Summer Shenanigans- Rock Hunting Team Mani

Hello Readers!



Today's post is something kind of silly and fun, and definitely different. Every year in my city, and local gym puts on a rock hunting extravaganza when school lets out for the summer. They hide 3 engraved rocks over the course of a month or so, and give out clues and then send the whole city out to find them. Whoever finds the rock wins $5000, or $10,000 if they are wearing an official "rock-hunting" shirt.

The rock hunt is winding down now, with only one rock left to be found, and people are swarming all over the nature trails of the city in red shirts hunting for it. My rock hunting buddy and I decided it would be fun to do rock hunting manis for good luck when we go on our search this week.

So, this mani might not make a lot of sense to people not from my city, but I will explain. We have a lot of red rocks in my area, so the pinky/pointer fingers represent all the rocks we are going to be shuffling through and turning over in search of the lucky one. The middle nail represents the quest to decipher the tricky clues given out by the hosts. The ring finger is a representation of the rock itself, which is roughly triangular shaped and has the logo of the gym engraved on one side (the face-down side, of course) to let you know when you have found it.


The orange color on this mani is Essie's "Taj-ma-haul", which my bottle is sadly becoming super thick and gunky from use. I think it's time to invest in some nail polish thinner to fix that little issue. Still, I managed to get it on my nails. The black is Sinful Colors "Konstellation", to add a little shimmer and fun.

I freehanded a decal for the rock shape. I didn't want it to be a perfect triangle since the actual rock is rough-sided and not perfectly shaped, so that it looks like a regualar rock when you see it in the wild. They don't want the game to be over too quickly! But I stamped a triangle onto it from this MoYou London "Holy Shapes 19" plate to represent the engraving.

The equations/chalkboard images come from this school-themed Born Pretty plate. It reminded of that meme of the confused/thinking lady, which feels a lot like us trying to figure out the clues:

Totally everyone in this city right now.

I wish I could take credit for the decision to use this plate, but my friend, Emily, had this awesome idea to use the rocks from the Bundle Monster/Twi_Star mermaid plate for this mani. I love this idea!


Wish us luck today! Hopefully this tribute to the rock hunt will be our "lucky charm" (wink wink... lucky charm is one of the mysterious rock clues this week, ha ha).

Inspired by my Job: Motherhood Mani

Hello Readers!


Today's post is the second for the #clairestelle8june challenge, and this time around the prompt is "inspired by your job/hobby". At first I latched on to the "hobby" part, and had a bunch of half-formed ideas, but nothing really jumped out at me until I decided to shift focus and create a mani based on my job.

I am a stay-at-home-Mom, and at first I had no idea how to make a mani based on that. Being a stay-at-home-Mom is so many things. So many small things wrapped up together into a bundle of mild chaos. In the end, I decided to run with that idea and represent some of the many elements of my day-to-day life with this mani.

It's band-aids and boo-boos and conflict management between siblings. It's lullabies and 50 repetitions of "Mary Had a Little Lamb". It's keeping calm in the face of poop on a daily basis. It's frantically googling the structure of an atom for inquiring minds who *neeeeed* to know. It's wonderful and exhausting and I wouldn't trade it for the world.


And, much like motherhood, this mani was a jumble of... many different things, ha ha.

I started by painting all my nails with the Sinful Colors blue, which was pretty awesome at two coats. Then it was time to get to work on stamping and decals...

So for my first finger, I used an image from one of the Bundle Monster "Kawaii Emoji" collection plates, because I figured band-aids and crying faces were a perfect representation of my daily life with two rambunctious boys and their toddler sister.

Now, behind the decals on both my pointer and ring finger, I added the sunburst design from this Bundle Monster + Nailstamp4fun plate. I actually did this on the silicone mat that I was using to work on them instead of adding it to my nail, and it was probably easier that way just because I was already doing the decals and it's easier to stamp onto a flat surface than onto a curved nail.

I simply stamped the design onto the "back" of the decal after filling in all of the images.

The music design comes from this cute Born Pretty Store plate. I actually stamped this upside down on my first try because I wasn't paying attention and thought it was just notes, which don't really have a "right side up", but upon further inspection, I saw the treble and bass clef signs and those do have a right side up. So, I had to remove the stamping with my clean-up brush and acetone and stamp it again.

The poop emoji comes from this MoYou London "Geek Collection 13" plate, which has a lot of cute and fun images! I was a little sad when I realized that they did the poop emoji in a solid state (heh) instead of a line art image, because I was hoping to fill it in. I did still fill in the eyes and mouth, of course added the background. I felt like it still needed something though, and wanted to add some kind of phrase. I had no idea what, so I searched through my plates until I found something suitable...

...which ended up being from the Bundle Monster "Time Machine" collection. I just used the top part of one of the "keep calm" phrases. This nail now makes me chuckle; it's just so appropriate because Motherhood is nothing if it's not dealing with poop. Lots and lots of poop.

So then, my final image- the atoms- come from this Born Pretty school-themed plate, which is a newer plate from the Born Pretty site. Just some simple stamping on that nail.

Born Pretty Review: Chameleon Flakies

*The product being reviewed in this post was provided to me by Born Pretty in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*



Hello Readers!

Today's post is another Born Pretty Store review. This is the last product I was sent to review in this shipment. I saved it for last because I was a little bit nervous about it to be honest, but it turned out to be a lot easier than I was imagining.

This product is the Chameleon Cloud Paillette Nail Flakies in color #1. Now, this is one of those things that you rub into your nail with an eye shadow applicator, except that you can use it with either regular gel nail polish. It looks beautiful on the website, but I was worried that it would be difficult to use... but not so!

This arrived to me in the mail inside of a sturdy plastic bag, and the jar itself has one of those food seals on the top of it to keep any little bits from escaping. It also came with a little eye shadow applicator, which was nice and convenient.

So, the instructions on the website say to apply this over your gel or regular topcoat. It's no secret that these types of products look awesome over black, but since Born Pretty swatched it over black on their website I decided to do something a little bit different.

So, I started with a base of OPI's "Muir Muir on the Wall"; a nice, rich iridescent brown to give some added depth to the flakies.

After applying a quick-drying topcoat and letting it dry for a minute, until it was dry to the touch but not rock-hard, I started sponging on the flakies.

These are not what I expected at all; they are tiny fragile little sparkly shards that just kind of melt into your nail like magic. It was really fun and easy to apply them, and they are absolutely mesmerizing! They really have a fantastic color shift.

I wasn't sure what topcoat would do to these little babies, but it didn't seem to have too much of an effect on them. I added some really simple stamping to my ring nail just for fun, because I really wanted you to be able to see these in their full glory.

The only downside to these is that they did make a little bit of a mess. Definitely make sure your fan is not blowing anywhere in the area when you open them- they are feather light and are easily blown away!

So, once again- you can find this product at the Born Pretty Store at this link for $2.59. You can also use my Born Pretty Discount code, RACHX31, for a 10% discount off of your purchase.

Born Pretty Store Review: Colorful Nail Sequins and Cityscape Stamping Plate

*items 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's post another review post for some items from the Born Pretty Store. I've always enjoyed buying nail art items from Born Pretty, because they have a wonderful variety of items at low prices and with free shipping, so I'm excited to get to try some out for review purposes.

The first product I am reviewing today are these lovely nail sequins in color #7, which currently cost $0.99. I've been seeing people playing with these all over Instagram and the bloggosphere, so I was excited to give these a try! They came to me packaged very securely, with the little plastic tub sealed inside a plastic bag. The container itself also has a seal on the inside to keep the glitter in. Very nice, because I wouldn't want to open my shipment to find it covered with glitter on the inside!

Here's what it looks like on the inside! So one thing I will note, is the glitter does not go all the way down to the "bottom" of the jar- the cavity in the container itself is fairly shallow. There is still plenty of  glitter in here, however.

I went ahead and put some glitter pieces on my silicone mat to work with them easier, but if you want to get leftovers back into your jar it would be better to put them on a piece of paper, because these babies really stuck to my mat and I ended up having to wash them off with water!

But these sequins are really, really gorgeous! I was drawn to this particular color because it reminded me of city lights at night. I think my favorite color in this jar is the lovely iridescent purple colored sequin!

The other product in this review today is a stamping plate with some fun around-the-world themed images, current price $1.59.  It came to me inside the cardboard protective sleeve, and also with a protective layer of blue film that must be removed prior to stamping.

Here it is in all its glory! I picked this plate because I find myself in need of more city-scape type images, and I also really love the globe in the center of the plate.

I did a little stamping test, and the images transferred super easy. Even the little backpack, which has lots of open space, had no issues!


So, I decided to pair these two items together to make a mani, since the colors of the nail sequins remind me of city lights and I have a plate here with city images, I figured they would go together perfectly.

I started with a dark base to represent a night sky. My next step was to do glitter placement. There are black glitters in this mix that I did not include in this mani, because they got lost against the black base.
I like how the mix has a variety of sizes and colors of glitter, because it makes it really easy to create a glitter placement look.
One thing I did notice was that the little purple glitters didn't come in the largest glitter size. Also, I found that the biggest glitters needed to be placed towards the middle of my nail, where my nail is flatter, because they kind of poked up at the edges if I put them towards the sides of my nail.

For the other nails, I did some very basic and easy stamping with the city stamping plate.

If you are interested in trying out either of these items, they can be found at the Born Pretty Store:
Click here for the sequins
or here for the stamping plate

You can also use my Born Pretty discount code for 10% off your purchase: RACHX31


I hope you enjoyed this post and found it useful! Let me know if you have any questions about the products tested here or what you think about them!

Born Pretty Polish Review in a Simple Sunday Style

*The product being reviewed in this post was provided to me  by Born Pretty Store in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*


Hello Readers!


Today I have something quite a bit different for you, but also a little bit the same. I'm doing my first review for Born Pretty Store, and am testing out a polish that I felt would be perfect for a Simple Sunday look, so I decided to roll them into one.

Here's a sneak peak at the look I created with my test product!

The product I am reviewing is this beautiful metallic polish in the color "Rose in Peril". This is a newer polish series and there are five color options that are currently going for $3.59 each on the website. I thought these colors were so gorgeous, and I also wondered how they would stamp, so I decided to give one a try.

The polish arrived in the mail packaged quite securely, which is always appreciated. I always worry a little bit when I buy polish online that it's going to explode in the mail and arrive to me as a big mess, so I appreciate the use of protective Styrofoam here.

So, let's talk about size for a minute. These metallic polishes come in a 9 ML, which is a bit smaller than the standard 15 ML size of most polishes like Sinful Colors or OPI, for example.

The first thing I tested with my polish  was its stamping capability, and I was not disappointed. The polish is highly pigmented and shows up beautifully over both black and white. Hooray! So, if nothing else, this polish is great for stamping, which brings us to the next test... painting my nails with it.

Ok, so don't get me wrong, I really like this polish; it's lovely and it stamps beautifully. And, if you can get it on there right, it's stunning. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a bear to work on the nail. The formula is quite a bit different than a regular polish.

 First of all, it managed to be too runny and too thick at the same time. Secondly, when I tried to apply the second coat it smudged and moved the layer underneath. I think proper strategy for applying this polish is to wait longer than normal between coats to allow it to dry.

Finally, the brush is really, super thick. It reminds me of the brushes companies typically use for stamping polishes, and it threw me for a minute when I was trying to get it to work on my nails, and I wondered if this polish was actually intended for stamping, but nope, it's advertised as a regular polish.

All that being said, some of these drawbacks are likely also strengths- this polish is intended to be self-leveling, meaning that as it dries the brush strokes even out quite a bit so you don't get the super streaky look a lot of metallic polishes leave behind. I could see this happening on my nail, and if you are skilled enough you could probably use the extra wide brush to kind of dab it on in such a way that will leave a super smooth surface.

As you can see, mine still has some brushstrokes, because I am no expert of self-leveling polishes. But, fair warning- it's not super easy to achieve that flawless look you see on the website.

One thing that helped me when applying this was to do a layer of quick-drying topcoat in between applications of the metallic polish. This helped me keep from accidentally scraping off the layers underneath.

In order to get the self-leveling feature to work properly, you'll need to apply fairly thick coats of the polish. Also, using a ridge-filling base coat (which I did not do here) would help get a nice, smooth surface to start with as this polish tends to magnify any imperfections in your natural nails.



Ok, so overall opinion of this polish- it's beautiful, I'd absolutely recommend it for stamping because just *look* at that butterfly over the black polish... but as a regular polish, be warned that it is tricky to work with.

You can find this product at this link on the Born Pretty website. You can also use my discount code, RACHX31, for a 10% discount off of your purchase.

Scorpion in the Sand ft. MoYou London Hipster

Hello Readers!


Today I have a mani for this month's #clairestelle8challenge. This month is a little special, as the challenge is being sponsored by Picture Polish and there are only four prompts instead of eight. The first prompt is a mani inspired by "where you live".  For me, that means the desert!

I started this mani with the Sinful Colors "Beaches and Cream" on my ring/middle fingers. I'm running low on this- I might have to buy another bottle soon which would be a first for me; I've never actually run out of a polish before  besides black and white.

For my pointer/pinky fingers, I thought I would do a gradient but when I actually started sponging it on it was way too light and I realized that the negative space image made it not really matter, so I just did thick stripes with the nail polish brush instead. Easy, since I didn't have to really worry about straight lines.

My cute little scorpion friend comes from the Bundle Monster "Fuzzy and Ferocious" plate, BM-S168. So scorpions are not so warm and fuzzy in real life... ha ha but how could you resist that image? And very appropriate for the region I was in.

My cactus images and the flecks on my middle nail came from this MoYou London "Hipster 16" plate; one of the newer cactus-themed ones. This plate is stinking cute. This particular image was tricky to work with, as you would expect since it's negative space, so I did have to fill it in in a few spots.

The middle nail is just an example of some double stamping- it is two different images that are on the above plate stamped over each other in different colors. The black design is from a different plate- a Born Pretty plate with southwest designs.

Simple Sunday: Purple Iris

Hello Readers!


It's Sunday again, so I have another Simple Sunday manicure for you today, that uses only the basic stamping technique this time.

Actually, my original plan for this mani was to do some double stamping on my ring finger nail, but I didn't like the way it looked on my right hand so I decided to ditch it for the left.

I have a pretty simple color palette here as well; I decided to use the Sinful Color "Easygoing" to stamp with as well as for the base for my ring finger.

The ring finger image comes from this Born Pretty Store plate, which has a ton of lovely, detailed flower images. I chose the iris image because irises in the spring always make me smile. Growing up, my mother had the whole front garden filled with beautiful purple irises and day lilies. I remember when we sold the house she decided she wanted to re-do the garden and tasked my siblings and I with removing them. Have you ever tried to remove a huge patch of bulb flowers? We quickly found it was not an easy task. Those flowers have staying power!

The sort of geometric/tribal print on my remaining fingers is from a Bundle Monster/ Blogger collaboration plate with Beaching Nails.


I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, and that my American friends are having a wonderful Memorial Day. Do you have any special plans for the holiday tomorrow? Let me know in the comments!

Golden Pineapple ft. MoYou London Mexico

Hello Readers!


It's Tuesday again, which means it's time for another #clairestelle8challenge mani, and the prompt this go-round is "coral". I've been wanting to do a look where I paired an image from the new MoYou London Mexico collection with pineapple and the color coral ever since I got these plates, so this was an easy decision for me!

I just think the ring finger image sort of resembles a pineapple, in a very stylized way. I think pineapple images are adorable, so I wanted to take this excuse to make a pineapple themed mani!


So my coral polish here is the Sinful Shine "Mardi Gras", which was one of the first polishes I bought when I was really getting into polish hoarding. I think coral shades are absolutely beautiful, especially in the summertime! This polish is slightly runny, and required two coats- the first was quite streaky. Weirdly, I usually seem to prefer the regular Sinful Colors line to the Sinful Shine line- they typically seem to have better formulas, even though the Sinful Shine is more expensive!

My ring finger image, as mentioned previously, comes from this MoYou London "Mexico 01" plate. I actually used this very same image in a much more vibrant mani just a week ago, but I couldn't resist using it again for this very different look.

For my middle finger, I used the chevron pattern on this Born Pretty plate. This was actually the very first plate I bought when I started stamping, because of the variety of basic, staple images it has. I've used this plate quite a bit; if you'd like to see a full list of manis that show this plate in action, check out this page, under the "BP-L008- Basic Prints" heading.

Finally, the pineapple image on my pointer/pinky fingers comes from this Bundle Monster plate from the "Hangloose" collection (plate # BM-S408). This is one of my all-time favorites, but as it is also one of my first purchases, It's been a long time since I've used it so I was itching to pull it out again.

Crumpets Nail Tarts: Yellow/Bold Colors

Hello Readers!


Today's post for Crumpets Nail Tarts was a tricky one for me. The prompt was to use "yellow and one bold color". I kind of wanted to use a new plate I bought from the Born Pretty Store that has a kind of school theme, as my kids are approaching the end of the school year and it seemed like a good time for some school-themed nails.

Since I was limited to a couple of colors, I decided to keep this mani super simple. I figured it was fine to add white. ;)

The Nail Challenge Collaborative: Farmer's Market (ft. Bundle Monster Kawaii Emoji)

Hello Readers!

Today I am excited to be participating in the nail challenge collaborative for the first time! I've had my eye on this group for a while, but I kind of felt like I had enough challenges going on. But, I decided to scale back just a little bit on my challenges and trade a weekly challenge for this twice-a-month challenge. The idea is that you create at least 2 nail art looks per month for a single prompt. This month's prompt is "green".

So for green, I decided to be inspired by the summertime farmer's markets and all the lovely green things they have for sale there.


I thought it would be fun to do a burlap sack inspired background, just because it felt very rustic and like the type of bag a very hip farmers market booth might decide to provide its customers.