My first review of bornprettystore.com

Okay, so a few weeks back, I was cruising along cafemom and came across a mom that had posted a ton of nail art designs. I commented on how much I loved her designs, and later that day, I was contacted by her asking if I would be interested in reviewing free items from bornprettystore.com. I checked out the website, and loved just about everything on there. So, I decided to try it out. She gave me the details of what I needed to do, and I sent her the email confirming the item I wanted to review. She told me since it was coming from China, it would take about 2-3 weeks to arrive. Great. I guess if I want awesome beauty and nail products at wholesale prices, there had to be a catch somewhere, right?

Flash forward to 3 weeks later... I check the mail and find a package from Hong Kong waiting for me. SQUEEE!!!

After unsuccessfully trying to rip open the package from excitement, my husband offered his knife to open it for me.  This is what was in the package:

For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a beautiful green magnetic nail polish. Magnetic nail polish comes with either a magnetic cap or wand (like the purple one in the picture) that creates a cool effect when you hold the magnet over the wet nail polish. 

First things first, start of with clean and dry nails. Apply two coats of the polish on your nail. 

While it's still wet, hold your wand (or magnetic cap) over the polish. Just hover it over your nail; don't touch the polish with it.

It takes all of five seconds to create the magnetic effect. I love it! This is what all of my nails look like:

Over all, I loved my experience with www.bornprettystore.com. If you like this nail polish, they also offer it in about 20 different shades. It's a much cheaper price than most other places I have seen. It only sells for $6.38, and anything from the site ships FREE WORLDWIDE. I will definitely be purchasing more items in the future. Anyone who would like an extra 5% off their purchase (and let's be honest... who doesn't?), you can use the special code AMANDAW21 until Dec 30, 2012.

Ugh, what a horrible experience!

So I got my first set of gel nails in the beginning of this month. I absolutely LOVED them. A little more expensive, but still, more bang for your buck, especially when you're as klutzy as I am and constantly bang your nails into stuff; at least they don't pop off like acrylic nails do, but they hurt like hell when you hit them. But I digress. The price you pay for beauty, I guess. Anyway, I was a little disappointed in the fact that they didn't seem to last as long as my acrylics used to, or maybe it was just because my nails were growing like, super crazy, and after only a week of having them, it looked like I'd had them for almost three weeks. I guess that's what happens when you don't realize you're pregnant; those lovely pregnancy hormones do wonders for your hair and nails. :)


My sister-in-law wanted to get her nails filled in before her baby shower in two weeks, and she knew she wouldn't have the extra money to spare for it, so I told her I would be more than happy to take her and pay for hers when I went to get mine filled in. We both got them on the same day, and she obviously knew she is pregnant, and her nails looked about like mine when we both went in yesterday to get them filled. Anyway, I go up there, and I'm really excited, because as lame as it may seem, it was my first fill in. I had only previously had false nails on special occasions, and I would wear them until they popped off. No need to keep going in and getting them done again if I wasn't going to continue to wear them, right? So we get there, and we both have to wait for a little bit, but not too long. One of the employees told us to go pick out our colors, and I chose this lovely color...

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini by China Glaze

I absolutely love this color. BRIGHT is my favorite color, so anything neon just calls to me. I don't care what time of year it is, if I like it, I'm gonna rock it. So my turn comes, and I get this guy that seems pretty cool at first. He started grinding off the polish from nails, and within five minutes of me sitting down, dude had gotten up three times to talk on the phone. In five freaking minutes. When he finally decides he's done being on the phone, he gets back to work. So he takes the tool and starts smoothing the old nail, and he's going so fast and hard that he ended up cutting the sides of my fingers over six times (I thought it was less, but after I got home and washed my hands, I found more cuts I didn't even know about!). They still hurt. During this whole time, I kept asking if he could be a little more gentle, but he acted like he didn't even hear me. In the hour or so time it took him to do my nails, I counted about four more times that he would get up and talk on the phone. Like, straight up leave the room for almost five minutes at a time. Right there in the middle of what he was doing, he would just stop and get up. Can a person really have that many "emergencies" in an hour, as that is the only reason someone working should really answer their phone. In between phone calls, he was hitting on one of the customers, asking her if she was single. REALLY?? Anyway, he finally got around to painting them. He painted them some weird way that I've never seen anyone do before, which, since it's a neon color, it definitely showed brush streaks like crazy. Even after two coats, it still looked streaky. I should also mention that my sister had started her nails before me, and even with Mr. I Don't Care About My Customers constantly getting up, I was done and waiting for her for almost 30 minutes. Tells you what kind of craptastic employee he is, not even taking the time to make sure what he's getting paid for is even worth the customer's time. Oh yeah, and you know the UV lights that you have to "cook" the gel nails with? Dude seriously told me to squeeze both of my hands in there. I looked at him and was like, "Really? You expect me to fit both of my hands in this tiny thing?! Everyone else has two lights; don't try to tell me you don't have another one." He still insisted that I could fit both hands in there. I could, but I ended up smudging the polish on one of my nails as I was getting my hands out. >.<

When we were finally able to leave, I went to the register to pay. Thinking it was only going to be $30 for two fill ins (as it plainly stated in big, bold letters on their shop window), it turned out to be $55. Thankfully, I had thought to grab an extra $20, because I was planning on getting something to eat afterwards. The thing that I regret about not just waiting for my regular guy is the fact that he will always sit down with you and discuss what the price would be before he even started. Mr. IDCAMC could have cared less about price shock. I ended up paying for my crappy nails, and walked out. Needless to say, he didn't receive his "hard earned" tip. I feel bad about not being able to tip my sister's dude, because he did a perfect job on hers. After leaving, I happened to really look at my nails. Two of them were seriously filed crooked. I know I have misshapen nails and crap, but I've never not had perfectly filed fake nails before. They were always examined before the next step happened. Not this guy. Here is what they look like afterwards. You may think they look okay in the picture, but the in-person result doesn't look all that great. If I zoom in on this one picture, I can plainly see three cuts on two different fingers. Not cool, man. Not cool at all.

I know it looks a lot more, uh, yellow than the color swatch, but I swear, the flash on my camera made it look darker than it really is. Lesson learned? Don't just deal with a person who has never touched your nails, that is, if you have a regular person. No matter how much the wait is, I'll wait for my guy next time.

Orange Cremesicle water marble

This is one of my all time favorites. I love orange, and this was just a fun design for me to do.


On to the process. First things first, you need to paint your nails a base color. It can be any color, but it you're working with neon colors, you should make your base coat white; that way, your beautiful colors will pop! The colors I used for this nail design are:

French White Tip by NYC

Crushed Orange by Sally Hansen

Fuchsia Power by Sally Hansen

Splendid by Hard Candy

What you'll need:

a cup that you will never have to use again (can be a glass one specifically for water marbling, or I just use the disposable snack bowls for kids)

room temperature water 

toothpicks or orange sticks

tape, cuticle oil, or chapstick to coat your fingers for easy cleanup afterwards

nail polish remover (and Q-tips!) for cleaning up afterwards

and of course, your nail polish in 2+ different colors.

Once you get all of your colors squared away, make sure to go ahead an uncap the brushes before you use them. That way, it's much easier to quickly drop the polish in the water. Make sure to prepare your finger ahead of time by using whatever protection method you choose (chapstick, cuticle oil, tape). Then, drop your first polish in the water and do the same for the remaining colors. Once you get done with your color line, repeat the process 2-3 times, resulting in a bullseye pattern. Take your toothpick and add a swirled design. As you're swirling, make sure to clean off your toothpick frequently, so it doesn't smudge or clump up the polish. Work quickly though, because the nail polish will dry quickly and you'll have to start all over again. Once you've got your design, angle your finger nail over the design you want, dip it in the water, and start cleaning the top of the water off with your toothpick. Once the water is clear, remove your finger and wipe off the excess polish. Coat with your favorite top coat, and you're done!

Here's my final result. 

Good luck and feel free to post your designs!

A very colorful water marbling

This particular water marbling is one of those that I just threw together because my sister-in-law was using all of my other nail polish at the time while I was doing mine. All in all, I liked the overall effect of it.


Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I never thought to take picture of the process of the water marbling, but there are tons of tutorials on youtube you can use. Anyway, since all of my nail polish is currently in another state since I've moved, I am finding pictures online of the colors I've used.


On to the process. First things first, you need to paint your nails a base color. It can be any color, but if you're working with neon colors, you should make your base coat a white; that way, your beautiful colors will pop! The colors I used for this nail design are:

French White Tip by NYC (for the base)

Purple Potion by Sally Hansen

Brisk Blue by Sally Hansen

Splendid by Hard Candy

What you'll need:

a cup that you will never have to use again (can be a glass one specifically for water marbling, or I just use the disposable snack bowls for kids)

room temperature water 

toothpicks or orange sticks

tape, cuticle oil, or chapstick to coat your fingers for easy cleanup afterwards

nail polish remover (and Q-tips!) for cleaning up afterwards

and of course, your nail polish in 2+ different colors.

OK. So on to the fun stuff. Again, start with your base coat of whatever color you choose. Make sure to have your water already sitting out and ready to use. Go ahead and have all of your polish caps removed and ready to quickly grab. Drop your first color in the middle of the water, followed by the second color, third color, etc. Repeat the process two more times so you'll have a nice bullseye design in the middle. Work quickly, though, because the nail polish will dry fast. Take your tooth pick (or orange stick) and make a swirled design in the polish. Making sure your finger is already protected by whatever method you choose (tape, cuticle oil, chapstick) at least up to the knuckle, angle your fingernail over the part of the design you want on your nail, and then dip it. Use your toothpick to get off the polish from the top layer of the water. Once you've gotten all the stray polish out of the water, you're done! Take your nail out of the water, wipe off the excess polish from your protected skin, and cover it with your top coat. Make sure you only do one nail at a time, because unless your bowl or whatever is big enough to even dip two fingers at a time, it will tend to get even more messier than it was meant to.

And now, for my final result. I was getting a little annoyed because I didn't have any nail polish remover to clean it up better, but I found out afterwards that you can use clear nail polish to get rid of excess polish; just brush a little on, and wipe off with a wet cloth for best result. I usually have to do this about two to three times.

Good luck, and feel free to post all of your attempts (and successes!) of your water marbles. I have included Simple Little Pleasure's youtube page; she has a lot of amazing tutorials and designs to try!

My first water marble

Since finding out about water marbling nail art about a year ago, I think it's safe to say that I have a problem. I am having some serious withdrawals from not doing it in so long, but during a recent move, all of my nail polish was left behind. ::sigh::


Anyway, back when I first started attempting marbling, I got excited because of the possibilities of using so many colors. Bright, by the way, is my favorite color. I have never been one to match my outfits to my nails, so having funky colored nails doesn't bother me. 


Now, on to the nail art. I didn't think to actually take a picture while I was in the process of said water marbling, but I found so many nail tutorials on youtube if you're really interested in learning how to do it. This first one was a valiant first attempt, although it took a little while for me to figure out I needed to adjust my water temperature. You're supposed to use filtered room temperature water, but I'm cheap, and my el-cheapo nail polish didn't like the room temperature water. 


First things first, you need to paint your nails a base color. It can be any color, but if you're working with neon colors, you should make your base coat a white; that way, your beautiful colors will pop! The colors I used for this nail design are:

French White Tip by NYC (for the base)

Green with Envy from Sally Hansen

Twisted Pink from Sally Hansen

Splendid by Hard Candy

What you'll need:
a cup that you will never have to use again (can be a glass one specifically for water marbling, or I just use the disposable snack bowls for kids)
room temperature water 
toothpicks or orange sticks
tape, cuticle oil, or chapstick to coat your fingers for easy cleanup afterwards
nail polish remover (and Q-tips!) for cleaning up afterwards
and of course, your nail polish in 2+ different colors.




OK. So on to the fun stuff. Again, start with your base coat of whatever color you choose. Make sure to have your water already sitting out and ready to use. Go ahead and have all of your polish caps removed and ready to quickly grab. Drop your first color in the middle of the water, followed by the second color, third color, etc. Repeat the process two more times so you'll have a nice bullseye design in the middle. Work quickly, though, because the nail polish will dry fast. Take your tooth pick (or orange stick) and make a swirled design in the polish. Making sure your finger is already protected by whatever method you choose (tape, cuticle oil, chapstick) at least up to the knuckle, angle your fingernail over the part of the design you want on your nail, and then dip it. Use your toothpick to get off the polish from the top layer of the water. Once you've gotten all the stray polish out of the water, you're done! Take your nail out of the water, wipe off the excess polish from your protected skin, and cover it with your top coat. Make sure you only do one nail at a time, because unless your bowl or whatever is big enough to even dip two fingers at a time, it will tend to get even more messier than it was meant to.


Aaaannnnnd, my final design looked like this...

Side note: These are my natural nails, and if you have ever had acrylic nails, you'll know that polish sticks to false nails much longer than natural nails. Keep this in mind if you're wanting your design to stay on longer.


I have included one of my favorite person's youtube page, but of course, you can use anyone's tutorials you'd like. Good luck, and feel free to add any of your attempts (and successes!) of water marbling.