Breast Cancer Awareness ~ Glequins

Hey dolls! Today I have for you my first of several breast cancer awareness manis, which will take the place of Pink Wednesdays this month. Most of my long-term readers know that my mom is a two-time breast cancer survivor, so these looks are near and dear to my heart.

I recently received a set of loose glitter, affectionately known as "glequins", from BornPretty to review and I knew immediately that I wanted to use them for a BCA look. I started with two of my favorite Zoya pinks: Gilda and Flora. Three coats of Gilda were used and two coats of Flora for the accent. After Flora was dry, I applied the glequins individually by dipping a small dotting tool into top coat and placing them on the nail. I must admit that this process was extremely tedious. It took about 30 minutes to complete the accent nails.

Although this took way more effort than I expected, I love the final product! The glequins are small, but still very easy to apply to the nail. The pots are jam packed with glitter, so they are well worth the price. I barely made a dent in the glitter that was just stuck to the lid with this mani. This set comes with 12 different colors of glitter for $6.45. If you'd like to order this set from BornPretty, feel free to use my coupon code of TPJ61 for 10% off your order.

Ladies, please take the time each month to complete your self-examinations. Early detection is the key! For more information on breast cancer, how you can make donations, and to get involved locally, please check out Susan G. Komen and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

*BornPretty products in this post were provided by PR for review*

Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe Road & Born Pretty Stickers

Hey dolls! Today I'm wearing a polish that I wanted as soon as I saw pictures of it on Kellie Gonzo and Nails & Noms. Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe Road is a gorgeous dusty orange that is filled with a goldish green shimmer. The formula was absolutely flawless. It was opaque in one coat, but I did another just to increase the depth of the shimmer. Indoors, I have to admit, this did not look terribly unique. As soon as I stepped outside, I knew Santa Fe Road was well worth it!

Santa Fe Road is absolutely stunning in the sunlight! It is definitely one of my most unique oranges and I can see myself gravitating towards this polish during the fall. I didn't want to take Santa Fe Road off after two days, so I added some white floral Born Pretty stickers. The stickers were easy to use and laid flat on the nail. There were two that tore as I tried to pull them from the clear backing, but luckily the sheet comes with 20 stickers. I applied a thick layer of Nubar Diamont to keep the stickers in place.

The floral stickers added a very simple, yet chic look that still allowed me to enjoy Santa Fe Road. I love how effortless the stickers are and they are great for those who want a little nail art without the work. The stickers used can be purchased here. Feel free to use my Born Pretty 10% off code of TPJ61 if you are planning to order.

*Born Pretty products in this post were provided by PR for review*

Zoya Lolly & Mitzie + Born Pretty Lace Stickers

Hey dolls, I had to attend a scholarship ball for my sorority this past Friday and I wanted to do something fun on my nails. My dissertation was turned in for the first set of feedback late last week, so I had a little downtime for nails. I recently ordered Zoya Mitzie with a Bloom voucher and I wanted to pair it with Zoya Lolly for a fun pink and green look (my sorority colors). Lolly and Mitzie are bright, matte polishes. They both applied a tad bit streaky on the first coat, but evened out nicely with two additional coats.

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I love the way these two colors looked together. It was my intention to add a coat of Nail Venturous Floam, but I liked the simplicity of this look.

You may remember that I was sent a few sets of nail art stickers from Born Pretty. A couple of days later, I decided to add lace tips to this mani.

Elegant Lace Style Sticker HL211

The Born Pretty stickers were extremely easy to use. I simply chose the design I wanted and then removed it from the clear paper. The sticker was relatively tacky and I didn't have difficulty aligning them on the nails. I removed the entire sticker first, applied it to a nail, trimmed, and then moved on to the next nail. The stickers aren't that long though; one design was only enough for three nails. After the stickers were on, I applied a layer of Nubar Diamont top coat.

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This is so cute and girly! Pay no attention to how I put the sticker on upside down on my index finger. I didn't even notice until I was halfway done taking pictures. I was unable to remove it without ruining the polish under the sticker though because of the top coat. I guess that's a good sign that they will last for a bit. This is my kind of nail art; super easy, quick, and thoughtless. :) If you're interested in trying these stickers, don't forget to use my Born Pretty code of TPJ61 to save 10% off your order.

Here was my look for the ball. Get ready for some more awesome guest posts next week!

Born Pretty Discount Code

Hey dolls, I was recently contacted by Born Pretty to review several items. I chose one of their stamping plates and some girly nail stickers. Here's a photo of the items I received:

I'm super excited about the lace nail stickers and the bow stamping images. I'll try to get these reviewed over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I was also given a 10% off code for my readers. Whenever you place an order on BornPretty, just enter TPJ61. I've placed this image on the sidebar for easy reference.

Have you ordered from Born Pretty before? What were your experiences???

Review ~ Born Pretty Nail Foil Stickers

Recently I had the opportunity to choose an item to review from Born Pretty. After browsing through the massive selection of polish, nail art supplies and related goodies, I chose this animal print design nail foil sticker. The stickers retail for $5.37.

The foil stickers come in a pack of 16 with 8 different sizes. The instructions were to first buff your nails to remove any oils and then select the foil sticker that is the best size for your nail. Some sizes may have to be trimmed for an exact fit of your nail and the rounded edge of the foil sticker goes towards your cuticle.

Once the foil sticker is in place, you should use a cuticle pusher to smooth the foil down. I did not have the recommended "Push N Press" cuticle pusher, but used one that was in my manicure set. As you can see in the picture above, I had an extremely difficult time getting the sticker to lay flatly on my nail. The excess foil should be cut off and then filed in a downward motion. Here is what the final manicure looked like:

As stated before, the foils just did not want to lie flatly on my nails. I'm not sure if it's because of the rounded shape of my nail bed, but I just could not get these to work. Luckily, since it's just a sticker, they can be repositioned several times. On the downside, that takes away from some of the stickiness. While I love the pattern and the look these foils gave from afar, up close it was not pretty. The edges were wrinkled after being on my nails for less than 30 mins. The tips also had a "tipwear" look after being filed to get rid of the excess foil. I did not apply topcoat since that was not mentioned in the instructions (I'm just holding the Nubar for the photos).

Unfortunately, I cannot give an accurate description of how long these stickers last. While the packaging says 11 day wear, these did not make it into the same evening. As I was cooking dinner, I needed to wash my hands and the foil stickers immediately began to loosen. This makes sense as the stated removal method is to wash hands in warm, soapy water. These would look cute if you needed a quick and fun mani for a specific event, but I don't know how they would hold up over longer periods of time.

Have any of you had success with these nail foil stickers? I would like to try some of the site's other nail art products to see if they fair any better. If you would like to place an order at Born Pretty, you can enter the code LAKEL73 for 5% off of your order until 2.8.12.

***All products featured were sent by PR for review***