twill Sea and BM 03 for the flower image. I then added a single teal colored rhinestone from a nail art set. Finish with Seche Vite



More about → Another Teal Deal