Stamping in Shapes - Australis Sweetpea, Australis Indie, Born Pretty BPL 027

Geometry plus stamping! What fun!

[Base: Australis Sweetpea
Stamping polish: Australis Indie
Stamping plate: Born Pretty BPL 027]

Australis' Sweetpea was used as the base and Australis' Indie was used as the stamping polish. Sweetpea is a nice, very pale pastel green, while Indie is a medium green. Don't be fooled by how light Indie looks in the photos. These Australis nail polishes aren't made specifically for stamping but they do stamp well in any case. Unlike nail polishes made specifically for stamping, Australis nail polishes tend to be thinner when stamped, which is why they show up as a lighter shade when used for stamping.

I quite like it anyway to be honest. It's like stamping with water colour!

[Left: Australis Sweetpea
Right: Australis Indie]

I like when nail polish companies release lighter and darker shades of the same colour. It's useful to match up.

[Stamping plate: Born Pretty BPL 027]

This is Born Pretty's stamping plate BPL 027 and the pattern I used for stamping is on the second row, second from the right.

[Base: Australis Sweetpea
Stamping polish: Australis Indie
Stamping plate: Born Pretty BPL 027]

Not a bad stamping effort right? I really did like how it turned out. I could have aligned them all so that the patterns on the nails were all the same and oriented the same way, but I wanted to stamp from a variety of places on the same stamping pattern.

I have to admit... I'm getting a little more hooked on stamping, so expect to see more of that over here! :)

Blushin' Blooms - Australis Kpop, Mundo de Unas Yellow, Born Pretty BP-83

As always, I try to make the most of a base shade by putting something else over the top of it...

[Flower power!]

...and my method of choice for the past few months has been stamping - so I'm pretty happy to have fulfilled one of my nail resolutions... Learn to stamp!

[Bottle to nail: Australis Kpop (2 coats)]

Once again, my base shade is the bright and beautiful Kpop from Australis, a bubblegummy purple creme.

[Plate to nail: Born Pretty BP-83;
Base: Australis Kpop (2 coats); Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas Yellow]

I chose this pattern of flowers in both positive and negative prints from Born Pretty round stamping plate BP-83. Isn't it such a cute design?

[Bottle to nail: Mundo de Unas Yellow;
Base: Australis Kpop (2 coats); Stamping plate: Born Pretty BP-83]

I couldn't resist pairing it up with a matching cheery shade and what better than a bright yellow! This one is Mundo de Unas Yellow stamping polish.

[Base: Australis Kpop (2 coats); Stamping: Mundo de Unas Yellow, Born Pretty BP-83]

We've got super 60s flower power going on here! I was already pretty happy with the base shade alone but this eye-searing result is almost even better!! =p

Space Blues - Dance Legend Andromeda

Take a look at this duochrome flakie combination in Dance Legend's Andromeda, from their Bow - Out of Space collection!

[Dance Legend Andromeda]

Before I talk about the nail polish, let me gush about the bottle, which I forgot to do when I was reviewing Dance Legend's Mutation. I really love this rectangular boxy shaped bottle. It's easy to open which maybe it's just me and my weak small fingers, but I often struggle with newly delivered nail polish bottles. It's especially annoying when I have just put on a base coat and it's still tacky, so I'm struggling to open the next nail polish bottle while holding my fingers at odd angles so as not to damage my base coat. But with this rectangular shaped bottles, it's so much easier to grip. And it does help that design looks swanky of course. :P

Now about the contents of this bottle...

[Dance Legend Andromeda]

Well, what isn't there to love about this? It's a duochrome base, with a colour shift from blue to purple, and it has blue-green flakies.  Application is smooth and the nail polish is not streaky. The flakie to polish ratio is really good, no need to fish in the bottle for them. The colour shift is really good too and it's pretty visible on the nails. Combined with the bottle, I'm really loving this Bow collections from Dance Legend.

Poppin' Pretty - Australis Kpop

I have a lovely bright colour to post about today and it's been cheering me up these freeeeezing winter days!

[Bottle to nail: Australis Kpop (2 coats)]

This here is Kpop by Australis, an amazing bubblegum purple shade that is a lot brighter on the nail than it looks in the bottle. Very eyecatching, almost a neon pastel!

[2 coats: Australis Kpop]

A lovely formula, and a nice opaque creme shade which I used two coats of here. Evens out well and isn't streaky at all.

[2 coats: Australis Kpop]

Cover with a glossy layer of topcoat for the perfect winter colour pop! This also lasted quite well through lots of handwashing and rough treatment so colour me impressed~

Wild Flowers - Dance Legend Mutation, Born Pretty Green Stamping Polish, Born Pretty BPL-029

Here's a not quite successful attempt at stamping which I still like enough to show you! I'll keep using the excuse that I'm a noob at this... :P

[Base polish for index finger: Maybelline Twilight Rays
Base polish for other fingers: Dance Legend MutationStamping: Born Pretty Green Stamping Polish. Born Pretty BPL-029 plate]

Excluding the index finger, the base polish is Dance Legend's Mutation which I reviewed on Thursday. See, I didn't know Mutation was a colour changing nail polish, so I thought a dark teal base would let the metallic green stamp show up better. That didn't quite work out since the base polish turned a light dusty green against my warm nails. I used a black nail polish on my index finger as a base to see if I could get the metallic green stamping polish to show up better against a darker background.

Ev has reviewed the Born Pretty green stamping polish here, which I think showcases the stamping polish's metallic green a lot better. Over here, you can see that only the pattern on my thumb came through well, while the rest just looks like abstract art. I have no idea why I was struggling with this nail polish, but I didn't seem to have as much issue stamping with other nail polishes.

[Stamping Plate: Born Pretty BPL-029]

The plate I used, BPL-029, was one I reviewed before. You can see the pattern I used on my thumb in the stamping samples I did above. It's the pattern that is second from the right, on the top row.

[Base polish for index finger: Maybelline Twilight Rays
Base polish for other fingers: Dance Legend Mutation
Stamping: Born Pretty Green Stamping Polish. Born Pretty BPL-029 plate]

This photo above was taken on my phone under direct sunlight. It's winter here in Sydney so it's much colder outside, as demonstrated by my colour changing nail polish that has gone almost black at the tips, and gone a medium green against the warmer nail bed. I think it's a cool effect and I'll stamp over a colour changing nail polish again, after more thought given to all the colours involved.

Mossy Mountains - Dance Legend Mutation

Today, I have a surprise colour changing nail polish! Surprise because I got this as a gift from Ev, and I'm sure she told me it was one of those thermal nail polish that changes colour depending on the temperature, but I had forgotten that aspect completely!

[Dance Legend Mutation]

This is Dance Legend's Mutation from their Bow - Conversion collection. Mutation is a light dusty teal when warm and a dark teal when very cold. The nail polish dries matte and rather quickly.

I was fairly impressed that despite the fact that my nails weren't that long, the gradient look was still present all the time. My nails are unfortunately too short for there to be a more dramatic colour change, but I did manage to get a much better colour change photo (outside, where it's colder) at a later stage which I'll be posting tomorrow.

[Dance Legend Mutation]

I was actually looking for a dark green/teal nail polish when I chose this bottle to use on my nails and to be my bewilderment, the nail polish dried to a dusty light green, quite different to what was in the bottle! Then it struck me when the tips of my nails turned a darker green that I had on a thermal polish! Rather silly of me...

I have quite a number of colour change nail polishes but this one goes easily to the top of the list. It's easy to apply and a lovely colour change too.

Night Bloomer - Born Pretty green stamping polish, Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L015

We're really on a roll with all our stamping posts!

[Twiney viney]

Today I'm doing a double review even! You get to see the polish and the plate in this post...

[Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L015]

This is another beautiful plate that I received for review from Born Pretty. This one here is Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L015. As usual, it comes with a fancy cardboard sleeve for storage and with a protective film over the metal plate.

[Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L015]

This plate is a floral/foliage themed plate again with lots of cute daisy patterns, leaf designs and even some festive pine trees. Check out those adorable lovebirds down the bottom as well!

The pattern I chose was the stem/bud combination third from the left on the top row.

[Bottle to nail: Born Pretty Green Stamping Polish; Plate: Born Pretty BP-L015]

I used a plain black creme base polish to really show off this amazingly sparkly stamping polish, also provided by Born Pretty. Look at that sparkly metallic green! It's absolutely loaded with gold and green foil particles which contrasts well against the dark base.

[Stamping polish: Born Pretty Green Stamping Polish; Plate: Born Pretty BP-L015]

It was actually a bit difficult to photograph because this stamping polish really catches the light and sparkles gold. In diffuse lighting, it's a really rich green shade against the black.

[Stamping polish: Born Pretty Green Stamping Polish; Plate: Born Pretty BP-L015]

I also did a bunch of test stamps on paper from the plate, both to show off the plate and the stamping polish! Any smudges are me rushing through it and not scraping properly (I didn't clean off my scraper between all of these!).

As you can see, the patterns are all picked up well, even fine detail. This polish is also a bit of a chameleon due to its blue base, so you can blue, green and gold all in one bottle!

You can get plate BP-L015 here, and the green stamping polish here! Here's our code as well for an additional 10% off at Born Pretty. Happy shopping!

Web of Flowers - MdU Black, L'oreal Hello Captain, Born Pretty BPL-029

I received the latest stamping plates when I just painted my nails sparkly purple. I couldn't wait to test out the stamping plates so I decided to stamp over my existing mani. Unfortunately, I had on beautiful and glittery polish which is nice on its own but a little busy as a base nail polish. But I've got close ups and stamps on paper to try to make up for it, so have a look!

[Stamping: MdU Black, Born Pretty BPL-029 plate
Base: L'oreal Hello Captain]

I reviewed L'oreal Hello Captain last week over here, and it really is quite a gorgeous and shiny purple polish that will become a staple in the future. I stamped over Hello Captain with a flowery stamp from Born Pretty's BPL-029 plate. You can click on the photos above for a close-up, or you can view the close-up below.

[Stamping: MdU Black, Born Pretty BPL-029 plate
Base: L'oreal Hello Captain]

It really is too bad that the base is so busy.

I really like this plate, mainly because they somehow manage to be pretty varied in pattern while keeping to the same floral theme. Stamping was easy with this plate, no issues to report even for a noob like me.

The stamping pattern for this mani is the second stamp from the left on the top row:

[Born Pretty BPL-029 stamping plate]

[Born Pretty BPL-029 stamps]

I stamped all the patterns onto paper to the best of my ability. I'm still a newbie when it comes to stamping so I do apologise for the patchy stamping, and the leaked nail polish and missing parts.

From the test stamps on paper above, I can already tell that the sunflowers and both the roses will be my favourite, and I quite like the pattern that is second from the right on the top row. I'll have to try them all some day!

The stamping plate was sent to me for review. You can buy it here, and get a discount if you use the code above!

Printed Pink - Sally Hansen Cerise, Mundo de Unas Ribbon, Born Pretty BPL-026

So here is the stamping manicure that I did over my base shade from a few days ago.

[Pinked up]

I think I could probably have done better with the colour combination... but let's go through what we've got here!

[Bottle to nail: Sally Hansen Cerise (2 coats)]

Quick recap of my base shade - Sally Hansen Cerise from the Complete Salon Manicure range, a bright pink creme.

[Stamping plate: Born Pretty BPL-026]

I was very generously provided with a stamping plate from Born Pretty for review. This particular plate is Born Pretty BPL-026. As usual, it arrives with a protective blue film and a gorgeous cardboard sleeve for storage.

[Stamping plate: Born Pretty BPL-026]

The patterns are generally floral/foliage based but there was a nice sweater knit pattern (bottom row, 2nd from left) that I wanted to try out so that's what I picked!

[Bottle to nail: Mundo de Unas Ribbon; Base: Sally Hansen Cerise (2 coats)]

The stamping polish that I used was Mundo de Unas stamping polish in Ribbon which is a pale dusty lilac shade. However, after stamping it looks more like a faded white, possibly also due to my base shade.

[Plate to nail: Born Pretty BPL-026;
Base: Sally Hansen Cerise (2 coats); Stamping: Mundo de Unas Ribbon]

Here's the stamping in comparison to the plate itself! I really like how the pattern is large enough so even if you have large/long nails, there's no problem getting full coverage.

[Base: Sally Hansen Cerise (2 coats);
Stamping: Mundo de Unas Ribbon, Born Pretty BPL-026]

I think I could probably have scraped off less and gotten more of a sweater knit pattern! I think the way I ended up with, it looks more like leaves or even a tire track pattern if you got creative with colours! There's a thought for another time!

There are plenty of other amazing patterns on this plate and I did some test stamps of a few. The details are picked up amazingly well, especially in that fourth pattern there where even the fine details are visible in the stamp!

If you like this plate, it's available here at Born Pretty! There's plenty of other great stuff too so check it out, and don't forget we have a 10% off code that you can use as well!

Bright Blossoms - Sally Hansen Cerise

Just a simple post today and a longer one in a couple days.

[Bottle to nail: Sally Hansen Cerise (2 coats)]

This is Sally Hansen Cerise from the Complete Salon Manicure range. Cerise is a bright deep pink creme (if that makes sense!). It was actually quite difficult to photograph so the shade might be a bit off in these photos. On the nail, it's pretty close to the bottle colour.

[2 coats: Sally Hansen Cerise]

I used two coats for this but you could probably get away with one thick coat. It's a tiny bit prone to flooding so make sure not to have too much polish on the brush.

[2 coats: Sally Hansen Cerise]

I quite like the polishes from this range. This one is no different, great pigment and nice shiny finish. And as always, a great base shade for stamping! So wait for that post in a few days!

Purple Power - L'oreal Hello Captain, Maybelling Sapphire Stitch

It feels like a long time since I had purple glitter on my nails, so this was a timely purchase. :P

[Base: Maybelline Sapphire Stitch
Top coat: L'oreal Hello Captain]

I used Maybelline Sapphire Stitch from the Brocade collection for the base coat, which is a very deep purple glitter with gold shimmer. Then I had two coats of L'oreal's Hello Captain from their Color Riche Top Coat Sirene collection as a topper.

[Base: Maybelline Sapphire Stitch
Top coat: L'oreal Hello Captain]

In two coats, Hello Captain almost looks like it completely covers the base coat. I like the final colour, a light-to-medium purple, with this stunning array of glitter. It has purple hex glitter of different sizes, holo hex glitter and silver holo flakes. The bottle is pretty packed with glitter and there's no need to fish to get a variety of different glitter. Over all, I love this nail polish and I kind of want more from this collection!