Catch-Up: Other Nail Art

Here is my final catch-up post, showing the last of the never-quite-made-it designs!
Most of these are not too bad, I just didn't have time to post every single one.

I am just going to post pictures for this. If I tell you all the polishes used in every one of these, this post will end up ridiculously long! However, if you want to know a specific polish or have a question feel free to post in the comments. :)

Pretty Peacocks

I recently received a long awaited order from Born Pretty Store which I have been waiting for since September!
I bought two of their new stamping plates and had to try one out!

This is Born Pretty Plate 04 'Dancing Peacock'. This plate has some lovely images on it. It is well engraved and my stamper had no problems picking up the details of the image.

I started with a base of George Natural White on my middle and ring fingers, with Revlon Aquamarine on my index and pinky fingers. I then stamped the peacock using Sinful Colors Kissy and added a Born Pretty green stud to my index finger. I felt the bottom of my ring finger needed something so I created a glitter gradient with H&M Blue bliss, also adding this on top of my pinky finger. I finished with a coat of Barry M Diamond over my middle, ring and little fingers to give a bit of sparkle. :)

Use code EHG10 to get 10% off these and other items at the Born Pretty Store.

Pretty Poppet: Review and Swatch

Last week I picked up the Ciaté Dolls House Collection in TKMaxx for the bargain price of £6.99.

I was super excited about these and wanted to try out these polishes straight away, so I started with a nice, simple mani using Poppet, a pastel lilac shape.

I love the colour of this polish. It is a pale lilac, so pastel it could almost be mistaken for white in certain lights. 

This polish is advertised as a 'porcelain finish'. Basically, it's matte. I love matte polishes, however this dries so fast that is makes application difficult as the polish has dried onto the brush before you manage to cover the whole nail. This means you have to use a really thick coat to ensure the polish doesn't dry too quickly, which then leads to a slightly streaky finish. Kind of a lose, lose situation!

I also found that this polish chipped so easily. On my left hand I wore the mani without topcoat and on my right hand I added my favourite super shiny Essence topcoat.

Considering my right hand generally gets used a lot more, after a day the right hand was still perfect, however the left hand had huge chunks of polish missing. The polish on my index finger literally peeled off in one big sheet, about 3/4 of the way down my nail.

For most polishes this would not be a big deal, as I would usually wear topcoat anyway. But what is the point in having that lovely Porcelain finish, if I then have to cover it in topcoat to make my mani last more than a few hours?!

Overall, I was not impressed with this polish at all. I love how it looks but the poor application and lasting power really let it down. I really hope the others in the collection are a bit better and this was just a bad bottle!

I was however really impressed with the studs I added. This were a bargain from Poundland. I used a blob of a cheap No.17 clear topcoat on the bottoms of them and stuck them in place with tweezers. I wore this mani for two days and managed not to lose a single stud, even on the hand without topcoat! :)