Born Pretty Store Cats, Ducks and More Decal Review!

Hello everyone!! Today I have a review of some cat nail decals (link here) from Born Pretty Store to share!

I did these nails ages ago and I'm only now posting them, oops! Like I said, my trip was so dang busy! I've spent yesterday and today catching up on about 5 weeks of blog posts from everyone I follow because I fell behind in that too! I'm getting close to being caught up and once this is posted I'll be pretty well caught up on blogging myself! I'll have a whole lot of time to blog again like before my trip, so I'll keep the nail art and swatches coming!

Onto the nails! I started off with two easy coats of China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le and let that dry. I then applied the water decals in basically the same way I always do (explained here) but again, I slid the decals off the paper and into the water before picking them up with my cleanup brush! After applying the decals on the hand you see here, I did notice some small black dot decals floating around in my bowl of water. They ended up on my non-photographed hand and I wasn't able to get them off, so be careful of that when applying these! I then applied a coat of top coat (Essie Good to Go) and I was good to go! See what I did there? :P

Unlike with some decals, these decals didn't smudge when I added top coat which was awesome! I would really recommend this set of decals if only because they're so unique, so it's really cool that they're so easy to apply and don't smudge too!

What do you guys think of these cute little decals? Let me know in the comments!

I'd really recommend checking out Born Pretty Store for any of your nail art needs, everything is very affordable and it only takes a few weeks to arrive! If you do, be sure to use my coupon code SKBQ10 for 10% off your order!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I'll be back with some simple green nail art in a few days! Happy Tuesday! =)

Red Gradient Topped with Jessica 18K Gold Leaf Top Coat and Gold Studs & Mini Trip Update!

Hello my lovely readers, long time no talk! Today I have an elegant red gradient look topped with a gold leaf top coat and gold studs to share!

I know I said I wouldn't take a month-long hiatus while on this trip but I have taken a bit of one none the less! We have been out for most of the day just about every day since we got here, so we've been quite busy! I had gotten very used to doing hardly anything most days back at home, so it has taken me some time to adjust and get back into blogging.

My sister and I came over here with about ten pounds of room to spare between the two of us and we've (read: I've) bought a decent amount of clothes already :P. The good news is, we can leave things like pads, acetone and shampoo with the friend we're staying with to free up some weight in our luggage. The other good news is that I'm very happy with what I've already bought and I've decided on just getting a few more things and I've been sticking with it! I'll also be getting presents for people and picking up some Swiss chocolate (obviously!) so hopefully we won't have to bring another suitcase home!

Before we get onto the nails I thought I'd insert a picture of Anna (the friend we're staying with) and I, hopefully you guys can get an idea of how beautiful Switzerland is from the background! This post is turning into a trip update as well as a nail art post haha, maybe I'll add that to the title! I'm the shorter one on the left in case you didn't know!

Anyways, for this look I started off with one easy coat of a red jelly-leaning crelly polish, OPI Red Hot Rio. For being a jelly/crelly this polish was inexplicably opaque. It didn't quite reach opacity in one coat, but that was good enough for me because I knew I was going to sponge some Deborah Lippmann Jessa on the tips!

After that had dried a little I applied/dabbed on one thickish coat of Jessica 18K Gold Leaf Top Coat. There are not many flakes per clear base in this polish but I actually like the subtle sprinkling one coat gives!

Lastly, I applied some gold round studs that I got off of eBay or Amazon a while ago followed by a coat of top coat!

I felt very classy and fancy wearing these nails which isn't exactly my style so they were fun to wear!

What do you guys think about these nails or how gorgeous Switzerland is? I'd love to hear in the comments!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I have one more Born Pretty Store review post to get up so keep an eye out for that! Happy Monday! =)

Born Pretty Store Pastel Stud Review & Mr. Candiipants Nail Art!

Hey everybody! Today I have a recreation of some of Mr. Candiipants' nail art and a Born Pretty Store review to share!

I've been picking up some last minute travel things and I'm getting ridiculously excited for my trip! I'm really curious to see how my nail pictures will be without a light box... guess I'll just use natural light! I've decided to bring the camera I always use for my pictures so the quality should be the same! Anyways, onto the nails! :)

To start I applied two coats of Essie Find Me An Oasis (very pale blue) to most of my nails and two coats of Maybelline Ultra Violet (purple) to the rest. Both had really nice formulas and I was very pleasantly surprised that Find Me An Oasis was a non-streaky two-coater!

I then went in with NOPI Strike a Pose (coral that always looks red next to other colours) and OPI My Vampire Is Buff (off-white nude) on all of my nails in different shapes! I then added a mint green colour to the purple nails using American Apparel Office! The only time I used a thin brush on these nails was for the nude stripes on the blue nails, though I really should have for the random shapes on the purple nails to get good sharp corners. Lastly, I applied some purple pastel studs from Born Pretty Store (link here) with a little blob of top coat on the nail and a dotting tool dipped in top coat. I'm happy to report that the colour on the studs didn't bleed whatsoever! The entire colour is removed by non-acetone remover though, so if you keep your studs like me, you'll end up with silver studs!

After giving my nails some time to dry I gave them each a spray of hairspray for a couple seconds and let that dry. Then I applied my favourite top coat (Essie Good To Go) and I was done! I always do this hairspray step now because I discovered how much harder it is for you to smudge your design with your top coat this way! Also, here is a link to Mr. Candiipants' tutorial for this super cute design!

What do you guys think of this nail art or these studs? I'd love to know in the comments!

Be sure to check out Born Pretty Store for any of your nail art needs, they have a really massive selection! And be sure to use my coupon code for 10% off, SKBQ10!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I'll be back soon with a subtle red gradient and gold leaf top coat look that I'm very obsessed with and wearing right now! Happy Sunday! =)

Born Pretty Store Patterned Metallic Stud Review!

Hey everyone! Today I have a fun stud nail art look and review to share!

I'm getting really excited about my trip to Switzerland, so much so that I'm even looking forward to the long trip there! :O It's just my little sister and I going and travelling without our parents is a first for us! It's all very exciting but I'll quit yammering on and get to the nails!

For these nails I started off with three easy coats of Black Sheep Lacquer Smells Like Teen Spirit. To apply the studs, I applied the third coat of polish and then stuck the studs in the wet polish before moving on to the next nail. The smaller studs are from a random shop on Amazon or eBay, and the larger studs with the striped holographic pattern are from Born Pretty Store (link here, item number 2)!

All of the polish and studs were very easy to work with in this mani! Some of the Born Pretty Store studs we're stuck to other ones in pairs, but since they're not super small they were easy to pull apart. It also comes with plenty (100 pieces) so you wouldn't need to pry two apart until you've used them many times and were starting to run out! One other thing I noticed is that removing the studs with acetone-free remover still took off their holographic stripe design. I thought that was actually pretty cool because now I have some plain silver circle studs in my collection!

The Black Sheep Lacquer polish I used here is a thermal and I've done a review post on it before showing it's transitions (link here). It was so much fun wearing this mani (I wore it for 5 or 6 days crazily enough) because sometimes my nails were a pale jade green like in these pictures, and sometimes they were a much darker teal colour when I was cold!

If you guys decide to pick these studs or any of their other nail art stuff up, be sure to use my coupon code, SKBQ10!

Thanks so much for having a look everyone! Let me know what you think of these nails or these studs in the comments! Happy Friday! =)

Pink and Yellow Half Moon Hearts!

Hello everyone! Today I have another half moon heart look to share in a different colour combo! If you're curious check out some other versions like my red and purple one, my purple glitter one and my emerald shimmer and blue/grey one!

So for some crazy reason I don't think I've mentioned on here that I'll be leaving for a month-long trip to Switzerland pretty soon. I won't be going on a four week hiatus or anything like that so that's probably why I've forgotten to mention it until now! I won't have my light box with me so the pictures will be pretty different for about a month and I might post a little sporadically/infrequently, but I'll still be posting! =)

I haven't started packing or anything like that but I have been getting rid of a bunch of clothes that I never wear! I think that'll make it a little easier to pack because I'll have a little less to choose from haha! I'm very excited to have a reason to get dressed every day for an entire month because this long summer/spring between winter and fall post-secondary semesters with not a lot of reasons to leave the house is a little lame clothing-wise. Anyways, onto the nails!

I started off with two easy coats of the lovely China Glaze Dance Baby. I then went in with one thick coat of American Apparel Neon Yellow in a heart-like shape with just the brush from the bottle! Lastly, I finished off with a coat of my favourite top coat, Essie Good to Go!

This is a super quick and simple nail art technique but there are endless possibilities and it looks so bold and cute! That's probably why I keep doing it haha!

What do you guys think of these nails or this kind of nail art in general? Are there any places in or near Switzerland I shouldn't miss visiting while I'm there? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I'll be back with some more Born Pretty Store reviews very soon! Happy Tuesday! =)

Red and Purple Gradient and Half Moon Heart Nail Art!

Yo yo yo my people! Today I have some gradient and half moon heart (?) nail art to share!

So I do this thing where I clean my room every few months and it's a disaster a few days after said cleanings. This time though, I added a real bed to my bedroom (I used to sleep on a mattress on the floor because it's really comfy, quiet if you toss and turn and easy to move around). Now that I have a bed my room feels more like a proper bedroom, and I think it's helping me keep and want to keep it clean. It's like my room had too chill of a vibe before or something.

I'm mostly only mentioning it because it's helping me feel motivated about a lot of other things. I have always struggled with motivation for school, cleaning and anything else really. Now I'm thinking up cute things to put in my room and feeling motivated to blog, dress like I would if I was actually going out everyday, etc. I haven't even been wearing a bra lately because I usually stay home and just can't be bothered. This was supposed to sound positive because it is haha! Anyways, onto the nails!

I started with a base of two coats of American Apparel Poppy and a coat of top coat (because I wasn't going to jazz it up with nail art until the next day)! Poppy can easily be a one-coater but I wasn't being overly careful. The next day I went in with Essie DJ Play that Song for the half moon hearts and Poppy, American Apparel Angeline (a one-coater dark pink creme, swatch and review here) and DJ Play that Song on a wet makeup sponge for the gradient nails! I finished with a coat of Dollish Polish Putting on the Ritzzz! for the gradient nails and a coat of top coat on all of the nails.

What do you guys think of these nails? I'd love to know in the comments!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! Does anyone else struggle with keeping their room tidy or motivation in general? I'll be back with a massive swatch spam post very soon! Happy Wednesday! =)

Art Deco/Abstract Basketball Nail Art!

Hey everyone! Today I have some art deco/abstract basketball nail art to share!

I've been gone for so long! I think I finally took the break I needed and now I can be motivated enough to post more often. I'm aiming for every two days because I have tons of time to paint my nails! Also, my giveaway ended and I've chosen a winner, congratulations Lindsay! She has already replied to my email so I won't be picking a new winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I think it would be super fun to do some little giveaways like this every once and a while, what do you guys think? Anyways, onto the nails!

This mani is my last go at art deco nail art for the September/October issue of Nail It magazine! It has been so fun working off of the prompts and I can't wait until the next prompts are announced! 

I started off with two coats of OPI Toucan Do It If You Try, then I went in with a small paint brush and Revlon Rich Raspberry for the lines! 

Toucan Do It If You Try had a similar formula to another polish I picked up from this collection, I Just Can't Cope-acabana. They both seemed pretty opaque at one coat and seemed like they'd be two coaters, but after the second (thicker) coat there were still some bald spots. I also seem to find small black specks in some light OPI cremes, like in this polish, and it ended up on my right hand's thumb.

Does anyone else go over their nail art twice for the lines to be more opaque? I do it a lot because I feel like it has to be opaque for some reason! I guess I wouldn't really recommend Rich Raspberry for nail art because I had to go over everything again and it still wasn't totally opaque. It has a crelly/jelly formula but it is opaque in two coats on its own, so I'll probably stick to using it as a base for nail art.

Thank you so much for reading everyone! I got my blog mojo back and I'm so happy about it! Stay tuned for a lot more fun posts very soon! Happy Sunday! =)

My 200th Post: Purple Watercolour Halloween Nail Art and a Small Giveaway!

Hi everyone! Today I have some fun Halloween-y nail art and a fun little giveaway to share!

If you haven't read my last post I know what you're thinking... it's late May not late October, what's with the Halloween nails? And like I said in my last post, Halloween is one of the prompts for Nail It Magazine's September/October Issue and I'm trying to get my nails in their super fancy magazine!

Today is a special day because this is Partial to Polish's 200th post! In honour of that I've picked out a cute set of coloured studs from Born Pretty Store for one of you lovely people to win! This isn't a sponsored post, it's just a fun little spontaneous giveaway I decided to throw together today! The widget will be at the bottom of this post so read on!

For this look I started with a base of Essie The Girls are Out, a lovely fuchsia polish with glowy silver shimmer. I then went in with Essie DJ Play that Song, Color Club Pucci-licious and China Glaze Fancy Pants. I basically followed the lovely Chelsea Queen's tutorial to get the water colour effect, but I also went over each nail with acetone and a little DJ Play that Song at the end to blend everything together a little better! Check out the picture below for what that looked like (with no top coat).

I fell in love with the waxy finish of this watercolour look, so much so that I've since made a wax effect top coat with some corn starch and top coat! If you're curious you can head to my Instagram through the button in my sidebar to check out how it looked!

For the spiders and birds/bats (I was going for very simple bats but I think they look more like birds) I used a small paintbrush and Revlon Espresso, my favourite black creme polish. After letting my nails dry I sprayed the spider and bat nails with a spray of hairspray and let that dry. I finished off with a coat of the top coat I always use, Essie Good to Go. I do that every time I do any kind of nail art now because the layer of hairspray makes nail art so much harder to smudge!

What do you guys think of these nails? I'd love to know in the comments!

Now, onto the giveaway portion of this post! It is open internationally and will be open for a week. One of the requirements is that you leave a comment on this post letting my know which colour combo you'd like to receive the most. The following pictures are from the Born Pretty Store website and if you click on any of them they'll take you to the item listing for more information. I have named each set below so you can easily let me know which is your favourite in the comments!

BPG (blue purple green)

POP (pink orange purple)

GYG (green yellow green)

OPB (orange pink blue)

Here is the widget, good luck everyone! The winner will have 24 hours to respond to my email or I'll have to pick a new winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for reading everyone! I'll have a big random swatch post up soon of the bases for my nail art or polishes I wore on their own, so keep an eye out! Happy Thursday! =)