KAWAII DECORA 3D BOW NAILS

So I got these cute little nail bows from the BPS store.

They remind me of something the DECORA girls would wear. I've only done one on a hand, but I'm pretty sure a DECORA would use several of them along with other 3D objects like nail pearls and dotting pens. They're a little thick for my taste but very durable. I would like them better if they molded to the nail for better attachment, otherwise they look kind of like they're floating off of your finger.

I was actually impressed with the BPS pricing. It was only $1 for them including the shipping!

Click the photo below to go to the shop and check them out!

Also, use the discount code BPS5 for 5% off of your order at the checkout. :)

Disco Rhinestone Nails + Gladiator Sandals

So I decided to start using those rhinestones again from the BPS. I don't really care for the colored ones as much, but the clear ones seemed different so I tried them out.

What do you think? My friend really likes it. I'm not sure it's me though. Very Lady Gaga-ish I think.

If you want them for cheap (Born Pretty Store ships free!), you can get the whole wheel if you click on the colorful photo below:


Anywho, my real post is about these Gladiator sandals. They seem to be a big trend, but honestly, I hate them. They make short people look shorter. I think maybe I could pull it off if I got them in camel or tan with a slight heel. Most people wearing them look kind of frumpy with bulkier legs.

I hope this trend dies soon. It looks like it is, and with Indiana weather, well it's sure to happen soon. I just hope the UGGings movement doesn't come back to campus. T_T

Trending on IU Campus: Michael Kors vs. MC HAMMER

So I couldn't help but notice this bag around campus a lot lately.This bag is by Michael Kors. 

I really like it! I have however seen some worn out (maybe fake!) ones. Trust me, they don't look good. Buy it from the official site, or in person to make sure it looks sophisticated!

I've also noticed a lot of people wearing clunky enamel watches. They usually have rhinestones, but not always. The glitzy style seems to be really popular right now.

These have also been popular (mind you, I'm using a more flattering photo of these hideous pants). I'm not sure why, but a lot of people have been wearing this. It seems to be extremely popular with the Asian crowd, though I've seen it blossoming among Caucasian trenders.

I really don't like them...at all. I've seen a few one-pieces but honestly, they look like something my grandmother would wear while gardening.

COACH bags.

I am SO sick of Coach bags. They're EVERYWHERE on campus. Every woman I see (down to the hobo women at the BMV) have them. I'm not sure if we have some kind of counterfeiter here in town, but it's getting to the point where seeing Coach is as common as McDonalds. Don't wanna give up your desire for Coach? Try this: Avoid the signature C symbol and go for one of the bags in the top row. Can't give up the C symbol? Spice up the variety with a punky fushia or minty green. Seriously, I've seen some awesome bags with this kind of color variety.

Almay Makeup Eraser Sticks AKA Cotton Swabs

Okay, so I've been testing lots of different products lately.

This one I've been using for some time now. I really like them butttt.....

I'd only purchase them for on the go emergencies. The swabs don't do an efficient job of taking all of your make up off unless you use several of them. It's best to get normal eye makeup remover and a cotton wipe for full removal.

Otherwise they are great for touch-ups! My problem with the functionality of the swab is that one cotton head gets wasted unless you use it dry.

Great product for touching up after a sad chickflick ;)

Covergirl Lipperfection Lipcolor- Feline

I really like this color!

The product smells decent, spreads well, and doesn't feel funky.

My only problem is that it showcases weird lines on your lips, even if you exfoliate well. :/

COVERGIRL shineblast lipgloss

Okay, so I got three of the shineblast lipgloss by COVERGIRL.

850,815, 835


For $7, I was expecting more.

The lipgloss is basically regular lipgloss. You can get something of the same quality at the dollar store.

What was weird was that they were all different.

835 Beam smelled chemically nasty

850 Ablaze (my fav of the bunch) smelled yummy like watermelon!

815 Heat smelled okay kinda grapey

None of them really enhanced the appearance of your lips, felt kinda oily, and didn't last.

Sample pictures aren't even worth posting.

Covergirl Outlast All-day Lipcolor

Dusty Rose


Coral Rose


Revlon's Outlast All-day Lipcolor

Coral Rose & Dusty Rose

Okay, so the directions say to apply the color to lips, don't press them together, and let them dry for 60 seconds. It then says to apply the moisturizing coat for shine and comfort which totally makes sense because the color gets chalky and dry unless you use the moisturizer.


In all honesty, I would only recommend this lip product to performers. The color sticks on, but it wears awkwardly pretty soon on. You can't blend it, and you'll have uneven pigmentation all over your lips, especially on the outer edges.

BUT~~!

I really liked the moisturizer~ It smelled great and in all honesty makes a better product on its own. It glosses your natural color and even tastes pretty good.

Free False Eyelash Giveaway~

Born Pretty Store is having ANOTHER giveaway. Follow the link for instructions.

http://www.bornprettystore.com/facebook-false-eyelash-giveaway-n-20.html

This ENDS TODAY!

Almay Liquid Pen Eyeliner ~ Brown

Okay, so I am a HUGE fan of eyeliner, and when I saw this clearanced out for a buck, I thought "what the heck!". This pen is normally like $7+ and I've used Almay's liquid eyeliner before.
But it was this one ^.

I really liked the way this black one spread along with its great pigmentation, so I was kind of disappointed with the new pen one.



It could be just because it was brown, but the pigment felt kind of watered down and slightly sticky. I would say that the pen definitely has a plus compared to the first Almay liner I tried. The pen doesn't move or smudge, so you have more control of where the liner goes, and it doesn't take as long to dry.

Pros:
Control
Fast drying time

Cons:
Price (SO NOT WORTH IT)
Poor Pigment
Sticky texture

ALSO, Another Hello Kitty Nail Stamping Plate Giveaway

Follow the link for instructions on how to get the free Hello Kitty plate. :)

http://bornprettystore.blogspot.com/2011/07/500-pcs-hello-kitty-stamping-giveaway.html

e.l.f. GET THE LOOK DAY TO NIGHT Christmas Edition Kit

I hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July~ I had fun stamping away my holiday~
Aren't these little stars adorable? :3

Okay, let's get to the point. I thought I'd review the e.l.f. GET THE LOOK DAY TO NIGHT Limited Christmas Edition kit.

Now, my left eye has always been a different size, so I really depend on eye makeup to help make it less noticeable.

I started with the eyeliner. To help you compare my review of this to normal eyeliner I'll warn you that for the last year, I've been using L.A. colors retractable eyeliner. It's a cheap $1 liner and does not have the greatest quality.

The e.l.f. brightening eyeliner in black spreads very easily. I was really surprised! I guess I've been using crappy eyeliner for too long.

I like how easily the liner spreads, but it smudges just as easily. I wouldn't recommend it for hot days, as it can melt and spread all over your eyelid.

PROS:
Spreads easily
Bright pigmentation

CONS:
Smudges easily
Doesn't stay put

Now for the eye shadow, I used the black and white shadows. I used the black applicators that came with the kit, but it was HORRIBLE!

The applicators were rough, scratchy, and didn't apply the shadow nicely at all. I had to remove most of it and reapply the shadow with my e.l.f. brush I've been using for the past year. Now, the e.l.f. I have sheds every once in a while, but at least it spreads the shadow nicely. I have control over even application of the shadow.

Applicators were a complete waste. Better to use your finger.

Now the shadows are kind of weird. They seem to shed (kind of like wood shavings) when you brush them. It's a harder shadow to apply evenly, even with a brush.

PROS:
Awesome color
Low cost

CONS:
Hard to use/apply evenly

The e.l.f. Lengthening & Defining Mascara could be a dream for some people!

Okay, so I really dislike heavy mascaras, but I noticed that this mascara is VERY sticky, but in a way that will help hold your lashes straight up. I liked this feature however, it is NOT a mascara you should use on your lower lids. Its sticky consistency just isn't workable with the thinner lashes.



Anywho, I'll be back soon with more reviews and nail art projects. I'm thinking about Revlon's Outlast All-day Lipcolor next. :)

Beauty Updates + Sally Hansen Giveaway

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Kroger. They marked down a lot of really great beauty products from popular brands like Covergirl and Maybelline.

I'll be doing a few reviews of the products AND will be giving some of them away to (the very few) readers ;P

Starry Nails

Hello again~

I still don't have a camera, but this cellphone pic seems better than the webcam ones.


For this project, I picked up another Super Star by PURE ICE to mix with the crappy GCOCL paint. I have a nice printable yellow now. :)

Using a base coat of Love Nails by SINFULCOLORS, apply 3-4 coats (this polish is very thin, but SHINY~~~).

I say to use that many because the stamp template will be divided for placement. What I mean by this is that we only use a portion of the stamp at a time. This can cause so leftover unwanted stamp images to smudge onto the nail. If this happens, take a Q-tip with polish remover and lightly remove the leftovers. You should have enough base layer that it won't completely remove your base.

Using the star design from template m11 (see below), space the stars across your nails. I mixed mine up between the outline and the second largest star. :)


If you haven't been following, this template is from the set from the BPS:

Free Hello Kitty Nail Stickers

Hello!

I just wanted to spread the word about these adorable little Hello Kitty Nail Stickers.

They're free! Just retweet the tweet and enter the link into your comment section during the order. :)

Follow the link for the instructions.

http://www.bornprettystore.com/free-hello-kitty-sticker-twitter-n-17.html

Salux- Japanese Beauty Skin Wash Cloth

Okay, so I've finally gotten around to making a post about something other than nails.

This cloth is AMAZING and is GREAT for pedicures.


It exfoliates your skin so easily. My skin feels baby soft after using. :D It's won an award in Japan for how wonderful it is.

Now, I first saw this when I was browsing through the the reviews at Makeupalley and thought "that looks so cheap, why does it have such a high rating?" Last time I checked it had a 100% for it's feedback.

Among the hundreds of reviews, a few but rare negative comments were things like "I scrubbed with this thing but it was horrible, unless you intended on taking off a layer of skin" or "I showered like this and it felt like I was washing with a plastic bag".

Here's the deal: there are specific instructions for use with these cloths.

1) You do not "scrub" your body. The cloth is made so you just wipe yourself with it and it scrubs your body without almost any effort.

2) The packaging specifically says "Keep SALUX away from the direct flow of water". You're not supposed to shower with it like a loofah (in all honesty, this is WAYYY better than a loofah). If you shower with it, of course you'll feel like you're showering with a paper bag. It's not supposed to be soaked. Your body needs to be wet, not the cloth.

Keep in mind, this originated in Japan. In Japan, generally you clean yourself off before entering the bath or shower.

3) Don't buy online unless it's from a proven authentic shop. There are MANY bait'n switches online, especially on Amazon. I'm not affiliated, but others from Makeupalley said http://www.saluxshop.com/ is authentic. Your best bet *and cheapest* is to go to your local Asian grocery. The first place I checked was the one down a couple blocks from me. I was so happy that they had it. :)

4) Avoid the off brands like Italy towel and such. They're usually a little cheaper, and I've heard that they only sorta work and are not nearly as effective. But, if you have a few bucks laying around, I always encourage experimentation. :)

I was amazed with how quickly it dried. It's long enough so that you can clean your entire backside without having to reach. Hold it like a towel wrapped around you and pull it left-right (or right-left if you prefer ;) ).


Stay pretty girls!

~Cupcake Party~

Who doesn't love cupcakes? I received this sucker from a friend, and I thought it would make a cute nail project.

Here's an upclose shot of the sprinkles. I took these first two photos with a friend's cellphone hoping it would show up better than the webcam (I still don't have any funds for a real camera yet, sorry!).

And below is a photo of all the nails via crappy webcam:
This project is so fun and really easy to do! All you need is a cute base (mine was Oasis from SINFULCOLORS), a thinner brush polish (ART DECO's Blue Glitter), and a glitter polish (mine's from L.A. Colors).

If you can't tell from the photos, you just use a base color for the whole nail, the glitter from the top of the cupcake, and then draw in the cupcake holder lines with the thin brush polish. I added rhinestones from the BPS store.

This is the one I used:

But if you really care about your rhinestone action, I'd actually recommend a different one. These ones are cute and really effing cheap, but I'd pay a little extra from something with a little more variety in color. I want this set next:



See what I mean by variety? I kind of felt limited in color usage with this project and had to repeat colors.

Anywho~ I'm looking forward to the next project. Take care~ :)

Porcelain Tea Party Perfection

Do you remember the old porcelain tea sets your mother gave you to have makeshift tea parties with Mr. Teddy and Mrs. Kitty?

Continuing with our trendy white nail base, I thought we'd attempt porcelain tea party nails. :)

Now, I'm pretty new to nail art. I've been learning a lot of things like how not waiting long enough between coats will leave your polish with tiny bumps and air bubbles. :(

I've also been learning how to mix the GCOCL nail polish in order to use them for stamping (which I did! :D ).

You might not have heard of this brand (it's Korean), but I had some leftover polish from ETUDE HOUSE. It was a light turquoise BL501 and I mixed in the blue GCOCL for the purpose of this project.

Mind you, I don't have much to work with right now. I have 4 PURE ICE polishes that work wonderfully for stamping, handful of runny, non-stamp-able polishes and a handful of very dry but pigmented polishes. Mixing the runny SAN FRANSICO by SINFULCOLORS with the Green from GCOCL, we also managed a stamp-able green tint.

See the photo below~


As you can see, my first attempt wasn't exactly perfect, but it's getting there~

Now I noticed for this stamp template, M73 ( not to be mistaken with m73), the colors might run together. If you have shaky hands or hard to control nail polish, you might consider stamping the flower and the petals separately. That will give you more control over your placement of the stamp and its appearance.

Also, I didn't take a photo of my other hand, but you can double up the roses on your thumb finger (so there are two back to back diagonally). It looks adorable. :)


If you'd like to purchase this particular template, it comes in a 12 pack:



Here's an up close shot of the available templates in this lot:

Zebra Nails and GCOCL nail polish review

This is frustrating~

Okay, so I tried out each of the GCOCL nail polish bottles. I thought I would give it a try, since it was only about $10 for the set of 6 nail polish and 1 clear top coat...


...they didn't work.

If you can manage to get a design to transfer from the stamp (dries too quickly), the paint won't show up on other paints well enough.

Even if you keep it as a base, the paint quality is terrible! It leaves nasty brush streaks and looks like marker.

I think the only thing you could try to use it for is mixing :/

On the other hand, I've tried out the zebra print design from template m54.

Comes from this set of templates:

It works pretty well~ My only complaint is that the design itself is a little small. You have to double or even triple stamp one nail to get a completed look.

I'm hoping to get some french tip tape to help instead of crappy free-hand painting. xD

Another project tonight~

FREE HELLO KITTY PLATE

I forgot to mention this.

The designs used in the last post were from the Hello Kitty plate.

You can get it for free from the Born Pretty Store if you like:

Please use the coupon BP299 to checkout the following item,you will get this Hello Kitty plate for free!!! TOTALLY FREE as shipping is included!! Currently we have 10 pcs per day. Everyone under the same shipping address can get only one! Please confirm that you like us on Facebook before check out the freebie, we only ship the freebies to our facebook fans, youtube subscribers/ twitter follower and blogspot followers. If it states "not valid" when you enter the coupon, that means the coupon has been used for more than 10 people in today. Good luck to you! Please click here to view the product How to use the coupon? It's easy. 1. Add this item to your cart and checkout 2. Sign up or Log in, then choose Airmail Paravion $0.00 for shipping 3. Choose paying method(In fact, you will not need to pay) and enter the coupon code BP299, then continue 4. You need to login PayPal to check out the item, but it will charge you nothing only if you enter the coupon coude! 5.If there's payment for this item, we'll contact you if you want it or not, and we only ship it after get your confirmation you'd like pay for it, or we'll refund money.

So your polishes won't stamp?

Okay, so usually it's the cheapest nail polish that stamps really well. They're usually nice and thick and bright. But what do you do if you've already invested in a large amount of good quality non-stamper polish?

Solution number one: Use a white base. As I mentioned in a former post, white nails are trending right now (Lady Gaga-influenced? Hell, yes!).

As you can see below, professional polish can show up pretty well on a white base (mind you, I've been using a crappy webcam to take low-quality photos).

The polishes for the stamps are by SINFULCOLORS Professional.



Solution #2:
PURE ICE nail polish. You can get it at Walmart for like...$1.5o or so a bottle.


Solution #3:
If you'd like a link to a very cheap set of proper nail stamping polish:



Solution #4: I don't really recommend this, but sometimes you can take the high quality nail polish and mix it with the white to get a pastel-ish color for stamping. Honestly, I'd recommend just buying some cheap polish for stamping so you don't waste the high quality stuff.

Template M73

Okay, so the most popular nail style these days revolve around a white base.





I decided to use a spunky template from the M73 plate. The template comes with these other designs:



I'm still getting used to stamping, but I think it's coming along~