Sweater Weather - Born Pretty Nicole Diary 124, Born Pretty BP-WN05 Dark Armor, Orly Au Champagne

Time for some Christmassy looks!

[Sweater Weather]

These look like Christmas sweater patterns, which I really like!

[Born Pretty's Nicole Diary - 124]

This here is Born Pretty's stamping plate Nicole Diary 124 which was sent to us for review. You can see the cross-stitching type for the patterns.

[Base: Orly Au Champagne; Stamping plate: Nicole Diary 124;
Stamping nail polish:  Born Pretty's BP-WN05 Dark Armor]

The stamping polish used was Born Pretty's stamping polish BP-WN05 Dark Armor, a creme red stamping polish. It's very easy to stamp with. The base polish is Orly's Au Champagne, a white polish with a beautiful white shimmer.

Overall, the stamping plate is lovely to work with and the pattern is awfully cute, I really like it! It's a great Christmas look!

If you're interested in the plate, you can find it here at Born Pretty. You can get a 10% off any full priced items too!

Slithery Slide - China Glaze GR8, Born Pretty Nicole Diary-125, Hit the Bottle As Black As Night

I have a quick and easy review for today.

[S-s-s-special!]

I wish my nails weren't quite so short at the moment! Would've loved to test this stamping plate out on longer nails.

[Nicole Diary-125]

Here's the plate that I'm testing out - Nicole Diary-125 from Born Pretty. It's a pretty cool set of designs themed around snakes and florals. Definitely a classic tattoo vibe going here!

[Base: China Glaze GR8, Stamping plate: Born Pretty Nicole Diary-125;
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night]

I picked two designs to use on my nail; the bottom middle and right designs. My base polish is China Glaze GR8, a gold linear holo which you can see in this (really old!) post here. I then stamped over with a plain black creme stamping polish - Hit the Bottle As Black As Night. 

[Base: China Glaze GR8, Stamping plate: Born Pretty Nicole Diary-125;
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night]

How wonderfully did the designs transfer! I'm so pleased that all the fine detail was so easy to stamp. Would love to do a white, black and red variation on these designs when my nails are longer!

If this tickles your fancy, check out the plate here at Born Pretty. Code above will give you 10% off full priced items as well. Tis the season to be shopping after all... :p

Pink Foil-age - Revlon Perfectly Plum, Born Pretty Texture-L002, Born Pretty Miss Pink

I'm back with a few review items from Born Pretty to try out...

[Purple lightning]

...and they're some great stamping products, as you'll see..!

[Born Pretty Stamping Plate - Texture-L002]

The first is a foliage-themed stamping plate - Born Pretty Texture-L002 which features lots of intricate leaf patterns. The stamping plate comes with a handy cardboard sleeve with a window so you can see the plate itself. As always, there's protective blue film to protect the metal that you need to peel off before using. 

[Bottle to nail: Born Pretty Stamping Polish BP-Q06 Miss Pink]

I'm also trying out an extremely shiny stamping polish from Born Pretty - this one is BP-Q06 Miss Pink. I don't think I have anything quite like this in my stash! It's an extremely sparkly silvery purple foil that stamps like a dream.

[Base: Revlon Perfectly Plum; Stamping: Born Pretty BP-Q06 Miss Pink;
Stamping plate: Born Pretty Texture-L002]

I've done a different pattern on each nail so you can see what it looks like. Love how beautifully the leaf pattern on my middle finger here turned out.

[Base: Revlon Perfectly Plum; Stamping: Born Pretty BP-Q06 Miss Pink;
Stamping plate: Born Pretty Texture-L002]

...and here's another five stamping patterns on my other hand! Unfortunately my nails are quite short at the moment so I couldn't get a lot of each image on the nail. The foil is also so gosh-darn sparkly that it's hard to photograph, but it certainly looks eye-catching in person!

All in all, very easy products to use - great quality at a decent price. So if you're interested, you can check out the stamping plate and polish at Born Pretty. Code above as usual will give you an extra discount off full-priced products!

Holiday Magic - Revlon Perfectly Plum

It's been a bit crazy, and the mitts went unpainted for a good long while, but I'm trying to ease back into it...

[Bottle to nail: Revlon Perfectly Plum (2 coats)]

Today I have a fairly old one from my stash (I think!) - this is Revlon Perfectly Plum, a red-leaning purple shimmer polish.

[Bottle to nail: Revlon Perfectly Plum (2 coats)]

I thought this one actually works well for the upcoming festive season, although it's a bit unseasonable down under as it's more an autumn shade that the hot summer we're already dipping our toes into...!

[Bottle to nail: Revlon Perfectly Plum (2 coats)]

I was quite pleased that it didn't take too long to dry, and was opaque and even at two coats. Not too bad for a work-safe, not-too-vampy manicure! Not just that, you could add a bit of silver or gold glitter and take it straight to party territory. =)

Across the Night Sky - Orly Au Champagne, Born Pretty Outer Space L002, Born Pretty Birth of the Queen

Wheeeeee, today, I'm doing a stamping review with items from Born Pretty!

[Starry Night]

I used Born Pretty's Outer Space L002 stamping plate and Born Pretty's Birth of the Queen stamping polish to produce this starry result! The base coat is Orly's Au Champagne, a really old nail polish that I still love dearly. It's my favourite white polish, as an icy white polish packed with shimmering white microglitter.

[Born Pretty stamping plate Outer Space L002
Born Pretty stamping polish Birth of the Queen]

Here's the stamping plate Outer Space L002 and stamping polish Birth of the Queen. There's some really pretty stamping patterns on the plate and Birth of the Queen is a gorgeous royal purple chrome. I love the name too! :D  Birth of the Queen looks more blue than purple in the photos but that's just my camera that doesn't always pick up purple as a shade.

[Base: Orly Au Champagne; Stamping Plate: Born Pretty Outer Space L002;
Stamping Polish: Born Pretty Birth of the Queen]

You can see the stamped results above and I think they turned out great! I really love the one on my thumb's nail, of the snow-peaked mountain with the constellations above it, and the cat looking out into the night on my ring finger...and actually I really like the filigree moon and the string of stars and beads, okay I like all of them! They're just such lovely patterns!

[Base: Orly Au Champagne; Stamping Plate: Born Pretty Outer Space L002;
Stamping Polish: Born Pretty Birth of the Queen]

These ones on my other hand are more unusual but still interesting! I did have trouble stamping the one on my middle finger, as you can see it's off-center unfortunately. But it did give me fun Card Captor Sakura vibes, for those of you familiar with manga/anime, heh. I also like the one on my thumb and the mountain scene on my little finger.

All in all, I really like the patterns on this stamping plate. The stamping polish as well as the stamping plate came together nicely to produce very nice crisp stamping results. The stamping polish was easy to use, opaque and I just love the rich purple colour.

If you like what you see here, you can check out these items at Born Pretty. Our code here will give you a 10% discount off full priced items as well!

Manic Mineral - Ulta3 Infamous, Born Pretty Texture-L001, Holo Stamper, Hit the Bottle Snowed In, Spun Gold,

This is a double review in one, so let's get right on to it~!

[Silly string]

Preview of my final finished stamping manicure... 

[Bottle to nail: Ulta3 Infamous (2 coats)]

My base shade from last week - Ulta3 Infamous, a blue jelly shimmer packed with silver microglitter.

[Born Pretty Stamping Plate Texture-L001]

I received this plate from Born Pretty for review. This is plate Born Pretty Texture-L001, and it is a great way of getting crackle or water marbling effects using stamping rather than all that effort and mess! I received this plate in a cardboard sleeve as usual, but this one has a super handy window in the front so you can actually see what plate is stored inside!

[Born Pretty Holo Stamper]

I also gave in to my magpie instincts and picked this super sparkly holo stamper for review. Not only is the squishy head packed with ultra sparkly holo particles, the titanium effect base satisfies the multichrome cravings. It's so gorgeous! It's also holo so you can see what you're stamping.

[Base: Ulta3 Infamous (2 coats); Stamping: Born Pretty Texture-L001;
Stamping polish: Hit the Bottle Snowed In, Spun Gold]

So I had this idea of precious mineral veins so using a white stamping polish (Hit the Bottle Snowed In) I first chose the thinnest crackle pattern and stamped that. Then I stamped over with a gold stamping polish (Hit the Bottle Spun Gold) using a slightly more dense crackle design.

[Base: Ulta3 Infamous (2 coats); Stamping: Born Pretty Texture-L001;
Stamping polish: Hit the Bottle Snowed In, Spun Gold]

Here's the finished product! I think it's not quite what I was going for, but I think it actually could be modified slightly to do a decent effect of sunlight glinting off waves at the beach. What do you think?

The stamper itself was nice and squishy - no issues picking up and transferring patterns. You do have to make sure you have some good lighting handy because the speckles of the holo particles can make your stamping design a bit hard to eye off when you're trying to place it on the nail. It's worth it for how gorgeous the stamper is though. But if that's not your thing, it also comes in a plain version!

If these products interest you, you can check out the stamper here, and the texture plate here at Born Pretty. Our code above will do you a 10% discount off full priced items as well. Happy stamping!

Deep Splash - Ulta3 Infamous

Great nail polish doesn't have to be expensive... and Ulta3 is definitely one of those brands that tend to deliver on a budget!

[Bottle to nail: Ulta3 Infamous (2 coats)]

The proof is in this lovely shade! This is Ulta3 Infamous, a deep blue jelly shimmer with tons upon tons of silver micro glitter.

[2 coats: Ulta3 Infamous]

The heavy microglitter combined with the base gives amazing depth and sparkle in an otherwise fairly dark shade.

[2 coats: Ulta3 Infamous]

These photos are of two coats, great opacity and dry time. I had no issues at all with this polish. It also dried smooth, but of course a nice layer of glossy topcoat amps up the shine.

[2 coats: Ulta3 Infamous]

Highly recommend this shade - these polishes retails for something like $3 in pharmacies? Such a bargain, gosh~!

Shallows and Depths - Dance Legend Miracle

Look at this beauty!

[Dance Legend Miracle]

This is Dance Legend's Miracle which I thought was a color changing polish, except wait, it's also a thermal polish! But I didn't know that! So I'll have to dig it out to review again because it apparently turns an entirely different colour under the sun.

Miracle is a pale teal when warm, and a brighter medium blue when cold, with silver flakies. The colour change is pretty clear and they're gorgeous shades. I'm looking forward to trying the polish out again and getting the change in colour under the sun too!

Fantastic Fancy - Dance Legend Step in Style Color LE01, Hit the Bottle To Have and To Gold, Born Pretty BP-L007

Gosh, I was searching through our posts to see the last time I used this particular stamping plate that I'm about to show you... and it was back in 2015! Good times, good times...

[To the left, to the left...]

What I discovered this time is that even with the aid of a clear stamper, I can be pretty abysmal at centering symmetrical designs, oh dear...

[Base: Dance Legend Step in Style Color LE01 (2 coats)]

My base from last week - Dance Legend Step in Style Color LE01, a gorgeous green jelly with loads of green and gold shimmer. Ah, so pretty~

[Base: Dance Legend Step in Style Color LE01 (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle To Have and To Gold; Born Pretty BP-L007]

Using Hit the Bottle To Have and To Gold, a rich gold shimmer stamping polish, I picked one of the many intricate designs from Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L007 to stamp over my base shade.

[Base: Dance Legend Step in Style Color LE01 (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle To Have and To Gold; Born Pretty BP-L007]

Pretty happy with how this turned out! I recently attended an ethnic South Asian wedding and goodness, that was such a treat for my magpie eyes, so this was a bit inspired by all the sparklies I saw there!