Category: Born Pretty Store

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Pretty Pink Gradient & Stamping

Happy Tuesday everyone!

We’re quickly speeding through February, can you believe we’re already half way through? Kind of crazy! Today I have a super fun gradient design to share. I’ve been kind of obsessed with gradients lately–I go through fazes, & now that I’m all stocked up on my Edge Perfection I’ve been a little gradient crazy.

For today’s design, I was feeling pink. I wanted something a little Valentine’s Day-esque without being too over the top. I started out with the gradient, then added some holo glitter. & then I thought–why not some stamping too? I was a bit scared it was all going to be too much, but I think because I didn’t use contrasting colours, the whole design really works together.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by Orly Breathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Joe Fresh Cotton Candy
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mauve Over
  • China Glaze Life is Rosy
  • Quo by Orly Falling Star
  • Essie No Place like Chrome
  • Born Pretty Store Image Plate BP-L006 (item #17924)
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier

I’m really loving this gradient!

& obviously I took some macro shots! You see the holo glitters much better this way, since my desk lamp doesn’t show them off as well as I would like. Also it shows off the blend on this gradient, which I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of. Especially since my early gradients looked something like this.

 

I’m so happy with this whole design! I know it’s not oh my god Valentine’s Day, but it’s pretty & pink & what is more lovely than that?

What do you think of this design? Do you like all the layers, or do you think it’s too busy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Chevron & Deer Stamped Design

Hello lovelies! Today I have a really fun design to share with you. Back in early December, I made an order through Born Pretty Store & just recently received my goodies which included 6 new stamping plates! Obviously, I couldn’t wait to play with my new plates, because I’ve been using the same ones I bought in 2014 for ages. Today’s design was semi inspired by all the fun stag head designs that have been popping up on my Instagram feed! Finally I can create my own cute deer designs!

For this design, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Matte Top Coat: Butter London
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker
  • Quo by Orly Breathable Barely There
  • ACO by Ardene Daydreamer
  • L’Oreal Feeling Kilty
  • Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart
  • Born Pretty Store Clear Stamper
  • Born Pretty Store Image Plate BP-L006 (item #17924)
  • Born Pretty Store Image Plate BP-L03 (item #23268)
  • Small dotting tool
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier.

Seriously, just how cute is this manicure?! I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t order these in time to get them for Christmas, so I could do cute reindeer nails, but I’m very excited for all the upcoming designs I’ll be able to do. I’m also very happy to have a brand new jelly stamper because mine as certainly seen better days & will need to be retired very soon. Don’t get me wrong, I still love doing freehand/nail vinyl designs, but there is something a little more convenient about stamping–you don’t have to spend an hour trying to paint a design, or worry about having to wait for you base to dry to apply nail vinyls (even with quick dry top coat). It’s taken me a while to finally get the hang of stamping, & while I’m not a pro by any means, I definitely feel like I’m so much better than I used to be!

What do you think of this design? Are you a fan of stamping? Let me know all your thoughts (or tips & tricks!) in the comments below.

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Negative Space Floral

We’re currently being bombarded with 25+ cm of snow here in Halifax, which is not so much fun. I’m really not a Winter person (well, once Christmas is over anyways.) So how about some floral nails to cheer us up? I wore this design this weekend, but with a raging Winter storm outside as we speak I kind of need something pretty & Spring-y to cheer me up. Did I mention I’m really, really over Winter?

Did you know it’s 49 days until Spring? Just a fun fact to get you through those long, chilly days ahead. Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case do you have a spare room because I’m coming to visit!

I took so many pictures of this design. I know every floral manicure is my new favourite, but this one just turned out so well I couldn’t help but take a million pictures of it.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Matte Top Coat: L’Oréal the Matte Velvet
  • Essie The Girls Are Out
  • OPI My Pointe Exactly
  • China Glaze Ever Glaze Don’t Grape About It
  • Sally Hansen Instadri Petal Pusher
  • Essie Bachelorette Bash
  • Sally Hansen I ♥️ Nail Art Pen in Green
  • Essence The Green & the Grunge
  • Essie Play Date
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
  • Small detail brush (Born Pretty Store)
  • Small & large dotting tools (Bundle Monster)

So many polishes were used for this design, but it was so worth it. & I think the matte top coat just makes the end result that much more beautiful. This is definitely not a quick to do design, but floral just makes me so happy I don’t even care! 💗 I hope you love floral, because I have a feeling there will be a lot of floral leading up to Spring. Also even though it’s snowing today, I’m totally pulling out my favourite floral romper, since I have no plans on leaving the house today… except to maybe go to Starbucks & get coffee but even then I won’t be leaving the car.

What are your thoughts on today’s floral design? Are you a fan of floral nails? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Multicoloured Chevron Accent Nails

Good Morning! We’re half way through the week & in Halifax it’s actually snowing. I seriously thought we would never see actual Winter, so it’s pretty exciting! Although I’m sure it will lose its novelty in about a day & a half.

Today I’m sharing a chevron accent nail design with you. I’ve really been into darker shades right now (& grey, always) so I decided to combine a whole lot of shades together. & I even made you another tutorial to show you the technique I used.

Music: bensound.com

For this design, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Pat on the Black
  • Essie Merino Cool
  • Color Club Silver Lake
  • OPI Aurora Berry-alis
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • Kiss Products Nail Art Chevron Vinyls
  • Small detail brush (from Born Pretty Store)

You can see in the video above, I was originally going to use Essie Merino Cool (such a good grey) as my main colour, but switched it to Sally Hansen CSM Pat on the Black because it just went better with the accent nails. Also next time I want to try filling in each chevron with a different colour for even more coloured stripes.

This is such a great design for a beginner because it looks complicated, but it’s really not. The hardest part honestly is just placing your vinyls (as you can see from the above video!) You could also use straight vinyls to make your stripes, but that would involve extra wait time for drying. Your stripes don’t have to be perfect because you’re covering them up anyways, so freehanding them usually is just easiest!

What do you think of this design? Would you try it out? Let me know your thoughts below! & if you do try it out, don’t forget to tag me on social media & use the tag #lookcoffeeandnailpolish! 💜 Happy Wednesday everyone!

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Gold Aztec Stamping

Happy Friday everyone! Starting off today with some more stamping. I’m still waiting on an order from Born Pretty Store to arrive (with some new stamping plates) so I guess in the mean time, it’s the same old ones again! This time I was feeling something a little tribal-esque so I decided to go with another one of my discontinued Born Pretty Store plates. I’m thinking I need to branch out & try some other awesome plates so if you have any suggestions of your favourites, leave them below!

The products used for this manicure are:

  • Base Coat: Nailtek 2
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Morgan Taylor Plum-thing Magical
  • Morgan Taylor Just Tutu Much
  • Edge Perfection Cuticle Barrier
  • Born Pretty Store Clear Jelly Stamper
  • Born Pretty Store stamping plate (discontinued) — this one has similar patterns.

So first off, Morgan Taylor Just Tutu Much is so freaking good for stamping. I mentioned this in my swatch post of these shades, but I’m really impressed. It’s so nice when you find polishes that stamp so fantastically over dark shades. I love it! It makes me really excited to have my new plates arrive, so I have a whole new variety of images to share!

What do you think of this stamped design? Where do you buy your favourite stamping plates? Let me know in the comments below! 💜

*PR SAMPLE* Some of these items were sent to me for review. However, all opinions are my own.
<These polishes were all gifted to me by Morgan Taylor as part of the Preen.Me #PreenMeVIP program>