Bornprettystore Tribal Water Decals Review!

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have this mani using tribal water decals from bornprettystore.com to share with you! These were SO easy to use (definitely saying something for me since I am usually terrible with full nail decals of any sort) and I even did a live demo on my Youtube channel to show you how they work! If you'd like to see the live demo of these, click below!

Before I get into how I did the mani, let me show you how these little guys come packaged: 

Item number 21576

 They come inside a little plastic package with a cardboard surround to help prevent them from bending. You simply remove the film packaging, cardboard and plastic front of the decals and you're left with just the sheet of decals themselves. You'll want some scissors so that you can cut them out to fit your nails better, and a container of room temperature water similar to this:

To complete this mani, I first started with a base coat to protect my natural nail - I use Nail Magic. Once my base coat was dry, I cut out around the decals I wanted to use to make them fit better to the size of my nail. Using tweezers, I dipped one into my water and held it there for about 15-20 seconds until it started lifting off of the paper backing. I took the paper backing off and placed the decal onto my nail and sort of smoothed it around until I had it where I wanted it. The nice thing about decals like this is that you can continue to manipulate them until they dry. I started the smoothing from the middle of my nail and outwards towards the tip and cuticle so that I could remove any bubbles. Then I molded the excess around the tip to the shape of my nail. After it was mostly dry, I started cleaning up the excess with pure acetone and my cleanup brush to make sure it was nice and neat. I added Indigo Bananas LiLoo (Lithium Loo) on my other nails. Then I top coated with Seche Vite. Here's the final result:

 Interested in picking these up? You can find them HERE! If you've been toying with the idea of trying some full nail water decals from bornprettystore, I can definitely recommend these. I was thrilled with their performance, especially because I am terrible at free handing tribal prints! Don't forget to use my code, PPPQ10 for 10% off your order of originally priced items. :) 

What do you think of this mani? Do you like tribal prints? 

Thanks for reading! 

**Want to see more? Follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter!**

**bornprettystore sent me this item free of charge in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. I was not compensated.**

Monthly Indie Spotlight Series - Meet the maker of Shinespark Polish!

Hey y'all! Welcome to the second installment of my new monthly Indie Spotlight Series! This month, I had the honor of interviewing Molly, the creator, owner, and maker of Shinespark Polish. I've swatched for Molly before, and purchased lots from her - I really love her creativity and vision for her brand. I love that everything is made with such care and love! So without further ado, have a look at our little chat! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1.What inspired you to start Shinespark Polish? 

Actually, the ladies at the BHB (...nail group) and my own do it yourself spirit.  I'm one of those who will see something, and see if I can make/recreate it just to see if I can.  After hearing all the things the ladies talked about wanting/looking for in polish, I wondered how difficult making polish would be.  As I looked, I started thinking things like, "If I was making polish, I would try..." and it just snowballed from there!

2. How do you decide what to do for future collections?

Honestly, it's just an ongoing process.  The 90's Kids collection was created from an accident when I had issues with the 80's Neons cremes collection.  There was an initial formula issue with the cremes, and I had to switch it from being the maiden collection, and I was actually trying to recreate it without the trouble pigment.  Instead, I ended up with richly pigmented jellies.  Other randomness has provided inspiration: Childhood memories (Lisa Frank for the 90's Kids colors and names!), the old Hypercolor shirts (The Light, the Heat collection!), splatter paint t-shirts (80's Fun glitter bomb!), Sailormoon, and more.  I still have a ton of ideas and actually find myself having to restrain myself from releasing collections too rapidly, because I just want to make all the pretty polishes!

3. What goes into the testing/prototype phase? 

For me, it's usually a pretty short phase honestly.  If I'm trying new things like formulas, I'll mix a very small batch (2-3 bottles) and see how it works.  If it works out, then I'll consider it good to go, and keep notes on how to recreate it.  If I'm playing with things like mixing pigments for something really new, I'll usually play with it in liquid form before adding the suspension base, so that I can see just how the pigments are going to work together.  I've had an occasional hiccup where things haven't worked together, but most of the time the sight I see in my mind and the actual result are pretty spot-on!

4. How do you come up with the names of your polishes?

90's Kids was very much Lisa Frank.  :)  The Sailormoon-inspired collection, Inner Beauty, actually took its individual polish names from songs from the Seramyu (Sailormoon Musicals).  Very few people probably recognized them, but each polish name was actually the name of an image song for that senshi.  They also happen to be some of my favorite songs from the musicals.  Additionally, there will eventually be a second Sailormoon collection for the outer senshi and Chibimoon, which will be somewhat of a companion collection to Inner Beauty.  I don't have an ETA on it yet though.

5. What do you think makes Shinespark Polish such a success?

It's fun, it's different, and it's something that I absolutely love doing.  I mean, I literally get a shipment of supplies in, and typically I go through them within a few days, because I go crazy mixing!  In fact, the last shipment I got, I literally went through a full gallon of suspension base that day, just mixing up new and restock polish!  

6. I know you work by day and make polish by night. What drives you to keep going with Shinespark Polish? 

It's fun for me, and I love doing it.  I love to paint in general, one of my favorite aspects of painting is the actual mixing of the colors.  This is similar, but so much more involved, and working with the pigments gives so much more control!  It's also a bit of a humbling experience, because there are times when you think, "Oh wow!  This would be so awesome!" and you try it, and...nope, they just don't work that way!  I had that realization in mixing shimmery pigments with a thermal pigment: for example Dusk.  It was a super surprise, because I had honestly expected it to be a deep mauve, and I wondered what I had done wrong to end up with purple!  In the end though, it ended up being absolutely gorgeous, and much better than my original plans!  It was most definitely a happy accident!

7. Can you give us a behind the scenes peek where Shinespark Polish is made?

I can and I can't.  It comes and goes!  I actually use a small dresser as my work surface, and mix in small batches, and when I'm done everything gets stored away.  I store all my inventory in a Helmer, and am contemplating getting a second one to help contain everything!  I can give a few pictures from when I was doing my last mixing batch, when I was reformulating/re-mixing the 80's Neons cremes collection!  I don't usually take pictures of my work area, so it's really just a picture of when I had finished bottling, and had poured my own set of minis to test with water marbling!

Molly emailed me a couple of weeks later when she was finalizing her fall collection with some more pictures! She said I could add the sneaky peak pics! 

Work station! 

Testing them out on the swatch wheel! 

Left to right: Autumn Sky, Ever Green, Harvest, Pumpkin Spice,  Hot Cocoa, Jack O' Lantern, Black Cat Sparkle, and Gilded Rose 

And that concludes this month's Monthly Indie Spotlight Series with Shinespark Polish, make sure you go follow her on Instagram for news on new releases and swatches of the fall collection! I hope you guys enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy putting them together. Look forward to next month when I'll be interviewing Lorelei Lacquer! 


Thanks so much for reading!

**Want to see more? Follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter for more nail art and swatches!**

Indie Link Up - My Very First Indie!

Hey y'all!

Today on the blog I am sharing some pictures of my very first indie with you. This is a link up with some of my other indie lovin' blogger ladies, so make sure you scroll all the way down to catch the link to see everyone's posts!

I actually received this polish in a destash box with about 50 other polishes that I bought for around $25 I think. I got a handful of indies but mostly mainstream polishes in that box and this one stood out to me like...PUT ME ON RIGHT NOW. So what is the polish you ask? KBShimmer Whole Lava Lovin' of course! I was beside myself, giddy, stupid excited when I pulled this one out of the box. Did I mention that this destash was just a grab bag of stuff? Yeah, I had no idea what I was getting. The excitement! Since this was my first indie, I decided to include the manis I did with it after I first got it.  Ready to see?

Funky handpose - direct sun! 

Macro of Whole Lava Lovin' 

Inside my lightbox, inspired by +Carmen Ineedamani 

Beautiful, right? More like amazing! This is one of those polishes that I will forever cherish - it has huge amounts of sentimental meaning for me, being my first indie and all. Even better? Its still available from KBShimmer! Go, go, go! You need this one! 

What was your first indie? Do you still have it? Make sure you go check out the other ladies first indie posts: 

An InLinkz Link-up

   

Thanks for reading! 

**Want to see more? Follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter!** 

My first blog giveaway!

Hey y'all! Today I have a fun blog post to share with you - I'm having a giveaway! I've done several giveaways on Instagram before but this time I decided to host it on my blog! This giveaway is to celebrate hitting 5k followers on Instagram - so I picked out a handful of my favorite things to giveaway to the people who have decided to join me on this super fun nail blogging journey I've been on. There will be multiple ways to enter - and some will gain you extra points. Before we get into the prizes, here are the rules:

- You MUST be 18 years of age or older. No exceptions.
- You MUST be in the United States or Canada. A U.S. address is okay for international entries but I cannot be held responsible once its left me.
- No giveaway accounts.
- Don't follow to unfollow!
- And lastly - NO drama of any type will be tolerated. Keep it fun!

So what do you win?!

3 rectangular stamping plates from bornprettystore.com

M Polish Polish of My People collection and 1 To Have and To Holo (minis)

M Polish Pekin and Cayuga (full size)

2 cuticle oils - Peony and Sun Kissed scents, and 3 Jasmine scented Nail Bombs

A mini GRAFFITI COLLECTION from Glam Glaze! 

Doesn't that sound like a deliciously awesome load of nail mail! I am so excited to give away my favorite things. A special thank you to M Polish for graciously providing the mini set of Polish Of My People and To Have and To Holo. All other prizes were purchased by myself.

Click on the link below to start rounding up your entries - the giveaway will run through 9/15/15!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Thanks for reading!

Lorelei Lacquer The Legend Of Flakies Swatch and Review!

Top left: Hero Of The Day, top right: Heart Container, bottom left, Zelda's Lullaby, bottom right: Hey! Listen!

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have some swatches from the upcoming The Legend Of Flakies collection by Lorelei Lacquer to share with you! This is my second time reviewing for Lorelei Lacquer and I was even more impressed with this collection than I was the last. The formulas on all four of these polishes are phenomenal. Ready for the individual swatches? Me too! Let's jump right in! 

Lorelei Lacquer Hero Of The Day taken in artificial light

Lorelei Lacquer Hero Of The Day with Triforce vinyl from Vinyl It Up

Macro of Hero Of The Day

The first polish from the collection is called Hero Of The Day. The maker describes this one to be a green crelly with intense green shimmer and copper to green shifting chome flakies. Shown in my photos in 3 thin coats plus Seche Vite topcoat - this one has a really nice formula. It easily applied in thin coats with a great disbursement of flakes across all of my nails. Its a bit on the thin side but I didn't have issues with it flooding my cuticles. I didn't have to fish for the flakies at all - it was jam packed with them. Hero Of The Day dried to a shiny finish on its own. Hero Of The Day is a stunningly unique polish with a great formulation and application.

Lorelei Lacquer Heart Container taken in artificial lighting 

Lorelei Lacquer Heart Container with Lorelei Lacquer vinyl from Vinyl It Up 

Lorelei Lacquer Heart Container in direct sunlight 

Macro of Heart Container

The second polish I swatched from The Legend Of Flakies collection is Heart Container. The maker describes this one as a deep berry pink holo with metallic red flakies. Its shown in my pictures as two coats plus Seche Vite topcoat. This is one of two in the collection that could easily be a one coater with the right type of application. This one is thicker than Hero Of The Day but definitely not unworkable or difficult in application. I was completely amazed with how opaque this one was! The red flakies are sparse but there are just enough to add a beautiful red flash. Heart Container also dries to a shiny finish on its own. The holo is very apparent in direct sunlight! This is another very unique and beautiful polish.

Lorelei Lacquer Zelda's Lullaby in artificial lighting 

Lorelei Lacquer Zelda's Lullaby in direct sunlight 

Macro of Zelda's Lullaby

The third polish in The Legend Of Flakies collection is Zelda's Lullaby - described as the maker as an intense blue - violet holo with pink and purple shifting chrome flakies. My photo shows it in two coats plus Seche Vite topcoat - this is the second of the two in the collection that could easily be applied in one coat. ONE COAT! The flakies in this one are similarly dense to Hero Of The Day and the formula is a bit thicker like Heart Container but it still easily applied in two thin coats. This one also dries to a shiny finish on its own. The holo is a bit stronger in Zelda's Lullaby than in Heart Container. I do not own anything like Zelda's Lullaby, it is absolutely a must have! 

Lorelei Lacquer Hey! Listen! in artificial lighting

Lorelei Lacquer Hey! Listen! in artificial lighting

Macro of Hey! Listen!

The final polish in The Legend Of Flakies collection by Lorelei Lacquer is called Hey! Listen! which is described by the maker as a grey crelly with intense blue shimmer and blue flakies along with royal blue and fuchsia glitters. This is the most sheer out of the 4 - requiring 3 coats for opacity. Hey! Listen! has an even distribution of glitters with no fishing. Though the coats are sheer - the color build to opacity nicely in thin coats without winding up thick or goopy. Hey! Listen! dries to a shiny finish on its own like all the others in the collection. As I said with all of them - this polish is unique to my collection. Being a lover of crellies - I feel like everyone should own Hey! Listen!

If you'd like to see a full live swatch and review of these polishes - click below! 

Final thoughts on this collection: The Legend of Flakies collection is such a well rounded collection of 4 polishes. While I myself did not grow up playing video games (I know, I know!) my sister and husband both did and they give their 100% stamp of approval to the inspirations behind these. As far as formula and application - Lorelei Lacquer hit it out of the part and I believe she keeps churning out collections like this one, she will be a huge success in the indie world!

The Legend Of Flakies collection by Lorelei Lacquer will be available September 1st, 2015 at 12:01AM CT and will include these 4 polishes, 10 of the Triforce vinyls, and 2 Lorelei Lacquer vinyls (especially made for this launch by Vinyl It Up) for $40 (includes the shipping cost)! The launch will also include the "The Cake Is Not A Lie" duo - make sure you're a part of the Lorelei's Sirens fan group on Facebook so you don't miss any discount codes, specials, and giveaways! You can also use my code PISHPOSH10 for 10% off your order!

Restocks have changed to the 1st and 15th of every month which means quicker shipping times! So if this collection is sold out, mark your calendars for the restock dates!

What do you think of this collection? Are you a The Legend of Zelda fan? 

Thanks for reading! 

**Want to see more? Follow me on all of my social media to see more swatches and reviews!**

**These products were provided by the maker for photography and review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. I was not compensated.**

M Polish To Have And To Holo!

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have a new polish from M Polish to share with you. Feast your eyes on To Have and To Holo (how cute is that name?!) from M Polish - a silver linear holographic stamping polish. To Have and To Holo was available for preorder as of August 10th and I just received my order a couple of days ago - I used it the very first day I got it. I'm going to show you the mani I did with it...ready? Let's go! 

To Have and To Holo is a silver super holographic (linear) stamping polish that shows beautifully over lighter or darker colors. In my mani, I paired it with Powder Perfect Melusina which is a teal based jelly glitter bomb. It was my first time using both polishes - and they played so nicely together. Since Melusina has some circle glitter in it, I picked this swirly image from a Cici&Sisi plate to stamp over it with To Have And To Holo. My experience with other M Polish is that my images pick up flawlessly on the first go and this one was no exception. Look at the detail in this macro! 

To Have and To Holo is currently sold out but will be restocking at the end of August so keep your eyes open - this is definitely a must have for stamping lovers. (EDIT: To Have And To Holo is back in store! Go get yourself one!!!) I think its going to look so beautiful over many different colors which is exciting with fall coming up and then the holidays being after that. Can we say holo stamped Christmas manis?! 

Will you be picking this beauty up from M Polish? 

Thanks for reading, 

**Want to see more? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to see more swatches and nail art!**

bornprettystore Rectangular Stamping Plate Review!

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have a review of a rectangular stamping plate from bornprettystore to share with you. I am SO excited to share this with you guys - this is my first rectangular stamping plate from BPS and I was super pleasantly surprised with how nice it was - keep reading for more pics and to see the video review I did! 

First impressions of the plate itself is that I adore the sleeve it comes in - BPS packaging has really gotten a lot nicer and though their plates aren't expensive - you feel like you're getting a more high end product when it comes in this sleeve.                                                    

It comes with the standard blue film over the plate to protect it which was easily removed by peeling from a corner down toward the other side of the plate. The plate is also mounted on a hard plastic backing to protect the user from the raw edge of the plate which is a really nice addition for any plate, in my opinion.

First impressions on the images of the plate - this plate has a really nice compilation of images that are diverse enough to give you lots of options for different manis but cohesive enough to feel like the plate "goes" together. For this review, I used the right half of the plate with the dense floral images. I LOVE that half of the plate because I think it would make excellent reverse stamping decals or would work well for lead lighting manis. 

As far as the actual stamping goes - this plate gets many thumbs up. Its etched deeply and evenly across the plate and the images pick up crispy and neatly on the first go. I used M Polish Cayuga black stamping polish and my Creative Shop Stamper from Whatsupnails to pick up the images and was thoroughly impressed with the cleanliness of the images! I also did a video review and demo on my Youtube channel, you can watch it here:

Final thoughts on this plate - a really great plate, especially given the cost of the plates from BPS. If someone gave me this plate, I would never imagine that it was so inexpensive. I highly recommend picking these up if you were thinking about trying them. I doubt you'll be disappointed. You can find this plate HERE.

Don't forget that you can use my code - PPPQ10 for 10% off your order of originally priced items. 

Have you tried the rectangular stamping plates from bornprettystore? Which is your favorite? (I want to go buy it! lol) 

Thanks for reading! 

**Want to see more? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more nail art and swatches!** 

**I was sent this plate free of charge in exchange for my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. I was not compensated.**