SquaRED - Nail Art + Born Pretty Square Nail Studs (2mm) Review

I've been experimenting a bit with nail art lately - mostly with the aim of seeing what I can get away with SUPER QUICK while still being a bit fancy. =)

[Shiny Studly Goodness...]

The Plisherrific girls were recently provided with a sample product from Born Pretty to test out and we picked out some 2mm silver square studs to play around with.

[In the bag: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Studs]

They arrived super quick, in about 10 days to Australia. The studs were packaged in a tough ziplock bag and you get a fair amount in each bag! It may not look like much at first, but remember, they're tiny and tend to bunch up. I reckon there's upwards of 200 studs (maybe even 300?) per bag.

[Up close: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Studs]

They are super shiny on the top, and a duller concave bottom. I think the 2mm size is the most versatile, especially with narrower nails like mine. In addition, the larger the nail stud, the more likely it is to stick out off curved nails and drop off.

So... here's what I did with them! =)

[Bottle to nail: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat)]

I started with a base of Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia. This one's a fairly old bottle, made in Australia but the colour is still vibrant and creamy. This was just one coat! +1 to speedy nail art~ =)

[1 coat: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia]

I wouldn't really call this fuchsia? It's more of a dusty berry shade to me, but hey, who knows what we're flashbacking too...

[Base: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat); Stripe: LA Girl Blackout;
Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Stud]

After the base was dry, I painted a stripe of black just slightly off-centre using LA Girl Blackout, my go-to black creme one-coater. While this was fresh, I used a skewer and gently placed three studs in a row down the wet black polish. They stuck really well too!

[Base: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat); Stripe: LA Girl Blackout;
Studs: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Stud]

I then repeated this with all nails and briefly contemplated leaving it the way it was... but decided, a bit more pizzazz was required!

[Base: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat); Stripe: LA Girl Blackout, LA Colors 24K Glitter;
Studs: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Stud]

So I broke out the nail art striping polish in 24K Glitter by LA Colors Art Deco and painted some gold stripes overlapping the black and red.

[Base: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat); Stripe: LA Girl Blackout, LA Colors 24K Glitter;
Studs: Born Pretty 2mm Silver Square Nail Stud]

I didn't even bother with topcoat initially and the studs stayed on fairly well as they are small enough to lay close to the nail surface and the edges are slightly rounded off so they don't catch on things as much. It also helps to press them firmly into wet polish so they are slightly embedded in the polish layer for extra grip.

I did end up testing what topcoat would do the the shiny studs and am happy to report that they still remain as shiny (unlike diamantes which lose facets and thus sparkle - curses!).

[GO FORTH AND SHOP... LIKE A BOSS]

These studs were provided to Plisherrific for review by Born Pretty and if you like the look of them, head over there and check them out (they are the 2mm silver square studs)! Born Pretty also stocks tons of nail art supplies and offers free shipping.

In addition, just stick in the code above to get 10% off your purchases! =) BARGAIN!

Hope you enjoyed my mini review + nail art tutorial! I'm hoping to have plenty more coming up in the next month. =)