Rainbow Scales - Born Pretty

Today, I'm trying out something with an awesome name, but which my photos just can't do it any justice. This is Born Pretty's Holographic Unicorn Nail Powder BX07.

[Born Pretty's Holographic Unicorn Nail Powder BX07 over black base and pale blue base]

So, my photos are completely misleading. The holographic unicorn nail powder BX07 is a pink-green duochrome with a dash of holo powder, applied over a pale blue base for my index finger and over a black base for the rest of the nails.

For some crazy reason, my photos could only capture the holo when in real life, the pink-green flash is much more prominent while the holo is in the background. I suppose if you squint, you can see that the powder over a black base is slightly green-ish while the powder over the pale blue base has a hint of pink. That's the closest it gets in these photos, weirdly enough, even though in person, the pink flash is very prominent while the green flash is there at acute angles.

[Born Pretty's Holographic Unicorn Nail Powder BX07 over black base and pale blue base]

The first blurry photo is just to show you how much shine there is on the nails, even though I can't photograph the right one. Because I hate curing my nails with a UV lamp, I used Emily de Molly's Special Effects Base Coat for both the base coat before I applied the powder, and as the top coat to seal to powder in. It actually works surprisingly well as a top coat too, even though you do have to leave it to dry for a bit. But that's the exchange for not having to dig up the UV lamp.

Here's where you can find Born Pretty's Holographic Unicorn Nail Powder BX07. And if you do feel like shopping around at Born Pretty, remember you can use our 10% off code below if it's a full price item.

Thank you for checking it out!

Precious Pearl - Born Pretty Neon Unicorn Mermaid Nail Powder

I've been experimenting with nail powders, but this is the first time I've posted about it on the blog! =) So this might be a loooong one~! I'll go through how I apply the nail powder, as well as what polishes and topcoat I'm using.

[Mermaid blues]

Aaaaahhh, such pretty iridescent goodness! This particular nail powder was generously supplied by Born Pretty for reviewing purposes. This one is called the Neon Unicorn Mermaid Nail Powder and comes in one shade that you use over different coloured base shades.

[Born Pretty Neon Unicorn Mermaid Nail Powder]

It comes in a little matte ziplock bag, which contains the little pot of 0.2g nail powder complete with safety seal, plus a handy sponge applicator. I like it when nail powders come with their own applicator as it stops any mixing of different powders/finishes from sharing applicators.

[Left to right: Australis Friend Like You, Rimmel Bestival Blue, Rimmel Little Boy Blue,
OPI Dating a Royal, OPI Russian Navy Matte, Emily de Molly Special Effects Base Coat]

Now before we have a look at the powder itself, here's the base shades I tried out. I definitely wanted to try a whole bunch of shades so I decided to go for a blue creme gradient. From lightest to darkest, left to right, this is Australis Friend Like You, Rimmel Bestival Blue, Rimmel Little Boy Blue, OPI Dating a Royal, OPI Russian Navy Matte.

As you can tell, these are all regular polishes, rather than gel polishes! Our secret weapon (more on that later) is the last bottle on the right - Emily de Molly Special Effects Base Coat.

[Pinky to thumb: OPI Russian Navy Matte, OPI Dating a Royal, Rimmel Little Boy Blue,
Rimmel Bestival Blue, Australis Friend Like You (2 coats each)]

Here are the 5 shades of blue, from darkest to lightest, pinky to thumb. Each was two coats plus a thin layer of topcoat. You can see that OPI Russian Navy still has a hint of matte to it.

[Born Pretty Neon Unicorn Mermaid Nail Powder]

So, back to the powder! Peel the seal off! Try not to destroy your freshly painted nails while you're at it... I like to lay down a sheet of scrap paper to make cleanup easier after. Also, there's always going to be traces of powder left on the seal, so don't throw it away! There was more than enough on there to do all 10 nails (and some!).

Now, apply a thin layer of Emily de Molly Special Effects Base Coat over your dry base shade. Leave it for a minute or two - I like to gently tap the surface of the nail with a finger to test if it's ready. It should be slightly tacky to the touch.

I also actually did half the nails without the Special Effects Base Coat - just a regular non quick dry base coat that was a similar level of tackyness. I think the clue here is to have a thin topcoat so you're less likely to be moving/squishing it down when you apply the powder.

[Born Pretty Neon Unicorn Mermaid Nail Powder]

Now when you're ready with your tacky nails (I recommend doing one hand at a time!), press the sponge applicator lightly down on the powder. You do not want to overdo it! You really don't need very much at all. Gently pat the powder over the entire surface of the nail, trying not to miss any spots. When you're done, you'll notice that it's not nice and smooth/chromey as it should be. Don't worry, the next step is where magic happens!

Using your finger, gently pick up a bit of powder and pat over your nail. Gently rub over the surface of the nail to buff the powder in and get a nice even surface. You should keep doing this till you no longer feel a tacky surface - the powder will have stuck to and covered the sticky bits.

Remember, the clue here is light but thorough rubbing in! It's great fun to watch the chrome-y pearl-y effect appear!

[Born Pretty Neon Unicorn Mermaid Nail Powder]

Voila!! Fancy effects for all! This pearl powder seems to be an iridescent duochrome. On the dark base, it is a green-gold shifter, and on lighter shades, you get the pearly pink/blue iridescence. I think the ring finger combines both best of all. The colour and finish are also spot on compared to the product page.

[Born Pretty Neon Unicorn Mermaid Nail Powder]

It also changes in different lighting! But, wait! Before you prance off into the sunset with your mermaid nails... what topcoat to use? I think with a pearl finish, it's not as crucial as a holographic or mirror chrome powder. However, to be safe, I used Born Pretty No Smudge Top Coat which is a water-based topcoat that I've previously reviewed. Definitely maintained the mermaid effect and kept it going through showers and doing dishes... =p

Now if you're worried about glitter getting everywhere, don't worry. Nail powders are different to nail glitter and washes away much more easily!

Are you excited to try it out now? My initial reservations were regarding having to use a UV base, gel and cured topcoat, as well as the potential mess. But this works fine on regular polish, and cleanup was pretty easy! So I'm happy to keep playing around with these nail powders!

You can check out the Neon Unicorn Mermaid Nail Powder here, or have a browse through Born Pretty for a whole bunch of different nail products! As usual, our code up above will get you an extra 10% off full-priced items. Happy shopping~

Midnight Rainbow - Holographic powder

More mysterious holographic powders that I got from EV! She actually sent me a bunch of photos of what they should look like on the nails but it was hard to guess what powder I was using based on the photos so I pretty much picked at random.

Anyway, this one was a much more successful experimentation!

[Holographic powder]

The result is this gorgeous deep purple-orange chrome with intense linear holographic microglitter.

If you look carefully at the edges of my nails, you can see that I used a white base coat. On top of the white base coat, I used Emily de Molly's Special Effects Base Coat before applying a lot of the powder! Then I sealed it all with Born Pretty's Mirror nail polish top coat. No UV polish or light necessary.

So, using the white base coat served two purposes. One, so that you cannot see my nail line. Two, so I can see if I'm applying enough coverage for a powder with a dark base. When I tried a light base powder against white nail polish, I definitely didn't apply enough of the powder so the effect was fairly muted. A dark powder shows up much more clearly against a white base.

That said, a dark base powder against white nail polish definitely has difficulties where the white shows up starkly in places and you need a lot of the powder for full opacity. I'll try for middle ground next time.

[Holographic powder]

In these two photos above, you can see the purple sheen in the first and the orange sheen in the second. This was a very pretty mani!

Pearlescent Moon - Holographic powder

So, this is my first time trying those holographic powders and I don't think I did a really good job, haha.

[Holographic powder]

The powder was a gift from Ev, so I'm not going to be naming where they're from since I've no idea. My camera isn't very good at capturing holo, but it really wasn't that holographic on my nails in person either.

I think it's because I didn't apply enough of the powder and at the same time, I'm not completely sure if the top coat I'm using for it is very effective. So I'm using Emily de Molly's Special Effects Base Coat. It seems okay as a base coat, lots of powder stuck to it. Then I used Born Pretty's Mirror nail polish top coat to seal in the powder, which I'm told should work as well. So no UV top coats here! I like that there's less work since I don't have to deal with UV lamps and waiting, but at the same time, the holo seemed less obvious after the top coat was applied.

While the result is still pretty, it's not as holographic as what I've seen in all the pictures online. I've got to figure out what I'm doing wrong here!