Simple Sunday 7/30/17- ft. MoYou London Frenchy

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Today I have a very straightforward Simple Sunday mani using one of the newer plates in the MoYou London "French" collection.

I feel like I have been doing a lot of purple based manis for Sunday lately. I guess I am really digging the color this summer! Ha ha.

The purple in this mani is a Sinful Colors/Kylie Jenner polish. I love the tiny gold shimmer running through this color- it really is a gorgeous polish.

My "french manicure" design comes from MoYou London's "Frenchy 14." This plate has a lot of very elegant, "grown-up" frenchy inspired designs. After I stamped the design onto all my nails, I did go over the top portion of it with my black polish and brush from the bottle, just to make sure it was nice and opaque.

Born Pretty Review: Colorful Sand and Chameleon Powder

**Products in this post were provided to me by Born Pretty Store in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

Hello Readers!


Today I have the final- for a while- Born Pretty Store product review, featuring a couple of specialty nail art add-ons.

The first item that caught my eye was this colorful nail sand. (item #40133) I thought it would be a fun way to add interesting texture, especially for some fun summer manis! The sand comes in six different colors, but I was drawn to the pink.

It arrived in the little standard Born Pretty plastic pot, with a little seal under the lid to prevent mishaps in the mail. This product is currently priced at $0.99 a pot.

The second item I tried in this post is the Unicorn Chrome Powder. (item #39940). This currently retails for $2.99.

This also came to me with a seal under the lid, as well as a foam eye shadow applicator to apply the powder to your nails with.

 Now, on the Born Pretty website they recommend using this product with UV gel products. But I'm sure the burning question most people have about this type of product is, "can you use it with regular nail polish?"

So, in this post I am showing you what it looks like used with just a regular nail polish. I used a quick-drying topcoat over a plain black base and sponged the powder over the top. For an even more saturated look, you could then add another layer of topcoat and re-apply the powder over that, but today I am showing the effect of just one layer.

This mani started off with a basic white polish on my pinky and pointer, and basic black on my ring and middle fingers. I used a sponge to create a gradient over my pinky/pointer, and the unicorn powder to give my middle/ring fingers some sparkle and shine.

For my middle finger, I used a stamp from MoYou London's "Holy Shapes 05" plate to section off the finger. After my topcoat was completely dry, I added liquid latex to the part of the nail I didn't want sand on.

Next, I added topcoat to the nail and immediately dipped it into the pot of sand. I added more topcoat to any bald spots and re-dipped, and removed the liquid latex as quickly as possible.

I didn't add topcoat to this for the photo, because I wanted to keep as much texture as possible, but adding topcoat would obviously make the mani last longer. However, after adding topcoat the sand does become less opaque.

If you decide to check out these products, be sure to use my Born Pretty Store code (RACHX31) for 10% off your purchase over there.

You can find the textured sand here, and the chameleon powder here.

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Farm life ft. MoYou London Enchanted

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Today's post is a mani I made using the farm plate from MoYou London's "Enchanted" collection. I wanted to do something bright and summery but I'm not entirely sure about how this one turned out...

I started out with some of the pastel neon polishes in MoYou London's back-to-school release for this year. I decided to pair them with a couple of neutrals to kind of tone down the bright colors a little bit.

My cow and the flower images on my pointer/pinky fingers both came from the Enchanted collection plate. I made some quick and simple decals with those images. The images in this collection really do make  quick decals, since there is so little to fill in.

I decided to add a flower pattern to the mani, which comes from my favorite floral plate, the Bundle Monster + Tanya Wish blogger collab plate.

Simple Sunday 7/23/17- ft. new MoYou London Frenchy

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Ever since MoYou London released some updated plates to the Frenchy collection a few months ago, I've been dying to get my hands on them. Well, the time when I was able to do so has come and so today I have some Simple Sunday nails featuring some newer MoYou London plates.

Now, while this mani is simple to do in terms of steps and time, I will warn you that these images with intersecting lines are a bit tricky to get stamped onto your nail straight. You may notice here that my lines got slightly warped in the stamping process.

I started off this mani with 3 coats of the Sinful Colors "In your elemelon" polish. This polish is a bit streakier on the first two coats than most Sinful Colors formulas, so that surprised me a bit, but it worked out on the third.

Next, I chose a pattern to add some texture to the mani. I wanted something polka dotty since I was pairing it with stripes, and this MoYou London plate from the tropical collection had the perfect splatter pattern. 

The final step was to stamp on one of the geometric french nail designs from this MoYou London Frenchy collection plate. I really love the triangular nail tip designs on this plate. It was something I definitely didn't have in my collection and I was excited to try out!

Born Pretty Store Review: Chameleon Polish and Stamping Polish

**Items reviewed in this post were provided to me by Born Pretty Store in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**


Hello Readers!


Today I have another couple of reviews for Born Pretty Store- a couple of polishes this time.


So recently, Born Pretty has come out with some chameleon polishes that have a pretty good color shift. This particular one is "Sunset Glow", item #39970, and retails for $4.99.

You can see quite a bit of the color shift in the bottle, although on the nail I mostly see a burgundy color with a very pronounced green color shift. Here's how it looks on the nail:

Now, this polish was pretty easy to use. I have pictured two coats, and was surprised to get pretty good coverage in just one. It did dry with some really tiny bubbles that you can see in the pic, but aren't as obvious in real life, and it has a really lovely shimmer running all throughout it.

With the great coverage I got in one coat, I was hoping this polish would stamp well, but I really was not impressed. It did not show up boldly when stamped and was fairly faint, so I scrapped that idea. However, this is a lovely polish to use as a base color.

The brush in the bottle was quite a bit wider than I am used to, and I wasn't a huge fan of it. It was about as thick as the Sally Hansen Compete Salon Manicure brushes, if you are familiar with those, but had less of a flat shape and more of a bulky round shape, if that makes sense.



The second product I am reviewing in this post is a Born Pretty stamping polish.

This is a stamping polish in the 6ml size, so fairly small, and can be found in this set of colors on the Born Pretty website. (This particular color is #95.) (item #40249)

This currently retails for $2.99.

I have used this polish to stamp the leopard print onto my ring finger nail. Now, the biggest thing I will note about this polish is that it has a pretty distinctive green tone to it. On the website, it looks straight gold to me but there is not a swatch of it so it is hard to tell the exact color.

On my nails, I've paired it with Sinful Colors "Gold Medal" to fill in the tiger shape so you can see exactly what color this stamping polish is. That being said, I think it pairs interestingly with the Chameleon polish since they both have quite a bit of a green tint.

If you decide to try either of these polishes out, you can find the gold stamping polish here and the Chameleon polish here. You can also use my Born Pretty Discount code, RACHX31, for a 10% discount on the Born Pretty website.

Born Pretty Review: Dinosaur Plate (BP-125)

*Items in this post were provided to me by Born Pretty Store in exchange for an honest review.*

Hello Readers!



Another shipment from Born Pretty has arrived to me in the mail, which means it's time for another round of product reviews. The first product I will be reviewing is the super-cute dinosaur themed plate, number BP-125. (Item #39698)

This plate arrived to me with a blue plastic protective film on it to prevent scratching during manufacturing and shipping. The blue film must be removed prior to stamping with the plate. The plate was also protected in a cardboard sleeve to prevent damage.

I found this plate to be very well-etched, and had no problem  with the pick-up on any of the images. Born Pretty typically does a very good job on the etch of their plates.

With this plate, I decided to make a mani for my son's birthday, as he is turning 5 years old today and loves him some dinosaurs! I decided these dinosaurs needed a gradient background, so I sponged one on and created some decals with some of the images from the plate.

A lot of these dinos have very small details on them, so it was difficult to get the polish in the exact spot without spilling over in some areas. Still, these images are really very cute and different, and I'm happy to own this plate.


If you are interested in this plate, you can find it here at the Born Pretty Store, currently for $1.59 with free shipping. You can also use my Born Pretty Discount code, RACHX31, for 10% off your purchases at Born Pretty.

Simple Sunday 7/16/17- ft MoYou London Festive

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Today's mani is based off of a heart motif from one of MoYou London's Festive collection plates with a Valentine's Day theme. It's not Valentines Day, but to me hearts are a theme that never go out of season.

My original plan here was to do one nail with a decal that had just one heart colored in gold. But I smudged my decal and ruined it. I didn't feel like making a new one, so I just painted my ring finger gold and stamped a larger heart motif on it.

Walgreens was having a Sinful Colors 5/5$ sale last week, so I picked up a couple of colors that I haven't tried yet. Everyone seems to love "Starfish", so I decided to give it a try, as well as "Gold Medal" because I've heard it's really good for stamping. :)

Here's a quick look at the Moyou London plate I used- the number is "Festive 51."

Nail Crazies Unite: Ocean Life

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Today's post is for the Nail Crazies Unite Group, where this week we are making "Ocean Life" manis. There's a jellyfish image on one of the MoYou London "Animal" plates that I've been wanting to use forever, so I decided to base my mani around that.

I also was excited because I recently found the Sinful Colors "Rainstorm" polish in Kmart, which is one I've been wanting forever but have never been able to find. Not sure what it was doing there; if it's being re-promoted or it was just totally random, but I was happy!

So the jellyfish image on my ring finger comes from the MoYou London plate "Animal 04." I thought about using the starfish image to go with it, but was having a hard time making the mani work in my head so I decided to go in a different direction. I filled the jellies in with the Sinful Colors "Bangin Blue" polish.

The geometric print on my pinky/pointer fingers comes from the MoYou London plate "Hipster 13". I stamped it in the Sinful Colors "Sugar Pumpkin".

On my middle finger, I felt like it needed a little accent so I grabbed the Born Pretty Nail Sequins that I reviewed a while back and picked two gold ones in different sizes to add.


I hope you enjoyed this mani! Be sure to check out the link-up below for more "Ocean Life" nail ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up

Monkey Business

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Today I am showing you a mani I have wanted to make ever since I bought the Bundle Monster Kawaii Emoji collection. I fell in love with those bananas and felt like they needed to be paired with a monkey!

He's in tiny monkey heaven.

This mani started off as many do, with two coats of each different color onto my nails.

I created two decals from the banana image on this Bundle Monster Kawaii Emoji plate. I've already used this plate quite a few times, to create a rainbow jellybean mani, a veggie themed one, and a watermelon look.

The little monkey face comes from The MoYou London plate "Geek 13", which I have also found to be highly versatile.

I decided some bold stripes was exactly what the design needed, so I pulled out my trusty MoYou London "Holy Shapes 05" plate. Still a favorite of mine- still my most used plate.

Now, I decided to stamp some subtle texture behind the monkey face, and figured this plate from Bundle Monster's new Shape Nouveau collection would be the perfect one to run to. I used one of the larger image patterns and it worked great for a full nail design.

Simple Sunday 7/9/2017: Purple and Gold

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Most of the time when I sit down to do my nails, I have hours of evening hours ahead of me- the kids are in bed, and I plan on relaxing the rest of the night. But, every once in a while, things get shaken up and I need to do something that is going to be done-in-a-flash so I can get on with my life.

Last night was one of those nights- I was substituting for a friend selling concessions during the intermission at the local theater, so I needed my nails to have time to dry before I headed over there so they wouldn't get destroyed. So this mani is very simple and easy, just like I usually try to do for my Simple Sunday manis anyway. :)

I love the MoYou London Trend Hunter plates for intricate stamping designs that look great with just simple stamping.

I went for a classic purple and gold combo for this mani- for these really intricate designs, using a stamping polish can be really helpful.

My stamping image comes from MoYou London's "Trend Hunter 13" plate, which I've found myself reaching for a lot when I really need something quick and easy.

Beach Silhouettes: Just Be Free ft. Bundle Monster

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This week's Crumpet's Nail Tarts prompt is "Beach/Animal Silhouettes." I always love a good palm tree silhouette over a gradient background, so I decided to go with the beachy side of things. Also, I ended up wearing this for the 4th of July, so it's a little bit patriotic in a more subtle way.

I think it kind of looks like an acid wash.

So I started off this mani with two coats of one of the new Sinful Colors polishes, from the Back-to-School collection. I used the blue polish and a makeup sponge along with the peach to create a gradient over the top of that.

I picked this Bundle Monster plate up when I ordered the new Shape Nouveau collection- you know, to knock my order up a couple more dollars to qualify for free shipping. I'm always wishing I had more word art images when I'm creating manis, so I was pleased with all the phrases on this plate. It's part of the "Festival" collection and has been around for a while.

The palm tree image comes from another Bundle Monster plate, from the "Hangloose" collection.

Finally, I decided to make the mani a little more "Independence Day" appropriate and add this adorable star pattern from the Bundle Monster + Nailedthepolish blogger collab plate.

Hope you enjoyed this mani! Be sure to check out the link-up below for more silhouette looks!

An InLinkz Link-up

Simple Sunday 7/2/17- Patriotic Nail Art

Hello Readers!

Since this is the Sunday before the 4th of July, I figured I'd try to do some more subtle patriotic nails for today's Simple Sunday.

You may note that I've changed my nail shape... because one of my nails chipped from the side so I decided to make lemonade and try an oval shaped nail. This summer has been really brutal on my nails, probably because of all the swimming.

So I started with about 3 coats each of the red and  gold polishes. They are both a little sheer, and you can still see my nail line just a little with the red polish, but it seemed good enough. I decided to add some shimmer to the white, so after doing two coats of it I added a coat of "Dripping in Pearls".

I really wanted to try these layering images on the new Bundle Monster Shape Nouveau collection plates, so I used the largest narrow triangle shape and stamped it in white...

...and then layered a pattern from the coordinating plate over it. I didn't place it down quite perfectly, but I feel like it'll do.

The image on my middle nail comes from a MoYou London "Festive" collection plate. I made a simple decal and placed it on the nail.

Do my American readers have any fun plans for the Fourth of July? My town has a little fun carnival set up with some rides, so I think we will go check that out- so excited!

90s Inspired Patriotic Mani, ft. new Bundle Monster Shape Nouveau Collection

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Today's mani was inspired by the many 90s abstract shape manis I've been seeing lately, mostly from Bundle Monster to show off their new "Shape Nouveau" Collection.

Now, I haven't been too crazy about the last couple of releases from Bundle Monster, but this one got my attention. Graduated sizes of the same shape, textured versions of those same shapes on a coordinating plate perfect for layering, outlines for the shapes, and a tiny alphabet... sold!

There are also a lot of fun abstract designs. I just kind of went to town layering some shapes together in some patriotic colors to make a retro inspired design. I ended up using every plate from the collection on this one mani, ha!

I started off with a base of "Snow Me White", and chose a couple of red and blue stamping polishes since I was going to be doing a lot of stamping with solid shapes.

So possibly my favorite plate in the collection, this is the one I started with for the stars. I just love the variety of useful shapes on here and the fact that it includes a separate outline for each one. I needed this plate in my life so much. As you can see, the solid star shapes stamped pretty well.

A lot of the random textures on this mani come from this plate. I took advantage of all the wonky edges- they really came in handy when only stamping a small part of the pattern onto my nail, but a lot of these patterns are large enough to get a full nail image out of them if you're nails aren't super long.

Then I used a bunch of random abstract images from these two plates. One of the selling points on this collection for me was the tiny alphabet that looks easy-ish to isolate to spell things out, but in person it was a little smaller than I imagined. I'm not sure if it will be easy to get these stamped before they dry when isolating them. I guess it remains to be seen, someday when I feel the need to spell out something with tiny letters!