Born Pretty Water Decals Review + Coupon Code

Today I have an item sent for review from Born Pretty! I chose to review some water decals since I've never used them before and I am so so glad to have picked these.  I've had nothing but a wonderful experience with them!

I chose the little yellow hibiscuses for this manicure, seen above.  The package came with a bunch of different styles, photos to follow.

I used two decals on each hand for accent nails.  Shown is two coats of Brucci Sylvia's Pretty in Purple.

So, these were the instructions that came with the decals.  I really do use the term instructions loosely here, though.  I'm going to list, step by step, what I did to complete the manicure.

After painting and top coating your nails and making sure they're completely dry (I'd say 20 minutes is good, I waited longer however because I was doing stuff in between):

1. Cut out the desired designs you'd like to use. (Make sure you peel the acetate off; mine fell off without needing to be peeled.)
2.  Dip the design into water and make sure it is completely saturated (This didn't take 10-20 seconds; more like 5 worked for me)
3. Use a finger from the hand you're NOT decorating - slide the decal off on to the tip of your finger.  At this point, it should be upside down, full color design facing down.
4. Position the decal above the nail you're applying to and gently place it.  Be sure to smooth it down.
5. I personally waited for the water from the decal to air dry instead of blotting it, to avoid messing up the design.
6. Once any dripped off water is dry, apply top coat.

Some things worth noting:

• The "instructions" included did not mention that they would transfer backwards. I botched my test run because of this, so that's why I listed revised instructions above.
• These don't work like those kiddie tattoos, although its a similar concept. You have to flip the decal         around and apply the lighter colored side down, full color side up.
• Once the decal is on your nail, if your fingernail is still wet, you can slide the decal around! Awesome! You can slide and gently nudge it to reposition it to exactly where you want. I love that quality about these; stickers and stamping have a much more of a one-shot type of quality.
• The decals are so detailed!  I love how fine the details are.
• Water temperature doesn't seem to matter. Mine was cool from the tap.
• The decal lay very flat against your nail since they're so thing, I like that.

Despite those minor complications these things were a breeze to work with.  No lining anything up, no lumps or bumps. I love them and I'm going to buy more when I can.

Above are some more shots of the manicure, that I've quickly fallen in love with, by the way!  Below are more designs that the package came with.

If you'd like to purchase these decals for yourself they're available here:

Born Pretty Store Water Decals Shop Link

They sell from $1.99 and up and have FREE SHIPPING! As well as my 10% off personal discount code!

Coupon Code for 10% Off: CA10L91

If I get 10 orders with that code, I can host a BornPretty giveaway! 

Brucci Cali Cat and OPI Black Spotted

So Cali Cat is definitely a polish I bought for its name.  We call two of our cats the "Cali Cats" because my brother sent us this via an airplane when he moved. He lives in California but couldn't house them any longer, so two new additions it was!  I do also love Brucci as a brand in general so I wasn't opposed to the idea of purchasing another polish from them.

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This is 2 coats of Cali Cat over Orly Bonder, sealed with Sally Hansen Diamond Flash.  Cali Cat is a neon green shimmer. I thought maybe I hadn't tightened the lid enough when I swatched it for the OPI Black Spotted nail wheels because it seemed a little goopy.  I added a few drops of thinner and it seemed much more smooth and ready to go.

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It kills me to have to say anything bad about my beloved Brucci, but the formula, even after thinning, was difficult to work with.  I did not like how it applied; it wasn't super streaky but it was thick and difficult to smooth out without get tons of brush strokes. It's a neon shimmer but applies almost like a frost (EEEEEEEEEEK!!) so you can see the brush strokes.

Flash

Despite the formula and application issues, the color is really fun and bright, a great summer color. Makes me sad that Cali Cat won't be a new favorite. I wanted to test OPI Black Spotted on my nails so I figured this would be a great opportunity since it's coming right off anyways.

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This is one thin coat of Black Spotted over the previous manicure sealed with another coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash. The index finger is a bit of a thicker coat, so it didn't do its effect as much, but on my pinky it was a super thin coat, so it spotted a whole bunch!

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Hits Phenomena Afterglow

I ordered this from Llarowe's 49% off sale she had for her birthday recently.  The swatches I had seen along with my previous positive experience with Hits lead me want to try another polish from them.  I'm really glad I did; this is a glitter that wore really well on me!

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Afterglow is a color-shifting glitter in a clear base best worn over darker colors.  It turns purple, gold and blue, maybe pink too.  It depends on the light and the angle you're looking at it from.

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This is one coat over one coat of Brucci Heavenly Julia.  Chances are it wore so well because aside from base and top coat, it was only two coats of polish total.  I used Orly Bonder and Out the Door.

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These pictures were actually taken after an eight hour shift at work (daycare work, so lots of hand washing and glove changing) and after a shower and hair washing!  It's not just that it didn't peel off, it didn't chip, either!

Brucci Kathy's Baby Blues vs Essie Something Blue Comparison

I had this as an untried for a while so decided its number was up and put it on. I just love pastel cremes, they're so "Me!" and I love see them on my nails.

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As usual, not a bad thing to say about Brucci. I'm always impressed with their formulas and price.  This was about $2.35 at my Rite Aid, you can get them online too, ImageBeauty sells them for sure, as I've bought a few from them.

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This is two coats over Orly Bonder sealed with Out the Door. It went on smoothly, and opaque in two coats! Yay!

Flash

Then I thought it looked a bit like Essie Something Blue, so I did a swatch comparison.

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Brucci has more green in it, Essie is more of a powder blue.  But pretty, but not dupes!

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Which do you like better?

Blank Slate Nails Part II

I had so much fun with my rainbow zebra nails I wanted to give the blank canvas style mani another try.  This time I chose random polka dots in summery colors for my design.

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This is the final product but it didn't always look so circusy!

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I started with Orly Bonder and used 2-3 coats of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White and sealed it with OtD.

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Then I started adding dots with my dotting tools. I used one large end and one tiny end of the dotting tools to create a stylized gradient effect.

For the dots, I used KleanColor Mango, KleanColor Bikini Green, Brucci JT's Ocean Blue and Sally Hansen Lightening.

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I started with big green and yellow dots. I used the smaller dotting tool for the blue and orange.  I also made sure that the edge of my nail was covered to help along the gradient effect.

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Gradient Nails

Soooooooooo I'm not quite sure what is about gradients and my inability to do them nicely, but I pretty much cannot create a subtle effect with multiple colors. Maybe it was my color choice.  After looking at this when I was done, I thought it might've been a better idea to have orange in the middle instead of a pink.  If I did that, maybe the color change would've been more subtle and effective.

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I built this on top of yesterday's Revlon Lemon Fizz manicure - FYI, the bumps are still visible even with all the extra layers of polish.

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I did a layer of Orly Basket Case (one of my favorites!) and then for the darkest color, I used China Glaze Ahoy! Like I said before, I think it would've been more gradual had I done an orange and then maybe Basket Case.  It's a visually rough transition from pink to yellow.

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I added a layer of Sally Hansen Diamonds for extra sparkle and sealed with Brucci Nail Dryer. I mentioned in a previous post that Brucci Nail Dryer is their version of a QDTC but it's not spectacular enough for the $5 price tag. However, I've got it so I'm trying to use it up.

Flash

Brucci Sparkling Bordeaux

I went out of my nail polish comfort zone with this one. It's dark, and red.. and a glitter.  But it looked so pretty in the bottle.  I liked it on me too, surprisingly.  But as with most glitters, I end up peeling it off in sheets either while commuting to school or being bored in class.

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This is two coats over Orly Bonder sealed with Brucci Nail Polish Dryer. I saw it and was curious, it's comparable to Out the Door actually.  It dries fast but I can't judge its wear time as I peeled it off.  I probably won't get another bottle of Nail Polish Dryer as it was around 5$ and I can get OtD cheaper.  But I was curious and that curiosity has been appeased.

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I'm going to be a really excellent blogger right now and tell you that the design is a decal nail sticker that I don't remember where I bought it from or what brand it is.  I'm super informative, I know. I probably got it at KMart on sale, that's the extent of my knowledge on it.  I detach them from the plastic packaging and keep them in a little drawer to save space. Consequentially, I never know where my decals are from.

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Something else worth mentioning, after I took pics I added another coat of top coat on my nails.  This glitter looks a lot grittier than it felt. My ring finger, in the pictures, has two coats top coat, so that is eventually what it looked like.  It evened out really well with an additional coat.

Lynnderella Love Lace & Lilacs

This attempt with using a white glitter was much better than my previous one.  With Sweets to the Sweet the base color I used killed the mani.  I love the results of this manicure!

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Instead of using a white creme, I used a white sheer/jelly.  It's really a little of both.

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I used Brucci French Opaque.

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I used two coats of French Opaque over a coat of Orly Bonder.  Then I used two coats of LL&L and one more of French Opaque, to "sandwich" it. Then it is sealed with OTD.  LL&L applied very nicely and this manicure was strong, no chipping and lasted wonderfully!

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Flash

Thanks for reading! (=

Brucci Lou Lou's Peachy Creme

I love my Bruccis, this one.. not so much. The color is great but the formula on this one bit the big one. My guess is that this is a white polish with some orange added to it because it has the same problems any white cremes have: they suck, they're streaky and they take more coats than desired.  Once I did smooth it out, it was pretty though.

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This is FOUR freakin' coats of LLPC over Orly Nail Armor topped with OTD. Such a pretty color, not unique by any means but I just have a crush on all pastel cremes.

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Thanks for reading! (=

Brucci Gianna's "Rockin" Blue

I'm obsessed with Brucci.  They love me and I love them.  I wore Gianna's "Rockin" Blue for three days- dishwashing, hairwashing, showering and counter scrubbing without a chip!  The formula is AH-MAZE-ING. It stays on until I take it off on my own terms!  It's the only brand that behaves so nicely.  They're cheap, too. About $3.50 in stores and $2.35 on Image Beauty.

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This is 2 coats of GRB over CND Stickey, sealed with OTD.  Such a stunning color. I'm sure I have many like it, but I really like this one.. oh so much. I'm just in love with the brand.  The bottles are fug but their formula makes up for that.

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Flash

As far as I can tell, they're only available at Rite Aid.  But Image Beauty has flat rate US shipping for about $8 and sells them even cheaper.  I can't tell if anyone else shares my love for these, I'd love to hear from you!

Snow Globe Jelly Sandwich

Since I decided that I can't wear glitters on their own due to excessive chipping and sheeting, I'll use them in sandwiches.  I love what I came up with!

Goes like this:
CND Stickey
2 coats Brucci French Petal
1 coat ChG Snow Globe
1 coat Brucci French Petal
1 coat Gelous
1 coat OTD

It wore like iron and was a pain in the ass to remove, which means I did it right!  It didn't come off on its own!  I had to scrub and soak and scrub. Yay! :D