Lay It Out - Australis Midday Mimosa, Hit the Bottle Snowed In, Born Pretty Harunouta L010

I usually like to break my stamping posts up into separate posts so it doesn't get too long, but I'm gonna try to breeze through in one go today!

[The good linen]

Okay, so comments about this mani ranged from tablecloths to tea towels, so the plaid/gingham vibe is certainly getting through..

[Bottle to nail: Australis Midday Mimosa (2 coats)]

I started out with a base of Australis Midday Mimosa, an almost-neon coral-pink shade. It's actually more pink than my photos suggest but it's one of those colours that are just so difficult to photograph correctly even after colour correction.

[2 coats: Australis Midday Mimosa]

These photos are two coats, giving a nice smooth finish. The formula was a bit on the thick side though, and definitely needs at least two coats to get an even result - bear in mind my nails are fairly short at the moment as well.

Anyway, after topcoating I then proceeded to the stamping part!

[Harunouta plate L010]

This was the plate I used, again generously provided for review by Born Pretty. This is Harunouta (春の歌) plate L010 from Born Pretty. As stated in our previous reviews, Born Pretty plates come with a storage sleeve and protective blue film which you then peel off to reveal your shiny new plate.

[Harunouta plate L010]

Design-wise, this is most definitely fabric-inspired - you have your houndstooth, various plaid patterns, some argyle and even a canvas-texture design. The triangle designs are also a bonus, and most seem to be Christmas sweater/Fair Isle inspired geometrics. The design I picked is the plaid on the top right square.

[Bottle to nail: Hit the Bottle Snowed In; Plate: Harunouta L010;
Base: Australis Midday Mimosa (2 coats)]

I decided to stamp in a plain white creme (Hit the Bottle Snowed In), to tone down the neon base as well as to better simulate a classic plaid pattern. So here's the result!

[Plate to nail: Harunouta L010; Stamping: Hit the Bottle Snowed In;
Base: Australis Midday Mimosa (2 coats)]

It was actually kind of interesting stamping with this plate because the designs are at an angle! The squares are definitely large enough to cover even long nails. I think you'd need to be a bit more careful with the triangle designs, either working with shorter nails or careful partial stamps.

[Base: Australis Midday Mimosa (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Snowed In, Harunouta L010]

Overall, I'm really happy with the result! No issues at all using the plate - nice deeply engraved patterns. I'm looking forward to trying out more of the prints!

[Harunouta plate L010]

I did some extremely quick test stamps on paper (with very minimal stamping polish as you can tell...) just to see how well the patterns are picked up and colour me impressed!! I'm particularly keen on the christmas patchwork and the argyle-inspired prints for my next go!

If you're interested, you can pick up the plate here, currently on sale for USD2.99. As usual, use our 10% off code for other items in store at Born Pretty. Happy stamping!

In Colour - Rimmel New Romantic, Born Pretty Harunouta 05, Revlon Apple-tini Fizz, Revlon Desire

I finally got to try out a technique I've been super keen to test since I got into stamping.. but for some reason, never got around to doing...

[Now in technicolor!]

Yes! It's a leadlight manicure!

[Base: Rimmel New Romantic (3 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Haru no Uta Plate 05]

Quick recap of my base and stamping from last week: I used Rimmel New Romantic for the pastel pink base, then stamped over with a chrysanthemum floral design (Harunouta Plate 05) in black.

[Bottle to nail: Revlon Just Tinted Desire (leadlighting)]

[Bottle to nail: Revlon Apple-tini Fizz (leadlighting)]

The two polishes I chose to colour the design in with are Revlon Desire, an absolutely juicy pink jelly polish, and Revlon Apple-tini Fizz, an apple-scented green jelly with tons of pale blue flakes.

[Base: Rimmel New Romantic (3 coats); Stamping: Haru no Uta Plate 05;
Leadlighting: Revlon Just Tinted Desire, Apple-tini Fizz]

I think it wasn't too bad for a first try! It certainly reminded me of all the potential leadlight-suitable polishes in my stash, for next time!

[Base: Rimmel New Romantic (3 coats); Stamping: Haru no Uta Plate 05;
Leadlighting: Revlon Just Tinted Desire, Apple-tini Fizz]

I definitely think a couple things coulda been better such as a smaller stamping design, and a green that doesn't lean quite as yellow as Revlon Apple-tini Fizz did here. However, I'm generally pretty pleased and am looking forward to trying out more of this technique!

Snow Blues - Born Pretty Haru No Uta Plate L008, Born Pretty Polish #9, Australis Jeanie in A Bottle, Orly Au Champagne

In the last post, Ev mentioned that it seems like the theme of the year for us is Stamp All The Things! That certainly does seem to be true! But then she also said that we were getting pretty good at it, and the post I was preparing immediately disproves that... /o\  She's doing fine, but I obviously still have a ways to go...

[We're all a 'special snowflake'...]

Look! Snowflakes stamping! And to show my hand that I'm still an amateur, it's clearly smudgy and spotty in parts. Oh dear...

[Haru No Uta 春の歌 plate L008]

This is Born Pretty's Harunouta (Haru No Uta) 春の歌 plate L008, sent to us for review. You can click on the image above to see it in full size and properly admire the beautiful detail on the rectangular plate. It comes with a new, rather pretty pink sleeve, as shown above as well, and the plate has a protective plastic sheet which I have already peeled off.

The designs consist of a variety of large snowflakes and also a couple pretty wheel patterns. I really do like the patterns, although it's difficult to show all the different parts of the large snowflakes. There are also small snowflakes at the top and bottom of the plate which fits easier on each nail. I rather like the webbing-lace pattern that joins all the snowflakes together. They stamp rather nicely!

[Dark base: Australis' Jeanie in A Bottle
Light base: Orly Au Champagne
Stamping: Born Pretty Stamping Polish #9, Haru No Uta plate L008]

What I originally did was have my last nail as the accent nail and use a white base coat for it instead. I did a single nail close-up so you can see the pattern better. The near-black navy blue base coat is Australis' Jeanie in A Bottle, while the white base coat on the last nail is Orly's Au Champagne, my favourite white polish which dries a matte almost foil-like white. The pale blue stamping polish is Born Pretty's Stamping Polish #9, which was also sent to us for review.

Alas, what was I thinking in regards to that accent nail? Pale blue against white does not contrast well enough. So I decided to stamp over it.

[Dark base: Australis' Jeanie in A Bottle
Light base: Orly Au Champagne
Stamping: Born Pretty Stamping Polish #9, Australis Jeanie in A Bottle, Haru No Uta plate L008]

The stamping polish I used for my last nail is... Australis' Jeanie in A Bottle! Yes, the base coat that I used for the other nails. It's pretty convenient that this nail polish works as a stamping polish too. I don't even have to look for another nail polish. :P As you can see, there's a vast difference in colour and that's because this Australis' collection has a thin formula. When used for stamping, where you scrape off most of the excess and leave only a thin coat behind, it stamps as a very pale version of what's in the bottle. So a navy blue nail polish ends up as a mid-blue stamp.

I think you can see the mistake with this new accent nail. The snowflake pattern was in the wrong direction, which makes the overall design on all four nails less cohesive. Oops...

The pale blue stamping nail polish #9 is rather good. I chose this colour because I wanted to test a pale colour and I'm rather glad with how it turned out. The pale blue polish stamps opaque and easily, and on a more expert hand, would produce crisp lines against a dark base.

I like the stamping plate, as described above. I love the new packaging and the designs on the plate are varied and pretty easy to stamp. You can choose almost any spot to stamp from and there's enough variety for several different manis!

If you like the stamping plate, it's currently on discount for $2.99 over here, which is a pretty solid deal in my opinion. You can get 10% off on other items if you use our code at Born Pretty's store!

Spring Garden - Rimmel New Romantic, Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty Harunouta 春の歌 Plate 05

Stamp ALL the things! That seems to be the theme this year. I reckon Jme and I are getting pretty good at this stamping business. =)

[Flower, my pretties]

With a pretty pink base, a floral pattern seems like the right way to go about it.

[Bottle to nail: Rimmel New Romantic (3 coats)]

The pastel pink base was from last week's post; Rimmel New Romantic from one of the Kate Moss collections.

[Haru No Uta Plate 05]

The plate I'm using was generously provided for review from Born Pretty - (Harunouta - Haru No Uta) 春の歌 plate 05. It comes with a protective blue film and a beautifully printed cardboard storage sleeve.

[Haru No Uta Plate 05]

This is a gorgeous full design plate featuring a lovely chrysanthemum floral pattern. Love the details of the flowers and leaves. I also found it really easy to use because you can literally swipe and scrape anywhere on the plate and get a great full coverage stamp with minimal effort.

[Bottle to nail: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night (stamping);
Plate: Haru no Uta Plate 05; Base: Rimmel New Romantic]

Because I had more plans for this stamping manicure, I just used a plain black creme stamping polish - Hit the Bottle As Black As Night. Lovely contrast with the pale pink base! It actually looks a bit like a lace pattern from afar.

[Plate to nail: Haru no Uta Plate 05;
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night; Base: Rimmel New Romantic]

Here it is again on the nails in comparison to the plate. I think the only issue I had was that I have fairly small nails and this is a largish pattern so I couldn't get full blooms on each nail.

[Base: Rimmel New Romantic (3 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Haru no Uta Plate 05]

Still really like it! This sort of full-design plate would be particularly great when you have long nails.

Check it out here at Born Pretty, it's on special at only USD0.99 at the moment so it is really an amazing bargain especially with free shipping on everything. For other items, don't forget our 10% off code above! =)

Blushing Pink - Rimmel New Romantic

Just a basic shade today, maybe unique because I rarely ever wear colours like this!

[Bottle to nail: Rimmel New Romantic (3 coats)]

This is Rimmel's New Romantic from one of their Kate Moss collections. New Romantic is a pastel pink creme/jelly (crelly!) with very subtle silvery shimmer.

[3 coats: Rimmel New Romantic]

Formula-wise, I think it could've been better but wasn't tooo difficult to work with. It requires three coats to be opaque enough for my tastes. Although it levels fine, I did find the formula quite thick so you do end up with quite a bit of polish on your nail after all coats are down. This also means you have to be careful to let it dry completely so it doesn't dent!

[3 coats: Rimmel New Romantic]

I did think it was fun to have something a bit different! I was trying to be a bit more subtle as there was a work event scheduled but yep, definitely got a few comments from colleagues about how 'different' it was for me to turn up with a demure soft pink manicure.. haha!

Blue Lotus - Australis Jeanie in a Bottle, Hit the Bottle A Bolt from the Blue, Born Pretty BPL-024

I am getting increasingly uncreative with my post titles, I think. So ignore all that and look at this stamped mani instead!

[Base: Australis Jeanie in a Bottle
Stamping: Hit the Bottle A Bolt from the Blue, Born Pretty BPL-024]

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! I used Australis' Jeanie in a Bottle - a near-black navy blue nail polish - as a base. I stamped over it with Hit the Bottle's A Bolt from the Blue, which is this beautiful cobalt blue chrome polish. In my opinion, you need a pretty good stamping polish when your stamp has less negative space (if that makes sense) and if you want crisp lines. All that is to say that I think Hit the Bottle produces some pretty fantastic stamping polishes! And in such gorgeous shades!

[Born Pretty BPL-024]

The pattern I used is the second from the left on the first row. Look at how shiny this Born Pretty BPL-024 plate is; you can even see my reflection holding the camera, hah! Of course, this photo was taken before I actually used the plate, so it's probably not as shiny anymore.

[Base: Australis Jeanie in a Bottle
Stamping: Hit the Bottle A Bolt from the Blue, Born Pretty BPL-024]

I prefer the look of the mani when I left it matte, without another coat over it. But eventually, I decided to use a top coat to protect it so that it would last for longer, so the above is the glossier version of the mani.

I do love this stamping polish and I think there's some really nice patterns on this plate too. Can't wait to try out more of the polishes and the plates!

In the Rough - Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10, Hit the Bottle Chromeo, Born Pretty BP-L004

As usual, I jazzed up last week's mani with a stamping design!

[Diamonds diamonds diamonds]

I actually had to think a bit before picking a shade and design to go with. Gold or black seemed a bit too easy but everything else sort of got drowned out by the brightness of the base shade.

[Bottle to nail: Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10 (2 coats)]

Once again, my base was two coats of Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10 with no topcoat. Lovely colour!

[Bottle to nail: Hit the Bottle Chromeo; Base: Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10 (2 coats)]

I ended up picking Hit the Bottle Chromeo, a nice bright silver stamping polish. I was really impressed with how well the silver stood out from the green, almost a platinum shade.

[Plate to nail: Born Pretty BP-L004;
Base: Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10 (2 coats); Stamping: Hit the Bottle Chromeo]

To make sure the design wasn't drowned out, I also made sure to pick a design that wasn't too fine. This diamond one that I picked out is from Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L004 which I'm slowly but steadily working through!

[Base: Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10 (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Chromeo, Born Pretty BP-L004]

And here's the finished product! Quite happy with this one even though I was really just playing around!

To Infinity and Beyond - Dance Legend Rings of Saturn

I can safely say that Dance Legend's Rings of Saturn, from their Bow - Out of Space collection, is one of my favourite foil flakie nail polish.

[Dance Legend Rings of Saturn]

Just look at how gorgeous Rings of Saturn is, on the nails and in the bottle. You can click on any of the photos in this post for an extra large photo, which shows the flakies in detail! :D  The nail polish is a riot of colours in the form of multichrome foil flakies. Where do I even begin to describe it? There's blue to green to gold flakies and there's blue to purple to fuchsia flakies. It's a stunningly visible colour shift and with the irregularity of flakie shapes to keep it interesting.

I know I have previously said that I love nail polish bottles that are rectangular and boxy in shape because they make for such easy opening, especially when your nails are already wet. Well, I obviously love these nail polish bottles, but I also love the Bow collections packaging, each in their individual box with a bow cut-out that gives the collection its name. How pretty is that?

[Dance Legend Rings of Saturn]

Look at those flakies in the above picture! And there's no need for a black base coat either. Rings of Saturn is opaque in two to three coats, and it applies smoothly. What a lovely result for a no muss, no fuss, straightforward mani.

On the Green - Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10

Here is another amazing polish from Dance Legend.

[Bottle to nail: Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10 (2 coats)]

Check out that sparkle! This is a mini bottle from the Velvet collection and is numbered 10, no names here! 10 is a brilliant grassy green with lots and lots of gold shimmer.

[2 coats: Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10]

True to the Velvet name, it's a suede finish but because of the crazy gold shimmer, it's still beautifully sparkly. Quite similar to the Layla Softouch range, in my opinion.

[2 coats: Dance Legend Velvet Mini 10]

This last photo is a bit bluer than it actually is, and appears to have some visible nail line. However, in person, this is practically invisible as the shimmer hides it. I used two coats here with no top coat and it lasted well over a week with minimal wear. It could even have gone longer but then I decided to change it up so who knows!