Today I’m going to tell you about a super cool little tool that I have in my nail art stash. I bought this tilted nail polish bottle holder. from Born Pretty Store a while back, and it has come in quite handy, so I thought I would share it with you in case you wanted to get your hands on one too.

It’s flexible enough to hold several different shaped bottles in. China Glaze might give you a problem because the base of the bottle is so wide, but all the other imported and local brands that I own fit fairly well. A big plus is that it can hold skinny little bottles. Those little tubes of polish that come in nail art pen sets are so hard to hold while you polish your nails with them. This little gadget solves that problem.

The downside to this design is that it doesn’t tilt the bottle as far as I would like. When the bottle is about half full (See my optimistic view on that?) you are going to need more of an angle to get the product near to the neck for easy dipping. But you can set the edge of the bottle holder on a thin book or coaster, and it will tilt a bit more and still feel pretty sturdy.

I also love to use this to hold my bottle of nail glue. Nail glue usually comes in small, lightweight plastic bottles that tip over easily. When glue spills into the threads it makes the cap stick and hard to open. I used to need a pair of locking pliers to open my nail glue after a few uses. This bottle holder keeps it upright, and I don’t have any problems with spillage and sticking anymore.

This particular tilted nail polish bottle holder costs $2.46 from Born Pretty Store and is totally worth the small price. I would definitely suggest getting your hands on one if you are searching for something like this. BPS gave me a coupon code to share so that you can get 10% off your entire order from their store.

I hope you found this post useful. Have a great day and don’t forget to make someone smile!

Hugs,
Rach

The post Useful Tools: Tilted Nail Polish Bottle Holder appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hi gals!

I appreciate you sticking around despite it being quiet around here lately. Unfortunately, I’ve been having some personal health issues in addition to keeping up with my regular mommy/wife duties and the blog always takes a back seat to real life. I’m sure you understand, but I thank you just the same for your patience. Y’all rock!

I’ve got a review for you today of a super fun product sent to me by OMG Nail Strips. They make a wide variety of nail strip designs that make for some quick and easy nail art, even if you are just a beginner!

I picked out two designs to try out and today I’m showing you the Jelly Bean design. Even though I don’t like to eat jellybeans, I do think they are so cute and colorful and a very fun idea for nail art! Perfect for a spring mani. Check out how great these look! I got lots of compliments on them.

But are they as easy to use as they boast on their site? Yes! They were so easy and quick to apply! Keep in mind that there are different types of nail strips and decals on the market so it’s important to know what you are working with and follow the instructions for each type. I really appreciate that they have a video tutorial on their website which left me feeling confident when I applied these.

Before I started, I pushed back my cuticles and swiped some polish remover on my nail surface to make sure to remove any oil or residue that might prevent the strips from sticking well to the nail. I also used some scissors and cut the sheet of nail strips into individual strips. There are 14 strips total per pack.

1. After selecting the correct size for my nail, I removed the clear plastic coating on top of the strip and then removed the strip from the stiff paper backing. I centered the strip to my cuticle line and sides of my nail. The underside of the strip is sticky so it is very easy to position it on the nail. It stays put while you work on cutting it down to size, but it’s not so sticky that, if you place it off-center, you can’t pull it off and reposition. It is also sturdy enough that it didn’t tear or stretch when I had to reposition.

2. After I positioned the strip, I was surprised to see how much of the strip was left hanging over the end of my nail. I have long nails, y’all. So these strips would still work on REALLY REALLY long nails. At this point, I used my finger to smooth out any bubbles under the strip. I used my rubber ended cuticle pusher to make sure the edges of the strip were stuck down well.

3. I snipped off the excess overhang of the nail strip with scissors, and since my nails are so skinny, I used my nippers to snip where the strip was a little bit too big for my nail on the sides. If you look closely at the picture, you can see what I did.

4. I used my finger to fold the strip over the free edge of my nail. It was a little tricky at first since my nails are almond shaped and not flat. But I just made sure to press along the edge and to tuck the over-hang under my nail.

5. See the excess tucked up under the tip of my nail?

6. Using a fine grit nail file, I filed along the edge of my nail until the excess came off. I did my best to hold the file parallel with my nail to keep the strip in tact on the tip of my nail. After I was finished, I topped it off with my favorite quick-dry topcoat from Girlstuff.

The packaging says that these last up to 10 days. I wore them for 8 days before I needed a change, but the strips weren’t peeling up around the edges at all. They did have some tip wear but not much considering they endured 8 days on my nails.

Application only took 15 minutes or so (not counting nail prep time). This really is a quick way to get some fine looking nails.

If you want to get your hands nails on some of these OMG Nail Strips, then pop over to their site and take a look. They have everything from skulls, hearts, flowers, feathers, and animal prints. These are $7.99 each or, for a better deal, you can pick 5 designs for $25 with free shipping on any orders. They even have new LED Nail Decals that have an LED that lights up with the NFC fields given off by some phones. How cool is that? Check those out here.

Have you ever tried these nail strips before? What do you think? I really like them, and I know I’ll enjoy showing off the other design I picked out soon. Thank you OMG Nail Strips for sending these to me. They sure were fun to wear!

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to make someone smile!

Hugs,
Rach

The post Oh My Goodness! Jellybean Nails Using OMG Nail Strips! appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hey gals,

Sorry for being so quiet around here lately. I blame it on a wedding in the family and some related festivities, my son’s birthday party, lovely hormones, having my nose stuck in a book, homeschooling my kids, and just being busy with real life in general. You all know how it goes.

While I have been too busy to blog, I haven’t been too busy for doing my nails. Recently I’ve enjoyed wearing some of my favorites and simply polishing nails for several friends.

Today, I’m sharing a stamped design using MJ XXVIII which is available from My Online Shop. Meann was kind enough to send me a couple of the new MJ stamping plates to test out along with some gold and silver stamping polish. Yay! Every single plate I have from MyOnline Shop stamps beautifully and this one is no exception. I’ve included a couple of macro shots near the end of this post because it’s my blog and I can do stuff like that if I want to. Ha!

My base is two coats of Girlstuff Chestnut. My sweet hubby surprised me with this pretty over the holidays, and I am happy to show it off now. I think it fits in with Marsala—the “color of the year”—don’t you?

I used two coats for this and had no issues with application or removal. The formula was great and it was quick drying like all Girlstuff Polishes.

Look at the detail in this stamping! I used the bottom right of the larger sections of etching on the MJ XXVIII as it reminded me of henna designs, and I liked the idea of gold over Chestnut. It’s quite pretty if I do say so myself.

Well, that is all I have to share for today. I hope you are all having a lovely week so far. Keep smiling!

Hugs,
Rach

The post Girlstuff Chestnut and MJ XXVIII Stamping appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’ve got another product review to share with you. When Born Pretty Store contacted me a while back asking me to review some of their products, I knew immediately that I wanted to get my hands on their 12-Color Hexagon Glitter Set I’ve heard so much about. When I received the package, I immediately set about putting tons of glitter all over my nails! I was thinking of doing something pumpkin related with these. But after I finished with the orange glitter, I realized that they looked more like koi fish scales. They were so fantastically glittery, I decided to leave them as is. Aren’t they pretty?

To achieve this flashy look, I started with two thin coats of a similar base color (Caronia Bourrée in this case). After my base color was dry, I applied a bit of clear polish down the center of my nail and, using a damp orange wood stick to pick them up, carefully placed the glitter piece by piece in a straight line down the middle of my nail. Then I worked out towards the sides of the nail, applying clear coat column by column to get the glitter to stick. Using my cuticle nippers, I cut some glitter in half for the edges of my nails. After the nail was covered to my liking, I applied a generous layer of clear coat to seal it all in.

I can’t believe that it has been a year since I did a full glitter placement mani! They are so pretty and fun to wear.

Hexagonal Glitter Review

Let me tell you more about the 12-Color Hexagonal Glitter Set from BPS.  The pack comes with 12 different colors each packed nicely in a clear pot with a screw top lid. There is a ton of glitter in each pot and the colors are very pretty.

I have to say that some of the hexes are cut very well , like these orange ones for instance. There may have been one or two oddly cut pieces that I found while I was placing these bits, but most of them were just right. The silver ones that I used for another look, on the other hand, were not so perfect. I had wonky hexes, half hexes, and wonky half hexes (you get the picture). If you plan to use these on a matching base then the wonky shapes won’t be such a concern. But if you look closely at my other mani, you can tell clearly that they are shaped a bit off—a contrasting color makes it a little more obvious. In reality though, I wore that design for several days and had many compliments on it with no one noticing anything amiss. Maybe it’s just my OC self making note of the shape issue, but the silver hexes are the oddest of the bunch. The rest are significantly better.

I decided to include a little gallery with a sample from each pot of glitter so that you can see for yourself the general quality of the glitter. The color is hard to make out on some of these, but the silhouettes show just how well-cut (or not) each color is. Just click/tap an image to enlarge it and then flip through them one-by-one.

Overall, I think this is a great product. This 12-color hexagon glitter set usually goes for $6.85 on Born Pretty Store. They are having a sale at the moment, and you can get this set for $5.48, but the sale ends in just a few hours. If you live in the Philippines, I want to remind you again that, though there are no shipping costs from Born Pretty Store, you WILL have to pay customs fees (about 150 pesos) on any package coming from outside the Philippines. Delivery is also slow if you choose their free shipping option. So don’t expect your package soon. If you plan on ordering something from Born Pretty Store, you can use the coupon code below to get 10% off your entire order.

Glitter placement manis are sooo eye-catching and versatile. I need to try a gradient type one soon or try different colors on each nail.

Have you done any glitter placement nail art? I would love to see! Please feel free to share a  link below in the comments if you feel like it.

I’m off to play some video games with my boy! Have a lovely day and keep smiling!

Hugs,

Rach

The post Born Pretty Store Hexagonal Glitter Review appeared first on The Nailinator.

Today I’m reviewing a brush set from Born Pretty Store. They sell all sorts of nail art supplies and products (plus makeup, jewelry, etc.) and ship internationally for free, which is great! If you live in the Philippines, you will have to pay customs and a parcel fee on the package when it arrives. So keep that in mind. It cost me about 150 pesos to claim a package with 3 items in it. Just something to consider when ordering online.

The product I’m reviewing today is their 8 pc Nail Art Brush Set.

8 Pc. Nail Art Brush Set

I am rather pleased with this affordable brush set. They cost USD$4.32 right now, which is about PHP 190. The set includes seven different  brushes and one small dotting tool. The handles are pink, which I personally love.

If you look at the close-ups of the brushes below, you will see two sizes of brushes that come to a point, one angled brush, one flat brush, and two sizes of flat brushes that are slightly rounded at the end. I love these flat brushes for cleanup around the cuticle or for making bigger shapes for nail designs. If I had any skills whatsoever with one-stroke flowers, I’m sure they would be perfect for that as well. The set also comes with a very small tip brush, which is great for detail work (like the leaves of my roses in the picture below). The dotting tool in this set is a very small one and it’s perfect for making tiny polka dots like you see below and for the swirly parts of these roses. I use this size of a dotting tool to do the markings of leopard print nail art.

The set is shipped with these protective covers (pictured below) to help keep them from being bent. It is best to store them with the covers on, just to be safe.

Overall, this is definitely a good set of brushes. The price is right, it has a decent variety of tools and uses. If you purchased this set, you would be able to do a lot of different designs with them. You could even cut some of the bristles off  one of these brushes to make finer tip brushes if you want something smaller. I’ll be sharing some nail art I’ve done with these very soon.

Well, that’s my review of this 8 pc. Nail Art Brush Set. What do you think of this set? Do you want it? Already have it?

I’ve got a coupon code for you that will give you 10% off your entire order if you get the hankering to order this, or anything else, on BornPrettyStore.com.

I hope you have a great day. I’m off to bed so I can get up in the morning and take my two little ones (Super Mario and Queen Elsa) trick-or-treating at the mall. Yeah, we do things a bit differently here in the Philippines.
Hugs,
Rachael

The post Born Pretty Store Nail Art Brush Set Review appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’ve got something super cool to share with you today! If you don’t have a very steady hand for nail art or don’t have much time to spare but want some awesome looking nails, then full-nail water decals are a must try for you. Pretty Nifty Thrifty contacted me asking if I would like to try some of their nail decals. Of course, I said yes! They have so many gorgeous designs to choose from. Just look at how awesome these are! I’ve received a ton of compliments on them.

I chose these 3 designs to try: (L to R) “Streaks”, “Hippie Feathers”, and “Peacock 1”. Keep an eye out for the other two designs in the near future.

Pretty Nifty Thrifty sells each sheet of 12 nail decals for Php80 (about $2) and have a “Buy 6 get 1 free promo”. Twelve decals per sheet means you can get a full manicure from one sheet plus 2 extras to use as accent nails on another manicure. They will even do customizable decals (Php120 or $3), too, which means you could get practically any design you wanted made.

The decals come with instructions but here’s the gist with a few tips from me.

Base coat: The instructions say to start with a white base coat to keep the colors vibrant. The decals are not completely opaque so this is a must if you want the colors right.

Prepping your decals: There are 3 sizes of decals. Use scissors to cut along the thin black outline and check the size against your nail. The smallest size fit my pinky nail perfectly, the middle size fit my middle fingernail and the biggest fit my thumb nail. For my index and ring finger, I used scissors to trim a little bit off the sides of the middle sized strips and that worked just fine.

Getting those pretty decals on your nails: Each decal needs to be dipped in a bowl of water for a few seconds. This allows the decal to slide off the paper. They should not be hard to slide off. If it gives you trouble, soak a bit longer. These decals are thin so handle with care. Before placing the decal on your nail, wipe off any excess water to prevent bubbling under the design Then place the decal on your nail and line it up along the cuticle line. Press down along the length of nail to keep it in place. The decals are not sticky but will cling to your base coat. If one gets put on crooked, just get it wet again to pull off and reposition.

Finishing up: The instructions say to use nippers to clip any excess hanging over the free edge of your nail. I highly recommend doing this if you have pair of sharpened nippers. If you use nippers that aren’t sharp, you may end up tearing your decals. If you don’t have nippers, you can just cut it close to the edge with scissors and apply your top coat. The top coat will melt the design to the base color and any part of the decal hanging over the edge will melt enough to use an orange wood stick to pull off any excess. Or you can wait for the top coat to dry and file off any excess and touch up the clear coat on the tips to make sure your decals don’t try to peel up.

Wear time: I’ve been wearing these for 5 full (and very busy) days now and they wear about the same as my regular nail art. Add another coat of top coat after 2 or 3 days to make it last longer.

Over all, I am very impressed!
The selection is great and this design looks amazing on my nails.
Check out Pretty Nifty Thrifty on Facebook or on their Instagram account to see all they have to offer. It’s not just decals. I saw just the other day that they also sell nail foil glue which I haven’t been able to find anywhere! Must. Buy. Some. Soon!

Have you tried these decals before? Let me know if you have any questions about this product.

Have a fantastic day!
Hugs,
Rach

The post Pretty Nifty Thrifty Nail Decals in Hippie Feathers (Review and Application) appeared first on The Nailinator.

Surprisingly, I LOVE it! This is three thin (and super quick drying) coats of L.A. Girl Electric Coral with some quick stamping with my JR-17 stamping plate (click to see image and pricing) that Meann of My Online Shop sent me a while back. Stamping is a very easy way to add some flair to any manicure. This plate has some really cool and fun tribal prints, and this orange is a perfect base for them IMHO. The black on orange was really eye catching.

I have mentioned before how great the L.A. Girl 3D Effect polishes are. I love the colors, the speedy dry time, the awesome holo sparkle, and the easy cleanup. Now that I know, I also have to add that they have great customer service. I ordered several polishes from them while I was in Texas and received one with a bent brush. I noticed the messed-up brush just a week before we left to come back home to the Philippines. So I contacted them and sent them a photo of the brush, and they sent me a replacement within just a couple of days. I appreciate them making and extra effort for speed considering I was on a time crunch. It’s the little things, people!

Things are going well for us. Our school year is off to a great start, and my house is slowly getting back to being organized. I hope all is well with you too. Thanks for reading. Have a fantastic day and don’t forget to make someone smile!

Hugs!
Rach

The post L.A. Girl 3D Effects Electric Coral with JR17 Stamping appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’m so thrilled to finally have Girl Stuff Soirée in my collection. It’s been on my lemming list since I saw it in December. I finally ordered it a couple of weeks ago, and of course, I had to use it immediately. It’s a teal jelly base loaded with teal, green, purple and gold glitter. There is also a splash of holo in it that is lovely. I applied 2 coats and enjoyed the sparkly, textured finish for a couple of days. Then I applied top coat and loved it even more. The glitter really sparkles like crazy with top coat. It needed two coats to make it smooth.

For my accent nail, I placed striping tape on the nail and then added one coat of Wild Berries (which Girl Stuff sent me as a bonus from their new Summer Collection. Thanks again, Girl Stuff!) and peeled off the tape before it could dry. Wild Berries is a pinkish purple that is very flattering.

 

Here is a shot of Soirée on its own, without topcoat. Both Soirée and Wild Berry dried quickly and were easy to use. Girl Stuff polishes are 3 free too so that is great! Check out their FB page or Instagram to see more of their pretty polishes.

I think you will see Wild Berries again soon as it made in into my luggage for the trek across the globe. Believe it or not, I’ve only packed a few polishes to bring. I am planning to pick up a few in the US, so I tried to limit myself to about 10. Success!

That’s all from me for now. I’m going to try to get a bit of sleep before we have to load up and head to the airport. I’m excited because the hubby bought me an awesome “Greatest Hits of the 1950’s” album for me for the trip in honor of our anniversary which is also today. Nine years baby! Woohoo! Next time you hear from me, I should be in Texas enjoying some Mexican food, Dr. Pepper, and shopping (with coupons!) at Kohl’s!

I hope you have a fabulous day!
Hugs,
Rach

The post Girl Stuff Soirée (with Wild Berries) appeared first on The Nailinator.

All opinions are my own.

Hello!
It’s late in the evening and I have been up working on a crazy jigsaw puzzle my sister gave me as a gift. TWO THOUSAND pieces! Seriously? The person who thought of making a puzzle over 1000 pieces has a very sick mind. Rant over!

 

I thought I’d make a quick post for you to share these fun nails I did last weekend. I received two of the new JR Stamping plates from My Online Shop for review. Thanks again, Meann! I picked JR17 and JR2 because I don’t have anything quite like them. I decided to start with an accent nail mani.

I used 4 colors for my base and dry brushing. All of these were sent to me by the very lovely and talented Jacqui of Craftynail. (Thanks again, Jax!) I started with 3 coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff and then used the dry brush technique by Chalkboard Nails and The Lacquerologist to add strokes of OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui, My Paprika is Hotter Than Yours and Sinful Colors Pull Over. I used 2 coats of Suzi Says Feng Shui for the accent nail and stamped an image my son picked out for me from JR17. The little mess up you see with the stamp was total user error. I was trying to hard to center the stamp on the nail and ended up accidentally touching it on a part and then moving it a bit. Oops! But the plate worked perfectly. I played around with several of the stamps on this plate and they all looked great. I’m still working the kinks out of my stamping to my nails skills. Any tips on perfect centering would be very welcome.

You can get your own JR Stamping plates along with awesome stampers and accessories at My Online Shop. They are on Instagram too.

I hope you are having a great week.
Hugs,
Rach

The post Dry Brush Nail Art and Stamping with JR17 appeared first on The Nailinator.

I hope you had a wonderful day filled with much love and laughter and that you got to spend it with people that you love. We enjoyed a Skype date with my hubby’s folks in Texas and we enjoyed a lovely lunch with my parents and siblings here in Cebu. Among other yummy things, we had some awesome mashed potatoes for lunch. Mr. Nailinator found this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. The secret ingredient? Cream cheese! Best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten!

Sometimes a girl needs some nail art that is easy and super speedy. This was just that. I applied my polish ahead of time (I’ll talk more about the polish in a bit) and had planned on doing a lovely free handed design, but due to time constraints (seriously, I’ve got two very active kids and a household to run) I chose to use the Hot016 Christmas themed water decals (should have taken a picture) that I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu a while back. It doesn’t really get much easier than water decals, gals. The Blooming Nail decals are great quality. They are so easy to work with. They have vibrant images, and they are thick enough that I was able to use my tweezers to position them, mumble under my breath at my lousy attempt at centering the design, and reposition it several times. Then I applied topcoat to seal it and smooth it out. I forgot to make sure the decal was completely dry before I placed it on my ring finger, thus you can see I experienced a bit of bubbling. Hopefully the next time I do decals I won’t forget that step and they will all be smooth.

The polish I used as my base is Chic Shadow Crystal (PHP 34.75/US$ 0.78). It is one of the 5 shades in their Grainy Collection. The polishes in their Grainy Collection dry to what I would describe as a slightly textured semi-matte finish. This is two thin coats of Shadow Crystal over one coat of San San Cloudy Gray. I think Shadow Crystal would need 4 coats for it to be opaque on it’s own so I decided to use undies again. I really love this polish. It dries fast and I love the finish and the little sparkles. It reminds me again of glistening snow except with a grayish silvery tint. I received several compliments when I wore the polish on it’s own. If you look closely at the pictures with the decals, you will see that there is no visible tip wear. I had already been wearing it without topcoat for 2 full days when I added the decals so it wears quite well also. Cleanup was very easy for me. A few sparklies were left behind, but they came off easily when I washed my hands. This is another perfect holiday shade in my opinion.

I’m still getting used to doing actual reviews on polishes. I would really appreciate if you would tell me if there is any lacking information in this review that you would like me to include in future review posts. Or feel free to tell me what I did right.

Mr. Nailinator convinced me to take the plunge and file my nails to a sort of pointy almond shape so the next time we meet I will be sporting a different look. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback so I hope you all love them too.

I’m singing off for bed now. Again, I hope you had/are having a very merry Christmas. May God bless you and yours.

Hugs,
Rachael

The post Review of Chic Shadow Crystal and Blooming Nail Cebu Water Decals appeared first on The Nailinator.