Stars, Skulls, Swirls, Sponging and Stamping. (Giveaway Winner, too)

God, I love it when an alliterative post title comes together.

The whole shabang for you today, I went a little stamp crazy...

All photos in natural light

Please ignore the smudge-tasic index finger! After all that work, there was no way I was re-doing it haha!

I'd been wanting to use the Skull image from the new Bundle Monster Image Plate set for a while, but was in danger of utilizing it to create some kind of gross emo-dream/Pirates of the Caribbean tribute! I decided, in the end, to keep the colours light, and add some swirly pattern and some stars :D

I started with a base of Barry M Turquoise, and sponged on Models Own Blooboo in differing places on the nail. I then repeated this with Silver, from Claire's Silver Nail Art Pen. Now, I've mentioned this before, but however wonderful this silver is (and it is), it gives you the WORST glitter herpes ever. You can scrub and scrub at your silver-stained cuticles but it Just. Won't. Go. Away. So, I apologise for the sparkly cuticles haha! I also added a little bit of Rimmel Sky High to the sponged base too :)

After adding a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out, I stamped the swirly, planty image from BM225 using Konad White Special Polish onto different parts of each nail. Then, using THIS method, I mixed my own pastel Special Stamping Polishes and stamped some pink, green and purple Skulls from plate BM211. I then did the same with the Star image from BM206, adding them sporadically to make a pattern. I added some coloured rhinestones to the Skull eyes (a later addition - I liked it without, too) that you can get from Nail Art online store Born Pretty.

If people like this look, I may do a sponging/stamping tutorial, because it looks rather busy and difficult, but it's really very simple, when you know how!

Also, I'm going to quickly announce the Giveaway winner (I know it's been a long time coming, soorrryryyyy).
I have contacted her and she's accepted, the winner is...

Lily over at Beauty's Bad Habit!

Congratulations! I'll be posting your goodies after my exams (next week :D)

I used Random.org to select a random number, then simply found that numbered entry in my spreadsheet!

(Didn't want to include your email, Lily!)

So, there we are! My first Giveaway, over and done with! As you can see I had a colossal amount of entries, so they took a while to verify - thank you for your patience, and for entering in the first place!

I hope you enjoy your prize Lily, check out her blog Beauty's Bad Habit!

I also got some great feedback from the giveaway question "What would you like to see from me in the future", so I'll be sharing some of the suggestions with you soon! 

Thanks Everyone!

She's My Cherry Pie

If you haven't been over to www.bornprettystore.com, seriously, check it out! I get a lot of my nail art supplies from there (my brushes, rhinestones, fimo canes etc), because they are so affordable, and it's free international shipping - always a bonus! They often run little contests and give away freebies too, which is great - they're a really customer-friendly company with a wide range of supplies.

I was sent some of their heart-shaped rhinestones to try out,* and was struggling to think of a design to incorporate them into. I've wanted to do a Manicure along these lines for a while, using cherries, and thought I may as well use some of the red heart rhinestones :D

I started with a base of American Apparel Palm Springs, a lovely peach nude, and used a dotting tool to add some red dots in Boots 17 Knockout Red. I added some highlights and shading with Nails Inc Shoreditch High Street and Claire's White Nail Art Pen, and some stalks using Claire's Jade Green and Barry M Spring Green. On the accent nail, I used Born Pretty Store's heart-shaped rhinestones as the cherry fruit, rather than painting them :D

With Flash!

And there we are! Because it's a nude base, it reminded me of cherry pie :D

Here is the wheel of Heart Shaped Rhinestones, they come in 12 different colours, and you get around 30 of each colour, I'd say:

my own photo

my own picture - much less in there!

Here is the picture they use on the website:

stock picture

As you can see, the stock picture is rather misleading regarding the amount of rhinestones you actually receive. where the stock picture is jam-packed, the reality is you probably only get half that amount - if that. Nowhere in the item description does it specify how many rhinestones you will receive. This is really the only criticism I have here, as they really are a great product, some people may be disappointed, however.

The packaging is a good idea, the top of the wheel rotates round to reveal each segment at a time, however the rhinestones do become statically charged, and stick to the top, which leads to the colours getting all mixed up. It doesn't really bother me, as I still think it's a better method of storing them than having them stuck to a sheet of acetate, like the Kiss ones I bought from Superdrug. 

The hearts really are sweet, and are a great alternative to regular circular rhinestones - I love them! They're the perfect size, around 2mm, and the range of colours mean you can literally incorporate them into any design.

The wheel costs $3.33 (£2.06), with free shipping, which is fantastically cheap considering the quality and amount you get (even if you are misled in the stock picture!). They also get cheaper the more wheels you buy, for example, if you buy ten wheels, you get a 10% discount.

These took around 2 weeks to reach me in the UK, I'm not sure how long it would be for anywhere else in the world, but the website says to allow up to 4 weeks. The service is great, though, and there's always someone on the email who is quick to reply to enquiries you might have.

To pick up your own set, or check out some more cheap nail art supplies, you can click on the banner at the side of this page :D

Let me know what you think of the nail art, guys! xxxx

*This product was provided by the retailer for review. I am in no way influenced by any affiliation with the company. All opinions are my own, and honest. For full details please read my disclosure policy page