Peach Cuticle Oil & Stamping Guide - Born Pretty Store Review


*This post contains an item(s) that was provided for reviewing purposes however I will as always give my full and honest opinion.

Allo polish Pals,

How are you all doing today? Do you have anything planned for this weekend?
I am going to have a quiet one but I'd like to get lots of organising done and hopefully try out some new harder work outs – argh, scary!

There's going to be quite a few things going on in my life soon... I wont go into it now but I've kind of decided to stop reviewing certain things. I almost feel like by posting certain things myself I am not really being honest to myself, in doing that I am creating sort of.. half hearted posts and not ones I am proud of myself for. I WILL let you know whats going on towards the end of the month :)

Today though I am showing you two items from The Born Pretty Store – a peach cuticle oil and a stainless steel stamping guide (And we all know what a great stamper I am..aha..haha.. - that's a nervous laugh in case you hadn't guessed.)

Lets take a look at this cuticle oil shall we? 


I've been having AWFUL trouble with my cuticles, my middle finger.. I have no idea what even happened there?! But the good news is this handy little cuticle pen has been awesome for on the go. I admit I could take better care of my cuticles – and I always intend to but housework stuff always takes over and then I look down and see what a state they are in! 

This nifty little pen contains 2ml full of luscious cuticle oil,  more than enough for a quick pamper on the go!

This cuticle pen has a handy twist nozzle on the top that allows the oil to flow as needed. The scent is peach flavoured but it doesn't smell like natural peach. I'd say it reminds me more of a peach liqueur which means it does have a really sweet scent but I do like it, its not overly sickly sweet but rather cute!



The next item I have to show you is a stamping guide (G002) I was really intrigued by this concept even though I am not a keen or active stamper, I was wondering if a novice such as myself would be able to get the guide in place and stamp the pattern before the polish dried up. Luckily I was! I found this guide easier to use than anticipated however I did do these as decals because I didn't have much faith in myself, ha! 

These plates are approximately 12cm x 6m and are easy to align with stamping plates.  

I think these are a really cool idea but I do think the other guide patterns may be more interesting because the triangle shape, for example, could be achieved with regular tape. You can check out the other guides here.

Overall I think both the items are really good, the cuticle oil I find really handy for at my desk, its great to dab a little on as I write a blog post and its certainly ideal for taking in my purse (who wants to faff around with a bottle of oil on the go?!) I also think stamping artists will have fun making so many cool designs with these guides – I am not very creative with stamping but I can forsee some beautiful manicures created with these guides!

How often do you apply cuticle oil, and do you have a go-to brand? Have you tried a stamping guide before?

Have an awesome day, my friends! I'll catch you again on Monday when I'll have some more freehand nail art to show you!


Love,
Ithi

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Cute Animal Rectangular Stamping Plate - Born Pretty Store Review



*This post contains an item(s) that was provided for reviewing purposes however I will as always give my full and honest opinion.


Allo polish Pals!
How are you all doing today? I hope you are having a great week so far? My days are SO mixed up, Monday was a national holiday here in Holland so Monday felt like a Sunday and every day since feels 'off'. Do you ever get that?

Today I have another review for you.. I feel like you guys might not like seeing my review posts as much so I am going to try and be really selective on what I show you from now on; I know seeing similar products can get a bit brain-nulling and while I blog for my own happies I also of course really care what you guys think!

Today I have 'CuteAnimals Rectangular Stamping Plate / BP-L063' from the Born PrettyStore to show you; We all know how great my 'stamping' skills are.. ha.. I tried my first ever reverse stamping! Close your eyes, its a sight for sore eyes! 

 Hats, bra's and toupee's off to you, ya genius stampers out there! I have always enjoyed seeing well stamped manicures and hold so much admiration for those who can make such beautifully neat designs. I am not a natural stamper.. and it does not come easy for me, even pairing images and colours I struggle with... so I truly admire your skills!! 

You'll notice on my middle finger I sort of cut out the 'bad dog, police dept' on the decal.. I'm not sure what happened to it.. but it went bye-bye's :'(

The polishes I used this time were Born Pretty Stores 'Together Forever' holographic polish, Born Pretty Store's Black stamping polish and Essie's 'Splash of Grenadine'.


Lets move onto the plate, shall we? This plate has some beautiful full animal patterns which is what really drew me to it, my favourite has to be the dog pattern I used and also the elephants, cats, dolphins.. Actually MOST of them. I also like that this plate comes with some singular smaller animals which is probably ideal for the stamping geniuses of the world who can mix and match patterns and designs together (I am not even going to attempt that!)

I also liked that there was a few of these designs which work really well with reverse stamping an
d that was what I wanted to try most. Overall I think this plate is a great addition to a stamping addicts collection.

What do you guys think of my first ever reverse stamping nail art? Do you own any animal nail stamping plates?

Have a beautiful day, my friends! I will catch YOU again on Saturday! Take care and thank you for dropping bye!



Love,
Ithi
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Silver 6ml Born Pretty Stamping Polish - Born Pretty Store Review

Allo polish Pals!

I hope you are having a great week so far!
We're almost into December, does it feel/look festive where you are? I have been resisting the urge to feel Christmasy for a while if I am honest but I'm feeling it inside! I'm just having a hard time trying to make winter nail art... I don't like being cold OR thinking of the cold.. I actually have beach and rainbowy nails coming up soon...Oppsie.

Anyway, today I am showing you something that is also perfect for the festive season as well as all year round. Silver always looks beautiful in manicures so lets take a look at this '6ml Born Pretty Stamping Polish' in Silver...from.. The Born Pretty Store. Statin' the obvious there, eh?



This polish comes in a cute little square bottle and contains 6ml silver stamping polish. At first I was a little surprised at the size of the bottle but for the price it is actually not bad at all, considering it is for stamping and not applying on all your nails like a regular polish it should last a pretty long time. One of the first things I noticed while using this polish is that it doesn't have a very bold distinct smell like some stamping polishes, at least no stronger than a regular polish.

The polish itself is a beautiful shade of silver. Not too dark, not too like and it stamps on the nail with a beautiful foil-like finish so it catches the light perfectly and looks really interesting against all types of colours. It is for that reason that I actually paired it with the acrylic stamping, to see how it looked against the transitioning shades.

I found this polish to pick up the image very well pretty much every time (the times it didn't can be accounted to my stamping inexperience) and it was not too annoying to clean up around the nails. No one likes metallic fingers..

I had a really good experience with this polish and if I had to repurchase in the future I totally would, silver is one of my faves to stamp with and this one is no let down.

What do you think about this silver stamping polish? Have you tried any of the Born Pretty Store stamping polishes before?

Have a beautiful day my friends! Thank you for visiting, Don't forget to leave your thoughts below!
I'll catch you again on Thursday!

Love
Ithi
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Jungle-Princess Nail Art! Freehand Leaves And Golden Stamping

Allo polish Pals!
How are you doing today? I hope your week is going well! I'm having fun being at home with my family (still missing Mr Bravo but I gotta make the most of this time with everyone) I just want to say... don't forget to come back on Saturday when my international giveaway starts!

Today's nail art was really spur of the moment, I wanted to do some more stamping but with freehand nail art too. I opted for gold.. and then had this sort o f jungle-like vision! I think it kinda does suit the idea, don't you? I added a gold feather stud from my Sea themed nail art wheel – You can see my review about those stud/charms here.


For this manicure I used my usual base coat of OPI's 'Nail Envy' and proceeded with two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage' for my white base. Next I stamped using Barry M's 'Gold Foil' (the foils are amazing for stamping, why are there not more?!) and my Fab Ur nails plate, FUN16 plate. I really loved this pattern. I then applied a coat of my Pro-fx top coat, allowed drying time and then created some freehand leaves along the top of my nails.

For my ring finger I created a really thin line of green acrylic paint and tried to add a sort of..'adornment', some kind of princess-jungle like jewelry made of tiny Model's Own golden beads and the feather stud/charm.

When I'd finished this manicure I looked at my nails and sighed. I thought it was really terrible, but you know what? Its sort of grown on me. I think it fits the theme nicely!

What do you think of these Jungle-Princess themed nail art? Do you like to add studs and beads to your stamping?

Have a beautiful day! I'll catch you again on Saturday...for the giveaway!
Love
Ithi
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Silver Seahorse's, Acrylic Gradient & A Full Studded Accent!

Allo polish Pals!
How are you all doing today? I hope you are going to have a fun weekend!

Apologies for today's post.. Its not the best thing ever.. I know.. I'm sorry and I was also supposed to be showing you Canada day nail art however I've been really stressed and short on time; I did them. Twice.. and then ruined them both in different ways :( So today I am showing you something from a while ago.. 

I have another one of my noob-stamping adventures today. I have to say, I feel like this looks like I didn't have a top coat on it... I'm sure I did though! I also don't have the best ever pictures as my camera ran out of battery.... Yeah I'm still not used to having to remember to charge it, baha, even though I've been using it since Christmas... Opps!


I started with my usual base coat of OPI's 'Nail Envy' which I swear by for long, strong, healthy nails. I began this nail art with a white base using NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage'. I used two coats and allowed to dry. Next I used my acrylic paints and a brush to create a blue to green gradient. I'm sure this is much more time consuming than a good old polish/sponge gradient but I just feel like it looks a little more unique... I'm not sure, I like that I can mix the colours I want :) I then proceeded to stamp (not that badly?) using my Barry M 'Silver Foil' polish and the BPL-025 plate. For my ring finger... I just stuck lots of studs and gems on – not much else I can say about that, ha!

What do you think of my vibrant seahorse nail art? Yay or nay to full stud accents?!
I'm desperately working on posts to cover my time in England. If anyone wants to guest post during the two weeks hit me an email - A less stressed Ithi would have put up an application form weeeeks ago!

Have a beautiful weekend, I'll catch ya on Monday!!
Love
Ithi
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Stamped Shaded Nail Art With Acrylic-Gradient's!

Allo polish Pals!
How are you doing today? Did you have a great weekend? I didn't really get up to much,I created some nail art that basically took all day. I was about 60% done on my first version before I messed up. I then started again. I took pictures, I was sort of satisfied with my freehand but the accent nails didn't please me at all so I ended up redoing three fingers again and finally.. I was happy with it!!

Today's manicure was created after some brain storming and planning. I wanted to do something that involved acrylic and freehand with the combination of nail art stamping. I'll explain below how I actually created this! Its not the neatest looking manicure but I feel like I could maybe take this idea and go in different ways with it!

For this manicure I began with my usual base of OPI's 'Nail Envy'. I then proceeded with two coats of NYC's 'Williams Vintage'. I allowed this to dry and then created a wavey line with grey acrylic paint – I did these lines from one side to the other on each nail. Next I used black, grey and white acrylic paint to 'shade' one side of each nail, leaving the other side plain and white. I then used Born Pretty Store's 'Black Stamping Polish' (review and info here) and tried to stamp mainly my black and white side of each nail. Some stamping overlapped onto the white side but that doesn't matter. I allowed that to dry and then created a pinky/purple gradient with my acrylics and fave brushes – this also took care of any stamping that had strayed over my original grey line. I finished up by adding a line between the greyscale side and the coloured side, cleaned around the edges using my clean up brush and applied my Pro-FX top coat to seal it all in. Of course I had to try matte, matte certainly one!

I really like how effective it looks. It could be better but I really liked experimenting with combining different things. I can see more manicures like this in the future. Its a nice mix and quite an enjoyable process for when I don't feel like doing full on freehand.

What do you think of this acrylic/stamping combo? Do you like mixing up techniques?
Have a wonderful day, I'll catch you again on Wednesday!
Love
Ithi
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Freehand Jewels On Shaded, Stamped Nails

Allo polish Pals!
How are you all doing on this..thrilling Thursday?! I can't say mine will be too thrilling but I'll be out the house. Do you have anything awesome going on at the moment? Most exciting news I have is.. Bike rides! Ride, ride, ride! I don't want to go anywhere any other way now, I love Doris. I'm planning on taking my original camera out one day - its a bit grey/super hot/stormy here atm and very unpredictable and then I'll try some Panoramic pictures.

Today's manicure... is... different. I wanted to try mixing acrylic and stamping together to create something interesting. I am not sure if I made a 'good interesting' or just a bad manicure!

My aim was to shade my nails, painting greys and blacks around the nails and fading into white at the center (much like a radial gradient but done with acrylics and brushes) I wanted to give the nails a sort of 3D look. You can judge for yourselves if you think I achieved that.
As always I started with my OPI 'Nail Envy' base coat. For this manicure I began with two coats of NYC's 'Williamsburg Vintage' for my white base and added a coat of Pro-FX for a speedy dry time. I then took my acrylics and painted the edges of my nails various shades of grey and keeping the center's white. I then took my Born Pretty Store 'Black Stamping' polish and stamped each nail using my 'FUN16' nail stamping plate. Next I added a black border to all the nails and freehanded little diamonds to each other the nails, trying to shade them to look 3D. I also added Catrice's 'Matte & More' which gave it a really interesting pinky sheen!

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this nail art, I do feel like it has a sort of...Disney Villain look look about it? Maybe Malicicent would wear this grungey nail art?!

What do you think of this nail art experiment? Yay or nay?!
Have a wonderful day, I'll catch you on Saturday!

Love
Ithi
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Freaky Friday The 13th! Black Cat Stamping And Dry Brush

Allo polish Pals!
How are you doing today, are you looking forward to the weekend?

So today is Friday the 13th which means absolutely nothing to me, I'm not a very superstitious person (except on the journey to Mr Bravo's Nan's house where I have to see two specific things on route – I know, I'm quirky. If I don't see them I feel like its going to impact the day, lol.)

As you guys also probably know by now..I am a crazy cat lady without an actual cat. I do however have a beautiful boy in England called Mars, short for Marshall who is a black, shiny and so sweet. He lives with my parents and I know he is spoiled, pampered and cared for well, so while I miss him I know I don't have to worry too much.

I read recently that black cats can be chosen from pounds/rescue centers last simply because of the superstition surrounding black cats... I think this is so sad, Mars is just as lovable and loving as any cat could be, so I wanted to celebrate the 13th by doing black cat nails, because they are just as awesome.. Down with cat discrimination!



Mars as a kitten, d'aww!
For this manicure I began with my usual base coat of OPI's 'Nail Envy' and once dry (the blink of an
eye) I applied two coats of Catrice's 'The Sky So Fly'. On my ring finger and middle finger I decided to do some black cat stamping using Born Pretty Store's Black stamping polish (Click this to see my review) and the awesome BPL-025 stamping plate also from the Born Pretty Store.
On my remaining nails I did some dry brushing with Claire's 'Splash', Mary Kay's 'Blue Lotus' and the purple shades from the Essence 'Wake Up, Spring! Tie Die set.

To complete the manicure I added a black border using acrylic paint and topped it all off with a coat of my Pro-FX top coat.

What do you think of my stamped nails? Do you have any superstitions?
Have a wonderful weekend, come visit again on Sunday for a new nail art adventure! :)

Love
Ithi
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Black Stamping Polish: Born Pretty Store Review

Allo polish Pals

How are you all doing today? I hope you've had a great weekend so far, have you been up to anything fun? Yesterday I went on a mega blitz, I get overwhelming urges to clean. Our room wasn't messy as such but it was just time to go over everything, ya know? I feel so much calmer now that I've had that spring clean and even reorganized how I store my acrylics, now all my paints are easily grab-able mid-manicuring!

Today I have a Born Pretty Store Black Nail Art Stamping Polish ...from the Born Pretty Store (Oh duh, hah.) up for review. I thought it would be a great idea to try out the black polish since my half decent black polish is a real nightmare for stamping and comes out really faint. I want black, bold black stamping! I can't say I've tried many stamping polishes but I have really noticed a difference in using this one from my regular nail polishes.
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Spingy One-Stroke Flowers Over Stamping

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today? Did you have a wonderful Easter? We didn't really do anything here but I did get to have a little chat with my Niece and Nephew which really brightened up my day. Did you have anything happen at the weekend to put a smile on your face?

I recently decided to try one stroke again... I've tried before and I know its a technique that really grows with practice but I was quite happy with how a couple of my flowers turned out – I started this really late at night and I could see the quality of my concentration went down hill around the middle finger to the pinky. I also outlined my flowers with their starting colour which I think detracted from the one-stroke look....but hey, its fun to try things!


For this manicure I began with one of my fave polishes, Erre Due's '#155' (I so wish I could get this brand locally!!) And once dry decided to stamp (After years of detesting stamping.. look at me go!)
using Barry M's 'Green Berry' and my gorgeous FUN16 plate from Fab Ur Nails (I won a gift certificate in a contest recently – love their brushes and plates!) I then attempted my one stroke flowers and when finished applied my Pro-FX quick dry top coat.


I am really keen to try one stroke again sometime, preferably during the day time. When I start nails past 9pm it never ends great!

What do you think of my one-stroke attempt? Have you used that technique before?

Have a beautiful day,
Love
Ithi
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Silver Bling Mixed Rhinestones - Born Pretty Store Review

Allo polish Pals!

How are you doing today?! I hope you all have a lovely weekend! I don't have anything too special planned this weekend. Maybe some exercise but I'd love to really get myself in gear, get back to being as organized as I was at the start of the year.

I normally have lists floating around everywhere telling me what post goes up on what day, what I still need to complete, random ideas I have and more.. so I'm going to try and use this week to get it back!

Today I have some really simple but cute little studs to show you from the Born Pretty Store.
Now I know a lot of people will have wheels like this, I know I had clear rhinestones as one of my first pieces of nail art but I just feel like these are slightly prettier.. more like raindrops! These are Silver Bling Mixed Rhinestones.

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Clear Jelly/Marshmallow Nail Stamper And Scraper Set - Born Pretty Store Review

Allo polish Pals!
How are you doing today? What awesome things have you been getting up to this weekend?

Today I have a product to show you that seems to have so much hype surrounding it. The mighty clear jelly stamper. Now as you guys are well aware... Ithi don't stamp. I've tried many ways, many stampers, many scrapers..many a time. It was just something that didn't work out well for me (possibly due to lack of practice but I personally found my previous attempts just too frustrating)

Well.. Today I have the 'Clear/marshmallow silicone stamping set' from The Born Pretty Store to share with you... Am I impressed? You'll see.



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[ CLOSED ] Nail Art GIVEAWAY open internationally ~ Happy 3rd Blogiversary To Meeee

Allo polish Pals!
How are you today? Do you know what, I almost sailed passed my 3rd blogiversary! In true Ithi fashion I have been so busy scheduling posts to the extreme and planning things. I thought I was sooooo prepared for the date of my 3 year birthday celebrations but it turns out I was thinking my blogiversary was in November for some reason?! Sadly for that reason I didn't do the nail art I had been thinking of. What an epic fail. I guess that means I'll have to do something extra awesome next year!

I love blogging as much, no, more than I did in year one. I feel I've grown personally in my painting and I've also grown up along side you guys. Some of you have been here through both good and bad times and I am eternally thankful for the friends I have made through blogging. So heres a little thank you.

Luckily I had everything prepared already for the...surprise! Are you ready for a giveaway?! This giveaway will go to one lucky winner who will receive all 8 of these items. Lets have a close up look at what the prize is!


1. A set of 10 acrylic paints and one bamboo brush (The same type of brush I use for my freehand!)
2. A rubber stamper and a purple glass nail file.
3. 1 sheet mixed floral water decals.
4. A set of 5 stamping plates.
5. 1 bag of seashell studs .
6. 1 bag of sweet pink/gold flower studs - contains 5.
7.Mixed studs containing a random assortment (just like the one I reviewed but brand new, of course.)
8. 1 Sheet colourful floral water decals.

You can also enter by following me on Instagram, reposting and using the hashtag @ithigiveaway

Yes, I'll repeat again this IS open internationally.
All these items were purchased by myself and selected personally.
As I already stated, this giveaway ends on the 05/11/2015, 11.59pm GMT+.
By entering you are confirming you are 13+ years of age or have parental consent. The winner will be selected at random and will be contacted within 48 hrs from the closing time. If the winner fails to respond within 72 hours a new winner will be selected. I will not be held responsible for any damages, lost parcels or be obligated to issue a refund of items or replacement. - Basically I am poor, ha.


GOODLUCK everybody! I hope you will enter and share this giveaway with your friends so they have a chance to win too. If You've any questions - shoot! :)

Have a fantastic day!
Love
Ithi
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Mixed Pattern Stamping Plate - Born Pretty Store Review

*This item was sent to me to review but as always will contain my full and honest opinion.

Allo polish Pals!
How are you today? Today I will be out visiting some of Mr Bravo's friends, I'm happy about this as they are such a nice couple. Its good to get out! Today I am showing you a stamping plate from The Born Pretty Store. I fell in love with the plate when I saw it, I was thinking of all the colour combinations to put with these patterns!...This is plate is BP-21.


You can get 10% off your next order when you use the coupon code: DRX31 at the checkout <3 br="">

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Gothic Elegance

Allo polish Pals!
How are you today? I hope your having a great week so far?
I totally planned to post yesterday but if I am honest I am adjusting to being back in England. Mr Bravo and I are already enjoying ourselves. My Niece comes over for breakfast as my mum then drives her to preschool afterwards. It's lovely seeing her bright and happy smiles first thing in the morning! It is lovely being home and being able to spend time with everyone including the pets :) 

Today I have a post I did last week when I was back in Holland. It started off as a simple idea but I ended up adding borders and what not....



For this manicure I.... *struggles to remember* Used three polishes, Essie's 'Cashmere Bathrobe', Color Club's 'On The Rocks' and H&M's 'Matte Silver'. I want to tell you which polishes I started with but to be honest I am getting a bit muddled up looking at it, haha. On the tips of several nails I stamped using Nail Craze stamping plate in NC03 and on my remaining nails I added some large studs I picked up as part of a set a few weeks ago – Can you help me? What is the shape of these studs called? I really can not remember! Finally I finished it all off with silver and black borders.

What do you think of this dark creation? Do you like to do partial stamping manicures?

Have a great day my friends!
Love
Ithi
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Refreshing Pastels With Zigzags

Allo polish Pals!
How are you today? I hope your having a weekend with whatever plans you have made. Unluckily for me I seem to have picked up a cold... And I know who the culprit was. I'm telling myself I have one week to get better because I do not want to be sniffy on the airplane next weekend.
Today I have a creation I was really excited to show you but actually all that changed once I saw the pictures. I'm so sorry about the state of my nails, the crappy nail polish remover I am currently using is leaving my nails looking a mess so I apologize for the terrible clean up around my nails!




For this manicure I started with two coats of Barry M's 'Pearl' (Yes, again. Really.) I then used tape to create two diagonal sections and applied Barry M's 'Peach Melba' and Essence's 'That's What I Mint'. In hindsight I should have started with perhaps the peach or the mint so my lines would be neater. I then used Model's Own's 'Grey Day' to stamp MoYouNail's 128 plate to add the chevron pattern. On my ring finger I added a little of Essie's 'Set In Stones' to the tip and added a square/diamond stud.

I'm really feeling this manicure for spring. My weather detector seems to be so backwards doesn't it? Something about these colours just makes me so happy – If only it had been a neater manicure.

What do you think of this pastel combo with chevrons?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Love
Ithi
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