Born Pretty Store Leaf Shaped Studs

I've been building up a healthy collection of studs lately so when the opportunity arose, I put my hand right up and asked to review these leaf shaped studs from Born Pretty Store. I loved the variety of neon and pastel colours and they seemed versatile enough to create lots of designs. Best bit? They come in a wheel. I'm terrible at spilling studs all over the place when they are in bags. Does that happen to anyone else? No? OK. Either way I'm so very glad they came in this handy little package. 

When I got the my hands on the little wheel, the only design I could think of was flowers. It seemed like an obvious choice so I put some more thought into it and it felt like I had a light bulb moment. Rainbows? There wasn't enough room. Fireworks! It would be awesome to recreate fireworks and I could still use rainbow colurs. Here's my take. Please note that these pictures are colour inaccurate but you get an idea of what can be done with these studs.  

I started with one coat of Models Prefer in Hickory Dickory, a dusty blackened out navy blue, and topped my index finger, thumb and pinky with a coat of Seche Vite. To prevent any smudging/bumping/having-to-redo-any-nails, I waited for the topcoat to dry completely and proceeded to apply Ulta3 Clear on my middle finger. I got myself sticking studs from the bottom in a fan out design without waiting for the clear polish to dry. I picked Ulta3's Clear polish because I thought it would be a slower-than-topcoat drying polish but it dried before I was done with one nail and each nail only took me a little over a minute. I've had topcoats that dried slower than that but I have run out so I just kept adding fresh thin coats of Clear until I was done with the nail. I mirrored the design on my ring finger to simulate the fireworks on a dark night.

Source

Looks the same, yeah? Actually it reminds me of this... Sort of.

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I knew that if I didn't topcoat the studs, they would end up falling out within the hour and I really liked the look, so I applied one thick coat of Seche Vite on my ring and middle fingers. This is where the mani went pear shaped. A lot of bubbles started forming around the studs and there was nothing I could do about it!!! I just had to watch it fail...

I went out to the sun to take photos because natural light is very forgiving on those little details. Do me a favor, squint your eyes while looking at the following pic. Doesn't that look good? :)

I still wanted to get a colour accurate picture so I went back to the light box. It still isn't showing the exact colours but it's better.

These studs should glow under black light but I don't have the equipment to test it out. I might have to invest on one. 

Putting the topcoat bubbling fiasco aside, I'm really happy with these manicure and the studs. They are sturdy, the colour doesn't bleed, they are small enough to fit a heap on your nails but big enough to not be fiddly and you get 300 pieces per wheel. I had a tiny bit of tip wear on one of the orange studs on my middle finger after about 12 hours, I'm not sure if it was my application or the quality of the studs. I haven't had any issues with the rest of the studs. The wheel is discounted at the moment for $5.59 here (or you can click on the photo below). 

If you are placing an order and haven't found one in any of the other million blogs that have a BPS store coupon code, feel free to use ours to receive 10% off full priced items.

Till next time, 

Laura

Disclosure: 
Affilliate Link. 
Studs were sent by Born Pretty Store for honest review. 
All other products featured were purchased by me.

September Tri-Polish Challenge Day 2

Don't forget to enter our giveaway here!

I'm trying to keep this challenge simple so I don't end up frustrated and quit before I even begin. For Day 2 of the September Tri-Polish Challenge I decided to go with some easy chevrons after my base got smudged. Yes, I have a problem with smudging my polish because of impatience and lack quick drying topcoat!!! 

For this attempt, I used two thin coats of China Glaze in Sweet Hook, let it dry and then used striping tape to create the chevrons with Essence in Absolutely Blue. I finished it all off with a coat of Ulta3's Clear polish.

I've noticed that pastel colours can look my hands look a bit lobster-ish in photos and in real life but I'm still loving the softness of mani. 

Hold on. Aren't I supposed to use three colours for this challenge?  Well, I am but the third one is hidden. I've been wanting to do Louboutin nails for a while but my nails never reached a workable length. I know I won't be able to grow them much longer than these as I will be going back to work and when I go back to work, they tend to break. I also figured the pink I was using was close enough to red, right?

They required a bit of preparation, patience and clean up but I love the way they look. I only wish I could have taken better photos but they were so tricky to capture correctly!

So that's my entry for today but don't forget to check others below.


Till next time, 

Laura