Born Pretty Watermelon Nail Art Decals: Review & Swatches

One of my all-time favorite nail art products has got to be Born Pretty Store's nail decals. They come in all kinds of different designs and are insanely easy to use: just wet them, peel them and stick them on the nail. It works just like a temporary tattoo and makes for an amazing nail art cheat. I've done several reviews on these decals already and I've got another fun design to show you today that gives you instant watermelon nails!

This particular set of decals comes in two designs: strawberries and cherries or watermelon. I opted for watermelon, but you can see what both sets of designs look like HERE. The sheet that I received looks like this:

The decals come in a few different sizes, but the "rind" part of the decal wasn't always wide enough to fit my nail. But you can easily do what I did: cut apart the decals and make new designs and patterns with them. The design on my middle finger below was created by splicing together the seed sections on four different decals. It was a lot of fun to mix and match and I think the designs are absolutely perfect for summertime. Here's how it all turned out!

My red base is OPI Red Lights Ahead...Where? and the green is Color Club Twiggie. These decals were a bit stiffer than some of the ones I've used in the past, but were still easy to work with overall.  I used up the whole sheet for my mani (done on both hands), but since each sheet is priced at just over two dollars, these are much more economical than a lot of similar decals out there. One of the things I love about Born Pretty is how consistently affordable their products are.

When all is said and done, this is yet another adorable, easy-to-use decal set from Born Pretty! I'm continually impressed by the huge variety of looks and techniques they create with these decals and can't wait to see what they offer next!

If you would like to order anything from Born Pretty, they've been kind enough to offer a 10% off code for all Nailed readers below:

Disclosure: This product was provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle

I have to say I was pretty stumped for this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme: beach-inspired. I wasn't really sure what direction to go with this one and I'm sure my fellow Twinsies will get much more creative than I did. But neon polish always makes me think of lying out in the sun at the beach, so I went with a neon for my beach mani--specifically, China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle from the new Sunsational Collection. It's a bright aqua creme that is absolutely to die for! I fell hard for this beautifully vivid and cheerful shade of blue!

The color may be amazing, but unfortunately I can't say the same about the formula. I've read a lot of mixed reviews about the formulas in this collection and Too Yacht To Handle was a bit of a problem child for me. It has a ton of drag to it, in addition to being fairly streaky. It was opaque in three coats, but I wound up doing four to touch up some brushstroke marks and even out areas where the polish didn't self-level. However, I'm willing to overlook the cruddy formula though, because I love this gorgeous color so freaking much! But be warned that Too Yacht To Handle is as temperamental as she is beautiful.

So there you have it: my rather uninspired beach mani. I hope my Twinsies will forgive me for not being very imaginative with this one. :) What colors do you like to wear for a lazy day at the beach?

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Traci at DrinkCitra

OPI Stay The Night

OPI Stay The Night is a Liquid Sand polish with a black jelly base filled with red glitter. I received this polish as a gift from my wonderful friend (and fellow polish addict) Alya after I told her how much I love Liquid Sand. The color combination and the texture remind me a lot of burning embers in a fire. It makes for a really cool effect and is an excellent polish for channeling your inner rocker chick!

The jelly base is a bit sheer compared to other Liquid Sand polishes, but I still achieved opacity in three coats. I've worn this polish twice now (I used it as an accent nail before for a Game of Thrones-inspired mani) and each time I've had this problem where small sections of the polish, usually right around my nail line, don't seem to "texturize" all the way on my nail, if that makes sense. They look and feel smooth as opposed to a sandy finish. It's not really noticeable unless you're looking closely, but I thought it was worth a mention. Maybe I need to wait longer between coats?

Still, I think this is an interesting shade and a pretty unique one as far as textured polishes go. Stay The Night seemed to be the most divisive of the original Liquid Sand polishes and I could see where it might not be for everyone. I'm not big into black polish, but I had fun with this one!

Orly Secret Society Preview

Orly is letting us behind the velvet ropes this winter with their Secret Society Collection, featuring six new polishes. I'm liking the darker tone of this collection. It's different from what we see for most holiday offerings. Take a look!

L to R: Lavish Bash, Voyeuristic Adventure, What's The Password, Masked Ceremony, Macabre Masquerade, Risque

No word yet on an official release date, other than that this is Orly's holiday collection, so we can expect to see it sometime around then. Lavish Bash and Macabre Masquerade both look intriguing to me. Which ones are catching your eye?

Ruby Wing Electric Firefly

There is no more quintessentially summer shade to me than neon yellow. I wouldn't think to wear this shade during any other season, but I love trying it out when I have some sunshine to match my nails! And Ruby Wing Electric Firefly may just be the prettiest one of these highlighter-inspired shades that I've tried yet!

Indoors and in low light, Electric Firefly is a screaming neon yellow with iridescent green shimmer. I really love this shimmer! It's incredibly gorgeous and helps set Electric Firefly apart from all the other neon yellow shades out there. This color is so fun for summer and I got a bunch of people asking me about what polish I was wearing. Here's two coasts over a white base of Illamasqua Scorch.

Outdoors, Electric Firefly seems to change colors more slowly than the previous Ruby Wing polishes I've tried. Normally, the color shift is pretty quick. It is supposed to change to an orange color outdoors and maybe I just didn't have enough sunlight to get it to change? I walked around for about 15 minutes outside, trying to find some good light (it was a touch overcast but still fairly sunny out) and this was as much as I could get it to change: a golden yellow with orange undertones. I could see some orange veining creep up but it just wouldn't shift all the way!

I'm bummed that I didn't get to see a complete color change. I didn't notice it changing during the day when I was running some errands and going to work either and it was very sunny then. The slow-working formula was a let-down, but I mostly view the color-changing aspect of the Ruby Wing polishes as a fun novelty. I tend to judge the polishes primarily on what I think of their "indoor" shades, since that's the way they'll look most of the time while I'm wearing them. So if you have your heart set on a color-changing polish, you might need some extra patience (not to mention sunlight) with this one, but if you're just looking for a fun neon yellow, I think you'll be pleased with Electric Firefly.

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Incoco Heavy Metal Manicure & Pedicure Wraps: Review & Swatches

I am on something of a nail wrap kick lately, so I was really excited to try out some products from one of the biggest names in nail wraps, Incoco. The wraps, which are available in different versions for both nails and toes, come in a variety of colors and designs. The color I'll be reviewing for you today, Heavy Metal, is a shiny silver chrome.

Unlike most nail wraps, which are more like stickers, Incoco's are made with real nail polish--complete with topcoat and basecoat built right in--so they have a much thinner and more flexible texture to them than other wraps I've used. It took a bit of getting used to at first, but ultimately made them some of the easiest wraps to apply that I've ever tried. If you've had trouble with more traditional nail wraps, give these a shot. They go on super smoothly, without creasing, bubbling or denting. All you do is peel, place, then file off the excess.

I did have some visible tipwear on a few nails after just over a day of wear, which was kind of disappointing, but after that initial hiccup, these wraps wore well. I didn't have any tearing, peeling or chipping after four days.

I also received some Heavy Metal pedicure wraps, which look the same as the nail wraps, but come in sizes that work better for toes. They are maybe slightly thicker than the nail wraps, but otherwise they apply the exact same. The set, which retails for $7.99, includes two sheets of eight wraps (good for one application), a polish remover wipe, a double-ended nail file and a cuticle stick.

The toe wraps are supposed to be good for up to 14 days, but I have been wearing mine for over two weeks now and they still look virtually brand new. I'm seriously impressed with how durable they are! I don't paint my toes nearly as often as my nails, so I really appreciate having something as long-wearing as these. Here's how they looked right after I first applied them.

WARNING: FEET

I tried to take the picture close up enough so you could see the wraps, but far enough away for those of you who are, y'know, not a fan of looking at other people's feet haha. I thought it might be tough to apply wraps on my toes, since they are so much smaller than my fingers, but the wraps are sized perfectly and it was surprisingly easy! I would totally buy another set of these!

You can purchase Incoco on their official website.


Disclosure: These products were provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

China Glaze On The Horizon Preview

Along with textured polishes, another one of the big trends we've been seeing lately is "feathered" (matte bar glitter) polish. Nails Inc and Sally Hansen have both recently come out with feathered polishes and now China Glaze is releasing six of their own for the On The Horizon Collection.

You're A Hoot

 

Party Fowl

Light As A Feather

 

Flying South

Flock Together

All A Flutter

I couldn't find any exact release info, other than that it's a fall collection. I haven't tried any feather polishes yet myself, but I think I may have to try some of these! Looks like there are some fun color combinations here!

What do you think of the feathered trend? Will you be picking up any of these?