Paw Palette Ring

                                                                      -ring provided by BornPrettyStore-


Hello!

I thing by now you know I love stamping and gradients, and can't do free hand nail art if it saved my life :) That's why I wanted to challenge myself and order this ring palette from BornPrettyStore:

Basically, it's a little palette for when you're making decals: you drop polish and place it on your ring so it's easier to do stamping decals, or painting things on your nails, if are unlike me and can actually do free hand nail art :) Plus it comes in paw shape and is very adorable, so I went ahead and tried.

I wanted to make some decals for nail art contest I am participating in (find it on Instagram with hastag #clairestelle8feb), so I put FoxyPaws Polish Too Lost In You and A England Saint George, stamped and image from my BP-73 plate (I love this plate so much!),  using my clear jelly stamper, also from BornPrettyStore, placed the ring on my finger and started. And I did it! Look!

While my first decal was drying, I took my chances again, on another stamper

I know this is not an essential nail tool, but it made my life SO MUCH easier! I use to drop polish on plastic or hard paper I could find, and the drop would spread, making the polish dry faster and basically, if I wanted a decal, I had to use several drops of polish to make it work. In the palette, the polish stays wet longer, therefore, so much easier to work with, and you don't waste as much. Plus, it's on your finger, so you can work fast, no need to look where your polish is because it's right there! I love this little ring palette! It looks so cute you can wear it as a ring, or, if you feel like it, you can drop polish in it and make it an extra special ring :)
I will, however, keep it as my little helping hand in making decals. Who knows, maybe I'll venture to free hand nail art with it :)

This is my final result:

This is where to buy it, you'll have 2 options, paw shape like mine, or classic palette shape: http://www.bornprettystore.com/mini-finger-nail-palette-free-hand-manicure-ring-palette-p-23985.html

Don't forget to use RAPYX31 for 10% off your order :)

xo

Stefi

Hearts Stamping Plate

                                                                    - plate provided by BornPrettyStore-

Happy Valentine's day, folks!

Of course I have hearts for Vday :) I know you stocked up on your love plates for this year, but it's never to late to start thinking ahed, and besides, hears are always a good choice for stamping :)
This is BornPrettyStore plate BP-61

It's very cute, and as all BornPrettyStore plates, very well etched and a breeze to stamp with.
This is what I did:

I especially like the last one, those brokend hearts are so good! (stamped with black stamping polish from previous post ;) )

This is where you buy this pretty plate: http://www.bornprettystore.com/love-heart-nail-stamping-template-image-plate-born-pretty-bp61-p-20034.html

And as always, don't forget to use my code RAPYX31 for 10% off your order.

xo

Stefi

BornPretty Store Black Stamping Polish

                                                                               -stamping polish provided by BornPrettyStore-

Hello!

Today, I am reviewing one of the most essential tool in a stamping lover life: black stamping polish.
Everyone who ever tried to stamp their nails knows that a good stamping polish is basically the most important for getting clear, sharp images, and probably also knows how hard it is to find a good black stamping polish. It needs to be pigmented, it needs to work well with the stamper, and it needs to be really, really black. I present, black stamping polish from BornPrettyStore: 

This polish is everything a stamping polish needs to be: very black, very pigmented, easy to work with. It will, like most black polishes, stain your skin a little if you get too much of it on it, but nothing a little acetone and a good brush can't fix, or you can use one of many latex barriers on the market for protecting your fingers while stamping. I won't do much talking, I will just let pictures talk:

Well, I think that's enough? :) Anyway, this polish is so very good, I didn't use anything else for black stamping since I got it.

This is the link:  http://www.bornprettystore.com/15ml-born-pretty-nail-stamping-polish-black-nail-polish-p-22322.html

It's a great bargain for just $4.79 for 15ml bottle, it goes a long way.

And when you buy it, don't forget to use my code RAPYX31 for 10% off your order.

xo

Stefi

BornPrettyStore Clear Jelly Stamper Review

Hello everybody!

I'm sorry I've been away for so long, but sometimes life happens, and it's throwing quite the punches, so I've had some family business I needed to do.

Today I have a really special treat for you: clear jelly stamper from BornPrettyStore. You may have heard about those cute little thingies, they are stampers with clear stamper heads and a hole in the back of the stamper, so you see exactly where you stamp and it's much easier to centre your designs.
I have to admit I was a bit sceptical when these started to pop all over Instagram, and I've heard they are hard, plus, I was quite happy with those I had (FabUrNails, MoyouLondon and BornPrettyStore), but when the opportunity presented it self, my curiosity got the best of me :D
And boy am I happy I got it!

This is how it looks, the left picture is the head of the stamper, and the right one is the bottom of it. See how clear the image is? The best part? This baby picks up the image right away with no problem whatsoever and it doesn't need priming! It is a little harder than usual soft and squishy stampers, but it's really easy to work with. This image is from BornPrettyStore BP-73 plate.

This is the little cute cat form BornPretty BP 59 plate I already showed you :) See, clear image!

And this is me, stamping the roses to my nails :) You can see how practical this is, you can turn it and place the image on your nails and actually see what you're doing :)

Here's the finished mani, where you can see how well the images transferred, no patches, all crisp and clear :)

I can't recommend this one enough, it's a truly great product and if you like stamping, trust me, you need it.

It costs $2,99 and this is where you can buy it: http://www.bornprettystore.com/2pcsset-clear-jelly-nail-stamper-clear-silicone-marshmallow-nail-stamper-scraper-p-24021.html

I have this purple one, but if you like some other colours, there are options here: http://www.bornprettystore.com/nail-stamper-scraper-c-268_94_648.html

Naturally, don't forget to use my code RAPYX31 for 10% off your order.

xoxo

Stefi

BornPrettyStore L026 Stamping Plate

                                                                                                -press sample -

Hello friends!

I hope you had a merry Christmas and that you had the chance to spend it with your family and loved ones.
Before we enter new year, let's have a look at one of the big stamping plates from BornPrettyStore, BP-L026. This one has all kinds of leaves and the images are quite big so it will work great if you have long nails.

As usual with BornPretty plates, the images are etched nicely and transfer great, and you'll have a nice manicure in no time at all. I did 2 manicures with it so far:

This gradient is done with 2 China Glaze polishes, the purple is All aboard, and the gold sparkly beauty is Angel Wings.

This is Black Hole Sun by FoxyPawsPolish, stamped with BornPretty white stamping polish I reviewed a few days ago. You can see how well it transferred to the nail. I didn't use a stamping polish on manicure above, but it still transferred greatly, and that's thanks to the well etched plate.

This is the plate: http://www.bornprettystore.com/flower-vine-nail-stamp-template-leaves-image-plate-born-pretty-l026-65cm-p-21812.html

Don't forget to use my code RAPYX31 for 10% off your order :)

xo

Stefi

BornPrettyStore stamping polish #9

                                                                                                  - press sample -

Hi everyone!

Getting things ready for Christmas? Hope your preparations are going well :)

I have another BornPrettyStore stamping polish for you, this one is light blue, and I absolutely love it!

Very pigmented, and stamps wonderfully, as usual :) Seriously, I have a few stamping polishes form BornPrettyStore, and they are all equally easy to stamp with! I used this one on a beautiful dark blue holo from Pretty & Polished, Frozen In Time, using BP-03 plate 

This is the link to buy, polish number is 9: http://www.bornprettystore.com/15ml-born-pretty-nail-stamping-polish-newly-sweet-style-nail-polish-p-22179.html 

As usual, don't forget to use my code, RAPYX31 for 10% off your order, I'm sure you'll find something more to buy :) 

xoxo

Stefi

Obsessed With Tropical

Hello, friends! :)
A lot has been going on these pas few weeks. My brother in law was getting married, and that included a whole lotta organizing to do, because my Dad didn't want to go to the wedding and the party, and we had to figure something out because we can't leave him alone for a whole day and night (he's in early stages of dementia). He was at his sister's house for the weekend, so we were able to attend all the wedding stuff. Maybe I should clarify, in Croatia, if someone close to you is getting married, the wedding basically starts at around noon, we gather at the house of the bride or groom (depends which one are you related to), then you go pick up the bride (or wait for the groom), then the church, and then the party, which usually lasts the whole night :) Anyway, it was a very fun day and night. Of course I had to have special nails for the occasion, so here they are:

I did a gradient with Essence white and Parrot Polish The Lioness of Brittany, and stamped with MoyouLondon Tropical 02 plate.
They kind of matched my dress :)

Tropical theme seems to be my favourite these days, and I did quite a lot of those. There's a hash tag on Instagram #hawaiianshirtmani, it was started by LadyAndTheStamp, and we do hawaiian shirt themed manicure every friday, and I think I might have gone a bit overboard with it. I think it's because it's been so hot here for the last few days all I can think of is being in a tropical paradise :D
Here are a few of those manicures:

This is a gradient with Catrice Will You Berry Me? and China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, then dry brushed with Barry M Cotton, and then stamped with my go to tropical plate, MoyouLondon 02.

This is a gradient with Essence love is in the air, Eveline 922 and Barry M Berry Cosmo, stamped with, again, MoyouLondon Tropical 02

The base for this manicure was Misslyn Bikini season from their Neoprene Collection, stamped with A England Fonteyn and then Essence Black Stampy, all using images from BundleMonster BM-313 plate. :)

Which one is your favourite? Do you like tropical themed manicures?
Tell me in the comments, on hop on over to my Instagram @therapywithnailpolish :)

xoxo

Stefi

Nail Art Challenges in June

Hello, friends!

Last month I joined 2 nail art challenges on Instagram, and it's been so much fun, I continued it in July.
Sometimes I don't have any inspiration and have no idea what to do on my nails, so this was a very nice way to get ideas, enjoy other people's manicures, and find some very talented ladies to follow.
The first WNAC 2015 challenge, basically, you get a theme of the month and an idea, a subtheme if you will (is that even a word, subtheme?) for every friday. This were my manicures for that challenge.

If you are interested in the details, you can check my Instagram, but I think my favourite of these is this one:

This is Colors By Llarowe Young Turks, a beautiful holographic turquoise polish, stamped with black Essence Stampy and Moyou London Fashionista plate. The necklace I'm holding is hand made by my friend and polish partner in crime SecretJewelGarden, go check out her Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thesecretjewelgarden. There was no sun when I took this photo, but this polish is pretty either way.

The second nail art challenge I joined was ClaireEstelle8, this one is very fun. These are the manis:

I'd say my favourite of these would be this one:

It's and ombre with Essie's Garden Variety and Essence play with my mint stamped with Bundle Monster BM-315. It's the first time I did an vertical ombre, and I think it turned out very well.

One of the prompts for this challenge was new technique. So, I decided to tackle watermarble. I've been trying to do it since I started blogging, and it always ended horribly, so I am quite proud of this manicure :)

There is still room for improvement, of course, but this is the first time I managed to get the polish to spread and make a decent design :) All polishes used were A England, details, of course, on Instagram :) 

What do you think? 

Do you have a favourite among these? 

xoxo

Stefi

Parrot Polish Holo Goodness

Hello friends!
It's been a while since my last blog post, but that's just how life goes, sometimes other stuff comes first and you have to deal with the real world. :) To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't had much inspiration for writing, so I didn't press my self.
But then, I got invited to join a group Hella holo customs group on Facebook. Basically, it's a group that has custom holo polishes made from indie makers, 2 of them every month, and than you have the exclusive chance to buy them. The month I got in, Parrot Polish was one of the makers, and, since I a a faithfull fan of Parrot Polish, I jump on that train. Usually, members of the group vote on a color they want for a custom, and the makers does another, exclusive color of their own choce. David and Sonja made a blackish holo polish as an exclusive, and my black heart can't pass on a black holo, so that's what I wanted. Here it is, it's called Midnight.

 

It has a huge holo flame, and some blue glitter in it. Very sparkly, and very special. :)

I loved it so much I left in on my nails for 2 days, but I had to do some stamping :)

The plate is Moyou London Fashionista 08, one of the first I ever bought, and still my favourite.

There was another Parrot Polish in my order, one I've been wanting since I first saw it: The Lioness of Brittany, in all it's holo glory

I adore this polish, it has such a unique colour, and, as always, super strong holo. The best thing about Parrot Polish is that they dry really fast, and are a breeze to apply.

Do you have any Parrot Polish? If not, you are missing out. I've linked their shop and IG feed (you see them bold), so go check them out. :)

xoxo

Stefi

Holo obsessed

You know I am, right? Holo obsessed, I mean. I don't think I have bought a polish that's not holo for a while now. I just love it. They are so pretty and shiny and I love the way they glow in the sun.
That's why I can't believe I forgot to show you two of my favourite holo polishes.
The first one is ILNP Music Box.

See what I mean? All pretty and sparkly and turquoise :)

This is Music Box stamped with black Essence Stampy polish and BornPretty BP05 plate.

Another favourite, and this should come as no suprise, is A England, Fonteyn.

It's a perfect lilac silvery shade, with a strong holo flame.

How about you? What's your favourite finish?

Blobbicures

I suck at freehand nail art. Everything I try painting without some kind of stencil or stamping plate looks like it was made for a not very good cartoon. That's why stamping is, and probably will be, my biggest love :) But, blobbicure is different, and if I can do it, anyone can. It's simple, you put a coat of base and let it dry. Then you put your second coat of base polish, and while it's still wet you just drop little blobs of your chosen polish. The blobs should spread and the you have it. There are a bunch of tutorials on you tube, so check them out. My advice would be, don't be shy with blobs of polish, they should be quite big so they can spread on your wet base polish.
This was my first try:

I used Barry M Vintage Violet for my base, and A England Sleeping palace for blobs.
I liked this so much, I had to do another one, and I think this one turned even better. I even took pictures of my right hand, which rarely gets to be photographed :D

I usually paint my right hand first when I do stuff for the first time, so I can see how it works and correct myself on the left one, and I thought my blobs were to big, but it looks like that's the whole point: big blobs you leave on your brush and then drop on your nails spread much more nicely, creating and interesting pattern. I used Kiko 849 for the base, and A England Tristam for blobs.
This is the left hand:

Have you tried doing blobbicure? Do you like it? Tell me in the comments.

xoxo
Stefi

Smoothie nail polish from Misslyn

I think by now you guys know I like holographic polishes, and I was very happy when I ran into Misslyn Smoothie polishes from their Forbidden fruits make up collection in my local Mueller.
I don't buy many mainstream polishes anymore, because, lets me frank, the indie makers spoiled me with their creativity, great formulas and different finishes. I do, however, buy Misslyn, I like their colours and they have some great polishes for stamping, so colour me impressed when I saw those Smoothie polishes are holographic. Also, I don't really care for the colour green, but my oh my, was this one pretty. Just look!

This one is called Kiwi bomb, and it's a very strong green with holo effect. All the polishes in the Smoothie collection are a little textured, they have dots that really look like you have a smoothie on your nail :) The cats on my nails are water decals I got from a friend.

There are 3 polishes in Smoothie collection, but I bought only two, kiwi bomb and Sweet blackberry, a hot pink, magenta holo with tiny dots. It's very, very pretty :) The third one is pink, the colour I only wear in neon shades :) This magenta however, is my kind of colour :)

I did some stamping on it, with Misslyn's Snow white polish and Moyou London Tourist plate.

I liked these polishes very much, the formula is ok, they're easy to apply, and I did apply a top coat because I don't really like textured feeling on my nails. I do own a few of Misslyn polishes and they are all very good formula wise, and, as I've said, I like when a mainstream company gets what goes on in the indie market and follows accordingly. :)
I don't know where to buy Misslyn polishes overseas, but here in Croatia (and most of Europe, I think) you can find them in all Mueller drugstores.

Do you buy mainstrem polishes? Which ones? Tell me in the comments.
xoxo

Stefi

Spring is in the air!

Spring finally came to my little country, and it was time for some spring manicures.
I think, by now, you know I'm a big fan of dark polishes, so the first one A England's Sleeping Palace, a beautiful plum/eggplant holo polish that I stamped with some black flowers. I know, black flowers are not exactly spring like, but still, it's flowers :) The image is from Moyou London Suki 07 plate.

You know I recently fell in love with A England polishes, and I'm thinking this may be my favourite of the ones I brought from London. The colour is so special and I haven't seen a polish like it before, and the holo is visible even without the sun, and it's just perfect.

I really liked another spring mani I did, it's light blue and, in my opinion, very spring like:

The blue base is Kiko 849, a light blue and slightly shimmery polish, stamped with Models Own Chrome Blue, a polish I got in London that is absolutely perfect for stamping. I bought anothe blue, a dark one, and now I'm sorry I didn't buy more of the Models Own Chrome collection. I'll have to do some online shopping, me thinks :)

The last one for today was my special , 1st day of spring manicure. I did a gradient with Eveline 922 (lilac) and Misslyn 568 (mint), and stamped some flowers with A England The Blessed Damozel:

What do you think? Which one of these do you like the best? Tell me in the comments :)

xoxo

Stefi