So it’s a sad world when you need to have a disclaimer at the start of posts which state ‘these nails were just for fun, not for practicality’ but alas it is the one we live in. Please note, these nails were just for fun and not for day-to-day practicalities. I genuinely think some people (trolls?) get a kick from pointing out silly stuff like ‘how are you going to wash the dishes with nails like that?!’, it makes for some really boring reading and fortunately doesn’t bother me apart from wishing to rant about it every now and then!
Believe it or not, but this design does count towards my ‘use the unused’ campaign. I had kept some quality street wrappers from Christmas as I thought they’d make for some cool broken glass designs, but today I thought of something else. I wrapped them around some pearl beads and created these tiny sweeties, keeping them true to their origins! Pretty cute huh? But how am I going to wash the dishes, darn…
So these ‘shining oval studs‘ have lay unused for a whole year. They were clearly an “Oooo that’s pretty” purchase, which then became part of my hoard and forgotten about.
I paired them up with some Avon Crackle polish, not unused but I suppose a little unloved. I wasn’t wrong with thinking that the studs were pretty, they have an amazing depth to them that isn’t quite conveyed in the photo above. But the close-up below kind of shows the hidden galaxy within.
Without sounding too overly dramatic, I think I almost had an addiction to buying supplies. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem right?
So I’ve been just super busy with general life, and it’s unfortunately meant that I’ve been neglecting my product reviews a little. Fear not though, as today I had time to try out these ‘Metal Wheel Design Stickers‘ in option 2240 sent to me by BornPrettyStore.
The stickers come on a clear backing which takes the guess work out of sizing them for your nails. There’s also plenty of them in various designs and sizes, (don’t you just hate it when there’s just one of something?) some of which are super cute – I mean look at the tiny cogs!
The stickers are strong, they handled perfectly well either picked up by fingers or with tweezers. Fortunately they’re not thick meaning they hug the nail nicely with no poking out or curling up, this is also helped by the strength of the stickers adhesive.
As some of the cogs are quite large, I wanted to test out how well they would cut. They cut like butter, no weird edges or anything, and still stick just as well after the trauma.
For my first design I chose to do a dry brush background to give an industrial feel, but kept it in quite light in tones to show up the stickers. It really helps to show how shiny the metallic effect is. Super pretty and a bit of a distraction if you’re driving!
For my second design I went with a magnetic polish in gunmetal silver for the base and just had to add the little clock parts I have. They’re are also from BPS, which I personally purchased (find them here) and are handy for crafting not just nail art.
I mean you can’t get a better combo than cog stickers with actualy 3D cogs! It tickled me. Obviously not that practical, unless you did them in acrylics, so here’s the stickers without the cogs. I had to scrape off the polish I’d used to attach the parts which is why there is some damage, but impressively it’s only minimal and still perfectly wearable.
So which design did you prefer – blue and industrial or the 3D magnetic one? If you decide to purchase anything from BornPrettyStore, use my code ‘AZYW10’ at the checkout for 10% off all full priced items in your basket. And remember – free delivery, wooo!
So the great nail artist Narmai is holding a re-creation contest. It was pretty hard to choose just one of her designs to re-create but I went for her Medusa one. Why? Well I just loved the Medusa scene from the original ‘Clash of the Titans’ film. She’s horrendous looking, that rattling tail gives you shivers, the tension of the whole scene is just amazing and as a child watching (even as an adult I suppose) it really puts you on edge. If you haven’t seen it, I seriously suggest you watch the whole film!
I made her snakes 3D by using UV gel polish and then painting on top of them. Narmai is always so creative with her nails, often using craft supplies or having 3D elements so this was my homage to her and a twist to her original design.
So for today’s design I used an item that I bought in April last year. That probably sounds ridiculous but I bet I’m going to find older, untouched purchases as I delve deeper in to my supply bag.
The little cubes come in a bag of 12, and goodness knows why I bought them because they certainly aren’t very practical. They are pretty though, and the way I’ve used them gives me the impression of some sort of dark matter, celestial explosion – anyone else?
So I’m afraid this is going to be a design that you’re going to love or hate – water globes are certainly not for everyone.
I used my trio of homemade polishes called ‘A mermaids life‘ for the base and then added lots of sealife bling, pearls and beads which were all from BornPrettyStore.
To make the orb part, I rolled some ‘picker gel‘ in to a ball and covered it in two layers of gel polish, curing it between each of course. I then carefully picked out the gel and was left with a little hard orb shaped shell.
I then filled it with my glitter, put some gel nail polish round the rim and stuck it to my nail. I cured that first, and then painted around the sphere more thoroughly to ensure it was leak proof. It was then time to fill the orb with oil, and to do so I drilled a little hole in the top (with a nail drill used to attach dangle charms) and pipette some in! I sealed the hole with some more gel polish, cured it, and that’s all there was to it to be honest. I’d watched some tutorials on Youtube and they had like needles and proper UV sculpting gel or whatever, so even though mines was a little more fiddly I think it still turned out well.
What do you think, do you dig the water globe look? It’s not particularly practical but it’s well stuck down so I doubt it would fall off. I would worry about it popping though as it doesn’t feel incredibly hard.
So this is the design that I don’t want to take off! It took a fair while, but I think it was worth it as in my opinion it turned out well. This was in response to day 23 of Froekenfilt’s Dinovember ‘Skulls and Bones’.
I created it by layering up UV gel polish, I’ve seen narmai do it loads so knew that in theory is should work. I started with the dino skull and bones, which was just one thick layer of polish which I then cured and painted regular polish on top.
For the dirt I used three coats of UV gel polish, curing each in between, and then painted some regular polish on top. When that was still tacky I took a dotting tool and messed it up a little to create more texture and show that the dirt was turned over.
Even though it feels pretty thick, I don’t actually mind keeping them on. As they’re smooth they don’t catch on anything and because it’s UV cured gel it’s staying on pretty well! Do you like this look or hate it?
So today I’m reviewing something very playful but a little strange: it’s called a ‘Magnet Flower Charm‘ from BornPrettyStore. It’s available in 21 different colour and style options, I chose #19.
It’s a ruffled, cloth flower with dangling beads glued to a magnet which pairs with a base magnet that you attach to your nail. It’s a lovely colour, not very weighty and about the size of a 10 pence coin.
I started off by painting my base colour and then pressed on the magnet base whilst the polish was still tacky. It has a slight curve to it, meaning it sits on the nail a little better rather than if it were flat, but I thought it best to secure it further by painting gel top coat around the sides.
The below collage shows that even though the base does sit quite flat, there are no gaps after the gel is applied and it felt even more secure. (Also less risk of catching!)
It’s so important that the base is filmy secured to your nail as the magnetic attraction between the flower and base is surprisingly strong for such little magnets. If it’s not, you run the risk of pulling off the base magnet when your try to remove the flower.
The flower does sit up quite high off the nail, but it’s to be expected due to the two magnets involved. There’s only so much magic in the world and I suppose making ultra thin nail magnets isn’t part of it. At least it’s decorative in it’s on way from side on.
Just in case you don’t believe me how well the magnets work, I had great fun creating this short video. I played a game of ‘how close can I get to the magnet before they stick together’. (I’m very easily amused and I find the ‘click’ noise fantastically satisfying too.)
It’s a clever concept because it means you can take it off to wipe your bottom and wash your hands without it getting dirty or wet. It also allows you to travel to a destination without it on, and then when you arrive you can place them together reducing the risk of losing the flower en-route. (I mean I’m sure we’ve all been there when we’ve attached charms or gems for a special occasion only to get there to find out they’ve dropped off at some point.)
As usual, I tried a second look. I wasn’t too happy with how my first one turned it – it just didn’t feel pretty or delicate enough for the flower. I much prefer the second look, what’s your preference? I do think, as cute as it looks, that it would be more suited to long nails as it’s kind of engulfing my (almost) nubs. It is very fun though, and would certainly be a conversation starter. I can’t make up my mind as to wither it’s one of the most ridiculous or most clever things I’ve seen. Thoughts please?
If you would like to try out a ‘Magnet Flower Charm‘, head on over to BornPrettyStore. It’s free shipping, and if you use my code ‘AZYW10’ at the checkout, you’ll receive 10% off all the full priced items in your basket.
So I think this barbed wire is doing a pretty good job of keeping people off the fence. I used very fine jewellery/nailart wire to make it and oh boy, did it take forever – it was so darn fiddly… Way worse than making the staples for my wounded nails. I made the barbed wire as one big long strand and then cut it to size, using liquid latex to hold it in place at the side of my fingers. Obviously if you were crazy enough to wear these out and about, you might want to blend make-up over the latex so the magic isn’t ruined, but they certainly weren’t hitting the town on my nails and were rather quickly removed. I’m pretty chuffed with how they turned out!
So I doubt the person who did this surgical staple job went to medical school… They didn’t even bother to close the wounds before stapling them, I mean that’s a major risk of infection right there!
I made the little staples from some very thin jewellery wire. Rather than trying to bend the staples to have tiny short legs (?), it was was easier to make them with long ones and then trim them to size when I got ready to place them.
I painted two thick coats of the fleshy coloured polish, and then when it was semi-dry I used an orange stick to squash up the polish in to that wrinkled, ripped flesh look. After that I painted in the bright red for the blood and then added the staples. Because the fleshy polish was still technically wet underneath, the staples stayed put once pushed in.
WonderfulWolf 