Freehand with Born Pretty Nail Art Pens

*press sample*

Hello and happy Friday to my awesome readers!

More Born Pretty products today. Hope you aren't getting to sick of it! :) 

I decided to try these nail art pens even though they are very outside of my comfort zone. I have never considered myself good at freehand nail art in any way. haha These seemed pretty easy to use though. You have to do a lot of shaking and pumping of the tip before your first use and throughout use. It gets kind of annoying after a while but I still got the job done!

I quickly discovered that my planned design was going to have to be much more simplified and I was going to have to roll with the punches in terms of not having every flower turn out the same. It sort of looks like something a 5 year old could do but I also think it's cute in it's own way. ;)

My base is OPI Pink Friday. After I drew my flowers and dots I added a thin coat of NOPI Kim-pletely in Love for some shimmer.

To attempt to make the design a little better I added some black rhinestones in the middle. I think this helped a bit...after a while the whole mani grew on me. I went into Sally's with this mani and the lady working there was so impressed I did these myself...I just had to laugh. :)

I really think the pens I used made a big difference in how easy and mess-free the whole freehand process was. I am still intimidated by freehand, but not as much as I used to be!

Do you prefer freehand or stamping nail art?

You can find these nail art pens (there are more colors available) on the Born Pretty site *here*. You can use my code (AMG10) to get an extra 10% off your order as well!

*Product was sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

Born Pretty Neon Studs Review + My 600th Post!!

*Press Sample*

Hey guys!

This is my 600th post on this blog! That's pretty crazy, right?! I hope to have many more to come. :)

I mentioned in yesterday's post I have more Born Pretty Store items to share, so here's another review this time for neon studs! I think these are pretty cute and the size is just right...not too big or too small. Very easy to pick up and work with. And you can't go wrong with neon! I love that it's so popular everywhere...I don't see myself getting tired of it anytime soon. ;)

These studs were an extremely easy way to jazz up an otherwise plan mani. I placed them in a half moon shape over a still wet coat of NYX Salon Formula in Acid Pink (almost a one coat polish!). I know they seem small and annoying to deal with but trust me, they really aren't and I finished both hands in record time.

Would you use these neon studs in your nail art?

You can find these studs and many more on the Born Pretty site *here*. You can use my code (AMG10) to get an extra 10% off your order as well!

*Product was sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

Hello Kitty Foil Appliques

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Good morning!

I have a fun Born Pretty Store product to share with you today. In fact, I recently got a bunch of fun things from there to review so you will be seeing more Born Pretty items pretty frequently here in the near future!

Look at how cute these little appliques are! First off, you get a TON of these (1,000 to be exact!). I don't see myself running out ever...this pic isn't even all of what comes in a bag. These are super thin metal/foil pieces that can be used in nail art.

I kept it pretty simple because I felt like these appliqués made a statement pretty well on their own. I never get tired of anything Hello Kitty! My base is Orly Oh Cabana Boy and the accent is Orly Luxe with Jordana Funky Gold Town on top. 

My nails are super curved so these didn't lay flat on my nail without some coaxing. All I had to do was gently press a foil piece against the corner of a table to get some bend in it that would help it sit flush with my nail shape. I just stuck in in my polish once it was slightly tacky but not too wet and topped with topcoat. These stayed on for about 48 hours before any began to fall off. Considering how often I do my nails, I thought that was pretty good! haha

Do you like the idea of these metal nail appliqués?

I don't currently see the Hello Kitty design available on the Born Pretty site, but there are a bunch of other designs to be found *here* including some wheels with a variety of shapes included.

If you use my coupon code (AMG10) you can get an extra 10% off your order! There is always free worldwide shipping, plus Born Pretty's prices can't be beat. 

Do you plan on picking any of these up?

*Product was sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

I'm on From Polish, With Love Today!

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to drop in again and let you know about my guest post for Dani over at From Polish, With Love today. I am revisiting some of my favorite nail art looks!

Go take a look *here*! 

Guest Post by Polish Nation

Hi readers! I have a guest post from Gina at Polish Nation for your enjoyment today. Even though I don't think my nails look best short like Gina's, I really enjoy looking at blogs with shorter nails. Weird? Maybe, but maybe I'm not the only one out there? haha I am happy have some cute, short nails on my blog today! Enjoy!

                                                                                                                                                                      

Hello! My name is Gina and I am so happy to be guest posting on My Nail Graffiti today! I would like to thank Amber for being so gracious and kind in letting me "take over" her blog for the day. I am the owner of a nail blog, Polish Nation  and I am so excited to share with all of you what I love to do! 

 When thinking of what I should do for this guest post I knew I wanted to do something special but also something that I had done before so it didn't not turn into a complete mess. Last summer I did a cloud design on a blue background which I was very proud of. I decided to take that and make it a little more interesting which is what I have to show you all today. 

I started with a coat of China Glaze's Bottoms Up which is from their new Summer Sensational collection. This polish a light pink neon color with I really liked. It was pretty easy to work with considering it was a neon and it was opaque in 3 coats. Then I decided to add a gradient which turned out much more subtle than I had hoped but I still liked the effect. I used the sponging technique and used Essie's Cute as a Button for the darker color. After that I added my clouds using a dotting tool and Superstar! from Pure Ice. These clouds are so easy to achieve and I love adding them to an old manicure to make it look brand new again! Finally I dotted White Cap from China Glaze on top of the clouds to make them pop a little more. 

Once again, I would like to thank Amber for having me on her blog today and I hope you all liked my post! Please check out my blog http://www.polishnation.blogspot.com if you want to see more of what you saw today! 

Gina

Zoya Julie + Lush Lacquer Clowning Around

Hi everybody!

I am happy to be back to blogging after an awesome beach vacation last week. I have fun things coming up including a guest post, some reviews and nail art. Feels good to be back!

So my post for today is a recent mani I wore. This is Zoya Julie and Lush Lacquer Clowning Around which is full of those cool translucent neon glitters. The neon glitters are very thin, unlike any other glitter I have worked with but they came out super easily which was nice. 

This is one cool looking bottle shot if I do say so myself. ;)

Are you guys into these neon glitter we are seeing so much of in the indie world lately?

Gunmetal with Nail Art

Lame title, I know, but also pretty accurate. haha

I forgot how much I like the color gunmetal for a polish. It's not quite as dramatic as black but still very chic looking. I used LA Splash Charcoal as my base and did some stamping with LA Colors Metallic Silver. I wished that I would have used the silver from the Essie Mirrors collection because that would have produced a much more crisp result but I forgot I had it until it was too late...oops. haha My accent nail is Jordana Galaxy which is the perfect gunmetal glitter. 

A simple, quick post but sometimes those are the best! :)

Summer-y Orange Skittles

I have been into skittles manis a lot lately and this saturated, bright orange shade is for sure one of my faves to wear once the heat rolls around. So I combined the 2 and here is what I ended up with!

Pointer-Pinky: LA Girl 3D Effect Electric Coral, Zoya Myrta, Sephora + Pantone Tangerine Tango Glitter, OPI A Roll in the Hague with Sephora + Pantone Tangerine Tango Shimmer on top.



I would definitely say this shade is a go to for me in the summer, along with anything neon!

Do you have go to colors for summertime?

KBShimmer Summer 2013 Select Swatches/Review

Hey everyone!

I am writing this while sunbathing on the deck watching my 2 year old play in her little pool. Love summertime! :)

To match my summertime state of mind, I have some swatches from KBShimmer's latest collection full of bright, season appropriate colors...let's take a look at what Christy sent!

First up is It's Razzical. I did 3 coats plus top coat. This dries to a sort of textured finish (not like the newer texture polishes) but one coat of top coat smoothed it all out. I love this pinky/magenta shade with all of it's bling from the holo glitters inside.

Next up, is Blinded By The Bright. Definitely an accurate name for this shade! haha A neon yellow with an assortment of rainbow glitters in the base makes for one sunglasses worthy polish! I did 3 coats without any white underwear and was very impressed with the coverage and ease of use formula-wise. Most neon yellows have an element of streakiness to them. I can see how this would be even brighter with the white underneath.

And finally, we have Grayscale. This is probably the most packed glitter topper um...ever! I did one coat over China Glaze Surfin' for Boys and look at how much glitter is on each nail! I was expecting this to be crazy thick and unruly but it was very manageable to use. Obviously, this topper can go over literally any color and look awesome. Also note the gray glitters...you don't see those very often!

There are 9 polishes in this collection in total, all available now and they are all worth checking out for sure! You can find them at KBShimmer.com as well has Harlow and Co.

What do you guys think of these KBShimmers? Any faves?

*Products sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

Loreal Creme de Mint + Hit Polish Mint Chocolate Jelly Sandwich

Hello!

Today's mani is a jelly sandwich using Creme de Mint from the Loreal Miss Candy collection. I love me a good jelly polish! I paired this with Hit Polish's Mint Chocolate glitter topper. A match made in heaven right?!

This makes me want some Andes Mints or mint chip ice cream! Yum!

JulieG Rock Candy

Hello!

This is the first of the JulieG Gumdrops polishes that I tried from my Groupon promo. These are the only textured polishes I own although I feel like there are more than ever coming out right now! I went through a phase of feeling like I had all I could have in my stash in terms of what I like and what's out there. And then the indie polish world exploded and the bigger companies have tried competing, new innovations in polish happen and there are more than ever out there....I feel like I'm drowning in all the new things! haha

Anyway! This is just a quick swatch of Rock Candy, a super sparkly teal green. I really liked wearing the texture trend for the first time but I don't feel like I need to get every one out there because I'm not just dying over it. Fun to own a few though!

What do you think about texture polishes? Are you loving it or leaving it?

Orly Peaceful Opposition

This is Peaceful Opposition from Orly's spring collection. I haven't been too impressed with what Orly has offered up lately, and even with all the indies out there this polish probably seems boring to some. I decided to pick this one up anyway and I think it's a fun polish to have in my collection.

This has a sheer milky base and can be built to almost full coverage on it's own, however, my nails are always stained no matter how much care I put into them (base coats, buffing, etc) so sadly sheer polishes don't look their best on me. So I layered Peaceful Opposition over a white creme and I quite like the effect.

The milky base helps subdue the stark white polish underneath so I don't have the whole "White-Out nails" thing happening. ;)

Simple, but not boring!