Butter London Patent-Gel Review.

For the most part I'm very loyal to my Seche Vite top and basecoats. However, when I received the Butter London Paten-Gel Flawless top and basecoats I was very curious about how comparable to a gel manicure they could be. 

I usually don't keep a manicure on for more than a few days, making the long lasting aspect of a gel manicure unnecessary. But I decided to but these to the test during a week where I wanted my manicure to last through finals, Christmas shopping, and traveling home for the holidays. 

I gave the topcoat and basecoat an extra hard test by using them with all glitter polishes, which of course tend to chip very quickly. And I'm happy to say that after my week with this manicure my nail polish has worn a little bit at the tips and suffered very minimal chipping.

I wouldn't say it's quite like a gel manicure (although I've never had one myself) since they did chip a little, but I'll definitely be using these more in the future.

I also tried out a few new polishes (and polish brands that are new to me) for this manicure. I used Mr. Positivity and Atom + Eve from the Sephora Formula X collection and Jenna Hipp Flair Your Affair. I loved these polishes and they made for the perfect holiday manicure.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Born Pretty Plate QA19 Review.

The last few items I received from Born Pretty Store were ones I picked out in December, and one of the things I was sent along with those was the QA19 stamping plate, which is Christmas themed. Of course I ended up receiving the plate in the mail a day or two after Christmas, and it didn't end up getting much attention. I didn't want to end up doing a Christmas manicure in April, but I did think I'd test out the plate a little so I could still review it!

I was happy to find the images all stamped very clearly! Even though they're all pretty small (fourteen images have been fit on this one plate!) the details showed up clear and didn't get smudged together. I was really pleased with how this plate stamped, and I can already imagine plenty of cute manicures I could use it for when Christmas rolls around again. If you're interested in getting this plate to prepare for holiday season in advance, or want to buy anything else from Born Pretty, you can use the coupon code below to get 10% off any purchases! The plate costs just $2.99 pre-coupon code, and you can find all the other Born Pretty items I've tried, here.

And just for fun here are what my nails look like at the moment. There was originally going to be a little stamping too (not the Christmas stamps) but I was having some serious issues with the plate I wanted to use! The polishes are China Glaze Some Like It Haute and Purple Panic.

Holly Nails.

Merry Christmas! Today I decided to share my final Christmas design, the one I chose to wear for the actual day of the holiday. 

The base color is Orly Rage, and then I stamped the holly design from the BM-14 plate. I didn't have a green in the right shade for my stamping so I mixed the blue and yellow Born Pretty Store stamping polishes. The red is acrylic paint.

Holiday Dot Border Nails.

Added a dotted border over any base color can make for a really cute manicure, and it's a design I haven't done in a while. I posted another manicure with a dotted border back in May, but I decided it was time to revisit the design! 

And it works perfectly with a holiday theme.

I chose three very shimmery polishes, which adds nicely to the festiveness. I used China Glaze Swing Baby, Ahoy!, and Watermelon Ring.

Holiday Rhinestone Ruffian Nails.

I think today's manicure is perfect for the holidays! It's quick and easy but just flashy enough. 

The green polish I used is Wet n Wild Sagreena the Teenage Witch, and the red one had no name or brand. The rhinestones which I tried to create a ruffian look with are from Amazon.

Holiday Glitter Gradient Nails.

The holidays are the perfect time to break out lots of shiny polishes and chunky glitters and combine them into awesome manicures!

At first I was just imagining a manicure with a gradient using a gold and China Glaze Watermelon Rind, but quickly I realized a little glitter was necessary.

For the gradient I used Watermelon Rind, Color Club Antiquated, and Color Club Perfect Mol-ten. The glitter is Milani Gems.

Easter Egg Nails.

Easter provides lots of good nail art opportunities, my favorite quality in a holiday. The easter bunny design is one of my favorite options, but easter eggs are also up there.

It's as easy as painting each of your nails with a different pastel color and then adding whatever fun designs you want. I used Orly Pixy Stix, American Apparel Office, OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender, and China Glaze Secret Peri-winkle.