As the title suggests I am here to talk about the website Bornprettystore.com I have had these items sent to me for review purposes but I am giving you my honest feedback on them. I love anything nail related and I really enjoy finding bargains too. You can certainly count on this website to find really affordable prices and good quality product. However you do have to take into consideration the delivery time as these items are coming from another country, they can take a few weeks to get to you. I personally would rather pay £1 for an item and wait a couple weeks for it, than pay £4 for the exact same item just because it will get to me in a few days. This company sells more than just nail art items, but I am only here to talk nails with you :)
Here are the four items I choose to share with you; full nail stencils, angel paper, chevron striping tape and shell paper.
First up is this really cool triangle full nail stencil. There is 12 in the packet which I think is great! Now you are probably thinking, why would you need 12, you only have 10 fingers? The way I see it is if you are anything like me then you like to do a practice nail or two before fully committing to a design. On the other hand, you could use a full set of 10 then at another stage use the last two for accent nails! You can find this product HERE and there are a few other styles on offer too. The material is good quality, it's not so flimsy that it would rip but it is also flexible enough to mold comfortably around your nail. Looking forward to using this soon.
Item number two is not your average striping tape, this is zig-zag style! I was excited to see this as I had yet to see it anywhere else and its different to your standard straight tape. The quality again is really good and strong and you can cut to any length. You have flexibility in the way you use the tape; either apply it on your nail for decoration or use it like a stencil and peel off after painting polish over the top. You can find it HERE in a total of six different colours.
Item number three is a shell sheet. This is like a giant sticker that you can cut to size and apply to your nail as you wish. One unfortunate thing is that when I peeled it from the outer paper, some of the glue peeled off a very small part of the design. Still though I like the idea of the product that it almost looks like Paua shell (hope I'm spelling that right....) and its much easier to apply. You can find it HERE and once again there are other colour options available to you.
Last item is what I call angel paper. This one I was most excited about receiving! This seems to be the "in" nail product right now with many nails techs and hobbyists alike using it. It's actually what I'm currently wearing on my nails, but I'll share those pics in a few. This is very thin almost cellophane like material that you can cut to any size/shape you want. You will probably have most often seen it used in "stained glass" nail designs. It's a really versatile piece and I love it. You can find it HERE
Here is how I used it. I made black and white stained glass nails. You can see when put over black you really get that green coming through but when placed over white it's the pink that comes out. I can't wait to experiment more with this in the future and definitely try it over other base colours. I have a tutorial for this design on my YouTube Channel along with the review vid for these items. (Videos go live 27/12/15) I would like to thank bornprettystore for sending me these items to review. If you do decide to check out the site then please feel free to use my 10% off code AIJW10. Until next time, Lyn
Hey all :) It's been a little since I put up a blog and now I have this backlog of things I want to talk through and share with you all and don't seem to have the time to do it especially with it being Christmas soon. Anyway, lets not get distracted with the list of things to be done and instead get on to the topic at hand; Meebox. Now you all know how much I love my nail subscription boxes and I had been thinking about trying this one out for a little while. The one thing that was putting me off it was the price tag of £20 per month (inc P+P). To help you compare this to other sub boxes Nailbox is £15 (inc P+P) and Coloristiq is £15 + £2.80 P+P. Now you can argue with me that there isn't exactly a huge difference between them all price wise and I have to agree with you, but I still took some time before ordering. I can say though that I am really impressed with my package and I do believe it to be worth that £20 price tag. If you want to check them out you can find them here: Meebox Website
Just like other sub boxes, each month is based on a theme with this one being Ice Queen. They also sent you a Christmas card. Each box will always contain 3 polish and then some nail art items or nail treatments. The art items this month is a pack of water decal snowflakes, a pot containing bar glitters and a cute pocket sized nail file that has a chain for you to attach it where you want it. The nail art items have come from the website Sparkly Nails. You also got 3 swatch sticks for trying out the polishes.
First polish is It's Raining Men by Color Club. This is a tricky one to photograph as it's a deep blue/purple like a petrol effect. It was opaque is just one coat but I applied two to hide the imperfections in my nails.
I think this bottle shot shows you the colour effect perfectly. You can see depending how the light hits it the colour effect changes. This polish really is stunning and a clear favorite for me!
You can also see it has that amazing micro glitter shimmer in there too. I can see me wearing this polish very soon, its just too amazing not to!
I took this shot with the light directly shining at it to show you what I mean by its chameleon properties. It went this deep green-blue tone. If you don't own this polish I highly recommend it for your collection!
Polish two is a brand I hadn't heard of; Crabtree & Evelyn in the colour Mica. This is a pretty gunmetal silver. Application was good but you do have to be careful of brushstrokes showing through. I applied two coats to make it opaque.
It's a really nice shade that fits well into the ice queen theme for the month. I don't have one like this in my collection as its on the darker side and most silvers tend to be lighter.
I only used two coats of colour and no top coat for all the pictures. What do you think of this shade and have you used this brand before?
Last polish of the box is actually one I have called Lotus Begin by China Glaze. I was actually disappointed to see that the formula has been changed and it looks nothing like my original bottle! The one shown here is three thin coats of the new bottle which shows it as a softer lilac shade.
Now here they are side by side. The bottom pinky nail is the new bottle and the other shows you three coats of my older bottle. Clearly different shades! I do like both of the colours but it's a shame that the company didn't manage to keep the formula the same.
This is the best picture for comparison. The newer formula also seems more creamy a finish. The polish could do with being a little more pigmented so that you don't need to do three coats but it is still a lovely colour.
So what are my overall thoughts on my first Meebox? At first I was put off by the £20 price tag but after seeing everything I got I am actually very happy with it and I feel it is worth the price. When you consider that posting something like this will cost £2.80, you are paying £17.20 for the actual products which was 3 full size polish, 3 nail pops and 3 nail art items. All in all a good deal in my opinion! I look forward to seeing what next months box contains. This is only the 5th box created by this company and I forsee them going for many years to come. Have you tried out this subscription? What are your thoughts?
I shall have the unboxing video up in the next few days so be sure to keep an eye out for that. Until next time, Lyn
Today's blog post is all about me! Well not exactly me, but my own indie polish range. You'll know I do reviews on here and share with you all other nail related thoughts that I feel like talking about but now it's time to talk just about my brand. Remember an earlier post where I started to look into the world of indie polish and I shared with you the ones I found and some swatches of ones I had purchased? That got me thinking into what you actually need to do to make your own. I did a lot of research and found a site that sells the materials needed and after some trial and error I can say I think I've got the hang of it now! I just recently opened up my own shop on Etsy and you can find me here trading under NailPopPolish.
I'm still new to the whole branding thing and I've been trying different avenues to get my name out there. If you follow me on any of my social media I have been sharing a lot of pictures, videos and nail art using my own brand. I've also sent out press samples to the lovely Mo from Pretty Quirky (Blog Here) and she shared some amazing pictures. It is so wonderful to have such positive feedback on something that I created and I'm happy my creations are being liked!
I feel like I've done enough rambling in this first part that it's time to share with you some pictures and videos.
This is my most recent uploaded video to YouTube and in it I used my polish Milkyway (it's the bluey-purple sheen you can see). I love the diversity of this polish. This is actually how it looks in the bottle:
This is a topper polish so you will get a different effect over different base polishes. If you want it to stay as close to the bottle colour you can get, apply it over white. I also think this looks great over a french manicure for that beautiful sheen.
For the moment I have 2 collections and 4 misc polishes (ones I created and liked but didn't have a particular theme for). You can find 7 in my Stars & Planets Collection, 3 in my Flowers Collection and 2 in my misc section. I sell in 5ml and 10ml bottles and all my range is 5-free.
What do you mean 5-free? You might have seen this come up in other polish collections (mainstream and indie) or even seen some saying 3-free. This means that my polish does not contain the following; Toluene, Formaldehyde & Dibutyl Phthalate(DBP), Camphor and Formaldehyde Resin. It is also cruelty free.
Here's one of my misc polishes, Sprinkles. This one is a really fun topper that contains multi-coloured matte circles. I wanted to create something different with this one and I think I achieved that.
This turned out to be a great macro shot of Forget-Me-Not as I managed to capture that golden sheen it has! This one as I'm sure you can guess is from the Flowers Collection. I am really pleased with this one as it comes out very opaque in two coats and when I first mixed it up I thought it might end up being a more sheer effect. It took me a while to name this one which surprised me. With my Stars & Planets Collection I had names picked out before I had the actual polish mixed up!
I created this nail art design recently and used Stellar over the black. Stellar is a mix of two different sized silver holographic glitter suspended in a clear base and I can't get enough of it over black! I am obsessed with all things shiney as I'm sure you can tell! I have just placed an order for some different holo pigment to try out and I can't wait for that! (That collection won't be available until 2016, so stay tuned for that!)
I don't want this post to go on for too long as I have so many pictures and videos I want to share. Instead I will leave you all my social media links and if you want to check out more nail art and everything else nails you can :)
Hello readers! It's almost the end of the month and that means it's time to talk about Nailboxuk November edition! This is the last one you will receive before Christmas so it is of course holiday themed. Let's take a look!
This month there is 3 polishes, 1 nail file, 1 candy cane and a pack of glue on nails. The file is a really nice quality 180 grit by Orly. The glue on nails are not something I will use so I can't comment on how those perform.
First shade is Park Lane by True Brit London. A very unusual shade but one that is well suited to a Christmas themed box. Application was good, a bit see through on first coat but solid after a second.
I've used two coats of colour and no top coat. This shade is certainly a unique one for my collection, I can't say that I've seen another like it. This isn't a colour that I would normally buy and that's one reason why I like the surprise each month. It encourages me to try out things I wouldn't normally.
What do you think? I'm looking forward to trying out some nail art ideas using it and Nailbox have certainly provided 3 solid "Christmassy" colours for you to play with. They also provided a leaflet in the box containing nail art ideas for you to copy.
Polish two is by Rimmel London and is a classic red. Called Double Decker Red, I have done two coats and no top coat.
This had really good coverage on the first coat. If you were in a hurry you could get away with it. The shape of the brush aided in the smooth application around the cuticles. The finish was a nice creamy red shade.
Our last polish is by OPI called Happy Anniversary. This is a sheer like glitter. For the pictures I have done 3 thin coats with no top coat.
You could certainly wear this polish layered over a base if you aren't so keen on seeing the nail tip. The glitter in this polish is really intense. I would like to give it a try over black to see how it looks.
It's really hard to truly capture the effect of the glitter in this polish. I love using ones like this over a classic french or on top of a black base.
So that's it for Novembers Nailboxuk. What did you think of this months choices? I always look forward to receiving this each month and enjoy the surprise upon opening. You can also check out my Youtube video unboxing on my channel found here: Nala Nails YouTube
I also just opened my own shop on Etsy for selling my own brand of Indie nail polish, check it out here: Nail Pop Polish
Hey :) It's that time again for a review post! I recently received 3 more items from bornprettystore to try out and share with you all. The items I picked were liquid tape, a colour change polish and a stamping plate.
Before going further into the post I'd just like to say that even thought I have been sent these items for free, I am not paid to do this review and I'm giving you my honest opinions on these products. Bornprettystore is a really affordable place for nail art items along with clothing and household items (though I have only purchased/reviewed the nail art). You have to be patient on shipping as it can take a few weeks sometimes to get to you but I feel that the low prices make this worthwhile. Plus its free shipping world wide. Bornpretty Website
First item we have a stamping plate. This one is BP43 and has 4 images on it. I do test out all 4 images in my youtube video so feel free to check that out.
All the plates I've tried from BPS are of good quality and the images come out strong. This one ended up having a Christmas feel to it when I seen what looks like a Xmas tree in it.
For doing the stamping I used the BPS squishy XL stamper. I LOVE this stamper. It's the easiest to use that I've tried. I did a previous review blog/youtube vid on that item if your interested in seeing more.
For the second item I choose this purple colour changing polish. The cold colour is deep purple with gold glitters which turns to the warmer violet/light purple when warm. I had so much fun playing with this in cups of hot and cold water haha. There is just something so enjoyable about colour change polish, I loved it.
The colour was thick and nearly opaque in one coat. Though I say the consistency was thick I don't mean that it was hard to apply, quite the opposite. Application was really nice and easy and I did two coats. There are plenty other colours to choose from too (12 to be exact).
The last item I reviewed was BPS liquid peel off tape. I have been wanting to try this for ages so was happy to get this to test out. It felt weird to put on - it's like you're painting nail polish onto your skin! I try it out in my youtube video which I will link at the end for you.
Overall thoughts? I have to say my favourite is the colour change polish! The application was amazing and I enjoyed making it change colour. I can see me using the liquid tape more in the future especially when I do a sponged design to speed up the cleaning process. The stamping plate worked perfectly, each image came out strong and transferred over to the nail. The prices are really affordable and highly competitive with the same items being sold in the UK at a higher price.
Thank you bornprettystore for sending me these items to review. If you'd like to see my video it will be live at 10am 24/11/15 on my channel here: Nala Nails Youtube Channel
Hey :) It's time for another Coloristiq mani box! This month the theme was Mr bond to coincide with the release of the movie.
I go on about this every box, but look at the packaging! This month your polish was contained within 3 small black tie boxes. I actually still have previous months packaging also as I find it too cute to throw out! So now that you know the theme, lets get into the polishes sent which all kept in line with the Bond trend.
First polish is an OPI mini. Now there is 4 different ones available so you might not get the same one as me here. This colour is Love Is In My Cards. This had good coverage in one coat but I've done two here to make it completely opaque.
It's a deep red shade and looks stunning. Even in in a mini bottle the application with the brush is flawless as it's not actually much smaller than a standard sized brush. I do find it a little awkward to hold the small lid though!
Which colour did you end up with?
For polish two we have Essie Partner In Crime, a rich chocolate brown. This is not a shade I would normally buy so I was looking forward to trying it out with my skin tone and I actually quite like it on me!
This is two coats of colour and no top coat. This was actually very good coverage with just one coat and I'm sure you could get away with just one if you were short on time.
What do you think of this shade? Is it something that you would wear? I think I need to do some experimenting using this in nail art soon.
Third polish to share with you is Silver by Calvin Klein. I didn't even know they made nail polish! This silver is gorgeous though with a light dusting of glitter flecks through it.
This is two coats and no top coat. Once again the coverage with just one coat was nearly enough to stop with that. The polish formula worked really well with smooth application.
The only thing I didn't like about this one was the square lid. I just find it a bit awkward to get a comfortable grip on the lid when they are shaped like that.
Our last polish is a full size OPI called Int'l Crime Caper. It's best used as a topper though as you can see on the pinky and ring finger, two coats does give a nice coverage.
Over black you get this amazing red/blue/purple glittery effect! This was just one coat and no top coat.
How about white? Though it's hard to pick up in the picture the effect over white is subtle yet eye catching so I would recommend it. This polish would also look great over a classic french.
Two coats and no top coat. It really is a beautiful colour. I love using this type of polish either over black or over a french.
So that's the contents from November 2015 Coloristiq mani box. Just to clarify that I paid for this box myself and I'm giving you my honest opinions here. I like that you can see what is in the box before committing to buying it as I actually ended up not buying October's box as I didn't really like the contents. This way you are never going to get something you don't like. If you want to check out Coloristiq you can find them here: Coloristiq Website
Here are the four items I choose to share with you; full nail stencils, angel paper, chevron striping tape and shell paper.
First up is this really cool triangle full nail stencil. There is 12 in the packet which I think is great! Now you are probably thinking, why would you need 12, you only have 10 fingers? The way I see it is if you are anything like me then you like to do a practice nail or two before fully committing to a design. On the other hand, you could use a full set of 10 then at another stage use the last two for accent nails! You can find this product HERE and there are a few other styles on offer too. The material is good quality, it's not so flimsy that it would rip but it is also flexible enough to mold comfortably around your nail. Looking forward to using this soon.
Item number two is not your average striping tape, this is zig-zag style! I was excited to see this as I had yet to see it anywhere else and its different to your standard straight tape. The quality again is really good and strong and you can cut to any length. You have flexibility in the way you use the tape; either apply it on your nail for decoration or use it like a stencil and peel off after painting polish over the top. You can find it HERE in a total of six different colours. 
Item number three is a shell sheet. This is like a giant sticker that you can cut to size and apply to your nail as you wish. One unfortunate thing is that when I peeled it from the outer paper, some of the glue peeled off a very small part of the design. Still though I like the idea of the product that it almost looks like Paua shell (hope I'm spelling that right....) and its much easier to apply. You can find it HERE and once again there are other colour options available to you.
