Review | Born Pretty Store Transparent Stamper

Finally, all stamping nail art problems have been answered!! If you are familiar with stamping, you would know that one of the biggest issues with this nail art technique is the difficulty of knowing where you are placing an image on your nails, because it is kind of hard to see when using a fully opaque stamper.

Thankfully, Born Pretty Store have a new stamper in stock that actually looks like a magnifying glass and has a transparent squishy stamping head and you can even see through the hole on the opposite side. This makes it easier to know which part of an image you're picking up especially when it comes to the larger ones and also, you can see where you are actually placing the design on the nails.

All it took for the stamper to work was just a quick roll on a lint remover to prime it, take the usual steps for stamping, roll the stamper onto the image, et voila! the image is clearly picked up, ready to be stamped on your nails! This makes it perfect for placement and landscape manicures as well as a multitude of other nail art creations. The plate I have used for this nail art is also from Born Pretty Store and it is the BPL-007 plate. I'm not a big fan of the scraper that comes with this stamper though and I prefer using the transparent credit-card like one.

If you're a fan of stamping, I highly suggest you get this one even if you're a beginner. The price is $2.99 and you get 10% off your order with my code EBABK31 at checkout.

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Review | Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate BP-21

Hello lovely ladies :) Today I am here to share with you the latest addition to my stamping plates collection from Born Pretty Store.

I chose the plate BP-21 which features three geometric designs with circles and lines and an arebesque motif - definitely a good choice of nail art designs which are becoming very popular! The plate comes with a protective film which you have to peel before using the plate. What I like with these new BPS plates is that they don't have the extra sharp edges that the old ones used to have so there is less risk of cutting yourself on them.

I decided to go with the circles design for this post and I used a black stamping polish, also from Born Pretty Store. I really into the concept of large stamping images lately as I find they transfer better onto the nails and you're sure to be left with design on the whole nail.

If you liked this plate, you can get your own from Born Pretty Store with free shipping and 10% off with the code EBABK31. Retail price is $2.99.

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Review | Born Pretty Store Stamping Polish in Gold & Silver

Those into stamping nail art know how hard it can be to find good stamping polishes and the challenge gets even harder when looking for good metallic stamping polishes such as gold or silver.

Today I have two stamping polishes from Born Pretty Store that I would like to share with you guys. I got the colours silver and gold because I have never had any success with regular metallic polishes and stamping so this was the perfect opportunity to have another go at the whole thing.

Born Pretty Store Stamping Polishes come in very cute 6ml square glass bottles with a black cap. The brush is a good size and the formula is less thick than other stamping polishes I have worked with in the past but it is still a little thicker than regular nail polish.

So, let's see how the polishes fared out...

Judging by the pictures, I'm sure we all agree they gave a really good result as the images have transferred perfectly well and with good pigmentation all over though the gold seems to be a little more pigmented. I think it is safe to say that the hunt for the perfect gold and silver stamping polishes is finally over! 

In the first picture, I have also used the silver polish as a regular nail polish under the blue polish and I was thoroughly impressed that it worked like that as well as usually stamping polishes do not make good regular nail polishes. Obviously, being thicker, it took a little longer to dry but other than that, it worked perfectly fine.

The only downside I had with these polishes is that they are so shimmery that you will be left with a few sparkles here and there after you clean up - then again, this always happens with polishes of the same finish.

You can buy both the silver and gold stamping polishes from Born Pretty Store at $3.99 with free shipping,  Enter my code EBABK31 at checkout for an additional 10% off your purchase!

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Review | Born Pretty Store Stamping Plates BP20 & BP22

After carrying an array of nail art stamping plates on their website, Born Pretty Store have finally launched their own line! I was very excited to receive two of them to try out and I started having a go at them right away!

The stainless steel plates all come with a protective film which you have to peel away to be able to use the images for stamping. They are white at the back with the Born Pretty Store logo written all over. They are 5.5cm in diameter and they fit perfectly in the Born Pretty Store stamping plate holder.

The images are engraved to perfection and are very easy to use - I do recommend filing the edges a bit though so as to avoid cutting yourself.

The plate BP20 features a nice selection of floral motifs while BP22 has a mix of butterflies and paisley images. 

I haven't had any problems while using these plates and the designs transfer completely onto the nails as can be seen in these two manicure designs.

I loved these plates so much that I went ahead and bought 5 more - I got BP02, BP05, BP07, BP08, BP10.

Get your Born Pretty Store plates at just $2.99 each (some are even discounted to as low as $0.99!) and if you apply the coupon code EBABK31 at checkout, you will even get a 10% discount!

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Review: Born Pretty Store Quadrant Nail Art Stamping Plate TO-06

Nail art stamping plates have really been a revelation in the world of nails because now everyone can create intricate designs on their nails without trying too hard.

Born Pretty Store have now launched a whole new range of larger stamping plates with designs that suit even the smallest of nail beds.  My favourite is the TO-06 with a nice variety of the ever popular floral and butterfly designs as well as some other miscellaneous motifs such as snowflakes and hearts.

The plate comes with a protective cover (which you have to take off prior to use) as well as a protective thin plastic sleeve for storage when not in use.  There are 45 designs on any given plate which will leave you spoilt for choice. Moreover, the image plate is conveniently sized to fit in your nail art kit and is suitable for both professional and amateur use.

Basically, you use the image plate in the same way you would any other... apply a generous amount of polish (check out my review on the GCOCL Stamping Polish Set from BPS) on your chosen design, scrape the excess away, roll the stamper onto the design and transfer on your nails! Just remember that you have to be quite quick so that the polish does not dry out before you transfer your design.  Also, make sure you clean the plate, scraper and stamper after every use to ensure that all your designs come out nicely. Take care not to cut your fingers on the edges of the plate and if necessary, just file them down with some sand paper.

There was one thing I noticed with this plate that is different from the others I own.  Due to the small nature of the designs, some of them are not very deeply engraved and so they might not come out perfect.  I'd say use a very fine detailing brush to touch up your design and it should work out.

Here is a simple design I created:

BPS Products used: TO-06 Image Plate | AODL UV Gel Top Coat | 1.5mm round gold stud rhinestones

There are 8 plates in the range and they retail for $4.99 each.  Quote the code EBABK31 at checkout for 10% off your order and free shipping.

*Use code BPS12 for 12% off your order until 30th October 2012*

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Review: Born Pretty Store GCOCL Special Stamping Polish Set

Hello my lovelies :) I have another product review from Born Pretty Store today! As you can tell from the title of this post, I will be reviewing a stamping polish set which was kindly sent to me for review purposes.  As usual, Kevin let me choose which products I wanted to review and I chose this set of 7 stamping polishes just to see whether they gave different results to normal polishes with the stamping plates.

Shipping took a little longer than usual maybe because in China they had a week of holidays in October but usually, I get orders from Born Pretty in no more than 3 weeks.  Shipping is free worldwide and there is no minimum order limit to benefit from such an offer!

Packaging wise, I quite like how the polishes come in this box where you can safely store them in between uses.  Also, when I got these, there were no signs of damage to the box as it was carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and also, none of the bottles were broken.

In total, you get 7 polishes; 6 of which are colours and 1 is a clear top coat.  The consistency of these polishes is quite thick compared to regular nail polishes and it is not advisable to use them on bare nails.  The colours are basic colours which you can mix together to create totally new shades for your stamping nail art.  It doesn't say how much product you get but the bottles are quite filled up, I'd say somewhere between 7ml and 10ml per bottle.  Furthermore, the colours are very bright indeed and they are good value for money as one set costs $10.80 (which works out to approximately $1.54 pre bottle).

I compared the white stamping polish with a regular white nail polish to see which one gives the best result out of the two.  Both polishes seem to give just as good a result but the regular nail polish dries much quicker than the stamping polish.

White Stamping Polish

vs

Regular White Nail Polish

And this is a manicure in which I used the white stamping polish:

The brush is a standard size nail polish brush and the handle is just the right length for it to be ergonomic enough to work with.  After using these polishes, the stamping equipment is very easy to clean with just some polish remover and they won't leave traces behind. I thought that because these polishes are of the GCOCL brand, they would work better with the GCOCL plates but I tried them with other plates and they work just as brillaintly!

Here are some bonus pictures of stamping designs on paper with the different colours vs regular nail polishes:

Overall, I really like these stamping polishes and I will use them whenever I can as this will help me save on nail polishes as stamping can contribute to polish waste.  The only things which can be improved is the clear top cat because it tends to smudge the designs and the black one can be a bit more thick so designs come out better.

Have you ever tried stamping polishes? If you want to get this particular set, don't forget to quote the code EBABK31 at checkout for a 10% discount (shipping is always free and there is no minimum order value to avail yourselves of the discount!)

Review: Born Pretty Store Stamping Image Plate M60

Good morning all :) Today I am going to be reviewing one of the items that Kevin from BornPrettyStore.com kindly sent me to review.

For those who are not familiar with BornPrettyStore.com, it is an online shop based in China which sells very good quality nail art supplies as well as some make-up and more recently, they have also been selling the latest Asian cult product, circle lenses.  The prices are quite affordable and as you buy more of the same item in one order, the price decreases per article.  New products are uploaded on the site quite frequently as well and they also offer free shipping worldwide!

I was asked to choose a couple of products that I wanted and one of them was in fact this image plate.  I chose this one specifically for the bigger designs as I do not have any plates like that in my stamping plates collection.  This plate is a dupe for the Konad M60 but the designs are slightly smaller on this one I believe (for me this is a good thing as my nails are quite slim).  The design which intrigued me the most is the one at the top left of the plate but since my nails are long at the moment, I didn't try it out yet.  I think it looks better on shorter nails.

Shipping took a little bit over three weeks for the items to arrive but past orders I made on the site usually arrive within 1 or 2 weeks and dispatching of the orders usually occurs within 2 days of placing the order so I have never had any problems.

The image plate comes in a small plastic pouch and has a protective film on the designs which need to be peeled off for the image plate to be used.  The edge is quite sharp on the underside so I recommend that you file it smooth with an old nail file or some sand-paper.

The designs are really cute and you can create some awesome nail art with them.  Here's my take on it using the gradient dots design (tutorial to follow):

You will need to buy a stamper and scraper separately (if you don't already have one) from the site itself.  Overall, I really like this image plate and I will definitely be getting more from this site as they are much more affordable than the original Konad ones and they work just as great!

Have you ever tried anything from this online store ladies?