Summer Birds – featuring Born Pretty Store (first impressions)

Disclaimer: Some products sent for honest review.

I really wanted to try out a couple of the new products that Born Pretty Store kindly sent me from their nail art section – this is very much just one of those manis where I was playing around and getting a first impression for the items. Yes, I stamped some of the birds upside down… shhhhh. Don’t judge me!

I haven’t done a nude and neon mani this year and it wouldn’t be summer without doing this combination once. I’ve been really enjoying my China Glaze polishes recently so reached for Fast Track and Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. My bottle of Fast Track is over halfway gone and starting to thicken slightly which mean I only needed 2 coats for perfect coverage, when I first got this polish it was a 3 coater. Gorgeous polish for all year round – that golden shimmer (almost like micro micro flakies) in a taupey nude base… yum. Yellow Polka Dot Bikini takes me 3-4 coats because it is streaky at the same time though it isn’t too much of a pain to apply so it’s all worth it for the neon brightness. No white undies.

I have 5 new stamping plates in a set from BPS to play with but decided just to test BP-71 which is a mixture of love themed images with some very fine lines (more on this below). I also received a new re-fill stamping head which fits into a classic double-ended konad – it is soft and shiney, slightly sticky. It is not as soft as my MoYou but MUCH softer than konad. I like that you have a choice of the colour of the stamping head too – very useful for seeing how your image picks up when it contrasts with the stamper colour (I went for grey)!
I found when lifting images using this stamping head you need a very light hand and a roll technique, it did take me a couple of attempts and I am still not getting a perfect image. I do think this is a case of just getting to know the tool and what works best for it. I am going to continue to use this for a while and I will keep you updated – I would say it is worth trying out as an inexpensive (just $1.96) replacement for the harder Konad. Transferring onto the nail is not a problem at all once you have the image picked up.

You get “Live,”, “Love”, and, “Laugh,” in a nice script style on this stamping plate which I think are really on trend and versatile meaning that you won’t just be reaching for this plate around Valentine’s Day. Same with the little love birds – they have that hipster feel to their patterning – although you could amp them up by using red and pink colours! As you can just about see the image is large enough to fill my thumb nail but if you have long nails you may need to stretch for full coverage (we’re growing nails back out here at PMP HQ). For $1.59 this plate is a bargain and has a good variety and number of images.

I am really excited to make some decals with the silhouettes on this plate – I couldn’t get a good pickup on these today but as I mentioned at the beginning of my post this is my first time using these plates and this particular stamping head so I am sure I’ll get there! I will be doing more reviews and designs soon so please keep an eye on the blog AND my instagram! We’re nearly in September and I am very nearly ready to get back to my regular blogging schedule (Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays) with Stephanie Says also hopefully coming back (Weds and Fri).

I hope you enjoyed this quick first impression! I feel ready to pop down the beach now I have this cute little neon and nude combo – shame it is raining out! Hope you’re all having a wonderful end of the summer. Don’t forget you can get 10% off using XPG10 (I think this only works on fullprice items at the moment) on the BPS website.

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