*Born Pretty Store products provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products mentioned were purchased by me.*
Hello there, everyone! You may remember me mentioning how much I love stamping at the moment, so when Born Pretty Store asked me to review some items, I knew right away I wanted to give some stamping items a try!
Whilst perusing their site, which if you haven't been has tons of great nail art items at really reasonable prices, I came across some fun plates. I decide to try out plate QA88 with a pattern they called "Quirky Arabesque". Fitting, no? The swirly patterns and "infinity" style appealed to me right away. (Infinity plates are ones with designs that cover the whole plate so you can stamp anywhere and get an "infinite" number of patterns.) This is a smaller plate at just over 2 inches across so it's a little more limited than, say, the Pueen Encore plates or MoYou's...but it's still a pretty pattern with lots of great looks.
I began this manicure with 3 coats of Sinful Colors Easy Going, a barely there, pink creme. Initially when I saw this plate, I thought it might be good for leadlighting so I wanted to start with a light base to try that out. The stamping polish I used is part of a set from Born Pretty Store and I'll be reviewing that set in a few days. Overall, QA88 is a good plate. I had no issues getting it to stamp and I received it in perfect condition with no scratches or dents. You can see a few spots on the tips of my nails where the pattern "skipped", but that is more likely due to my own stamping skills (or lack thereof; I'm getting better, but not perfect!) or the fact that a few of my nails curve under when they get to a certain length. So that's nothing I can point to as a product issue.
And, as I thought when I saw it, QA88 is great for leadlighting! The pattern is open enough to allow you to fill in the design with whatever colors you choose. I went with a multicolored design created with Zoya's Frida, Wet 'n' Wild's Trippin' on the Boardwalk, Simply Sweet in pink neon, and a random yellow. Kind of has a circus vibe, but I love it!
If you're looking for an inexpensive infinity plate with a fun pattern, this one might just be for you! Plate QA88 retails for $2.09 and shipping is free with non-registered airmail or minimal with airmail tracking (depending on where you live). I always find their shipping to be faster than I think it will be though their site does say it can take up to 20 days for delivery. If you decide to purchase this or any other items from Born Pretty Store, feel free to use my referral code, YFL91, to save yourself 10%!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the post!
Hi there, all! As I mentioned recently, I'm all about the stamping lately. I love the looks that you can create with it and once you get the hang of it, it's so easy! I know if you're just starting out stamping that you won't believe me, but I swear it's true. Continuing with my stamping obsession, I decided it was high time I tried leadlighting. Leadlighting is a technique which gives a finished look reminiscent of stained glass, which is were the name comes from.
I started with 3 coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff and then stamped on top with Sinful Colors Black on Black and Pueen's Encore plate SE04B. I topped everything with a coat of Seche Vite before I started the leadlighting part.
Basically, the premise of leadlighting is pretty simple. It's like a coloring book, using sheer jelly polishes to fill in the stamped outlines. I used Sally Hansen's Triple Shine in Grape Jelly mixed with a bit of Wet 'n' Wild's Trippin' on the Boardwalk to up the opacity a bit. The SH is a great polish for leadlighting but it's very, very sheer. I wanted a touch more opacity for this look. After filling in a few random flowers, I decided I wanted another punch of color so I used SH's Triple Shine in Play Koi mixed with a homemade jelly polish (which you can learn how to do here). I just dabbed it onto the center of the non-purple flowers with a dotting tool.
I'm happy with this for my first attempt at a new technique. My main issue is that I loved the mani so much before I added the color that I'm a bit disappointed that I tried it at all. But it does have a lot of possibilities, which I'm pretty excited about.
Have you tried leadlighting? I'd love to see your manicures! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post :)
Hi everyone! I've been a terrible blogger because I haven't been around much lately, I know. Summer time is crazy at work and I've had to work several weekends, so my rare free time has been spent relaxing rather than blogging. I hope you'll all forgive me! Don't forget that you can follow me over on Instagram where I post pics of pretty much any manicure that doesn't make it into a blog post, so it's a great way to keep tabs on what's going on with my nails :)
To make up for my absence, I have a tutorial for you today...yay! Many of you will have heard of an awesome new manicure technique called lead lighting. Taking its name from a stained glass technique, lead lighting manicures feature stamping with black or a dark color over a white/light base. Then the stamped design is filled in using sheer jelly polishes, mimicking the look of stained glass. You can create some truly gorgeous and unique manis this way.
When searching out jellies to try lead lighting for myself, I discovered I actually don't own very many suitable polishes for this technique. Browsing around on the web gave me the idea of using alcohol inks to lightly pigment clear polish, but those inks can get a little pricey. Further research let me know I could make my own alcohol inks at home, with supplies I had around the house so I thought I'd give it a try!
There are several "recipes" for DIY alcohol inks floating around the web using anything from KoolAid to food coloring to markers for the color part. For my initial experiments, I tried food coloring, marker ink, and acrylic paint. Each of these made a great alcohol ink, but once I started mixing them with the clear polish I ran into issues. The marker ink caused the polish to thicken and separate rendering it unusable and the food coloring faded color so badly it became grey. So I've settled on acrylic paint for my polish alcohol inks.
This is one of the easiest tutorials you'll see. The supplies you'll need are paper towels for clean up (this stuff can get messy!), Rubbing Alcohol (I used 70% because it's what I had at home, but I've seen sites that recommend using 90%), Acrylic Paint (I recommend the liquid-y kind rather than what you'll find in a tube. You're mixing it so if it's already liquid it just makes things easier), a small cup for mixing, a bottle or jar to store your ink in, and a bottle of clear nail polish (I used Wet 'n' Wild's Clear Nail Protector because it was on sale at Walgreen's for $0.69). If you have a small funnel, it will come in handy but it's not necessary. Also, acrylic paint is permanent! If you're worried about staining, make sure to wear old clothes and cover your work surfaces. You can also wear latex or rubber gloves to protect your hands.
To start, pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol into your mixing cup and add a few drops of acrylic paint. Mix it by either swishing your cup around or using a spoon or other mixing device. Decant a bit of clear polish out of the bottle, you'll need room to add some of the ink once it's mixed up.
Once your paint is dissolved into the rubbing alcohol (and here's where the funnel would be helpful), pour it into your storage bottle or jar. I used an old Seche Vite bottle (cleaned with acetone) to store my inks. The next step is to pour a small amount of the ink into your clear polish. As you can see in the photo above, you'll have to shake it up to mix everything together.
But once it's all shaken up, it stays mixed with little to no settling. They look a bit cloudy in the bottle, but that doesn't seem to be an issue once it's mixed with the polish and applied.
And here are two coats of the red color above and a yellow jelly I made over two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. My next step will be to try these with the leadlighting but I don't anticipate any problems with that...well, not with the polish anyway, the stamping might be another story!
If you don't want to go through the hassle of making your own inks, they are available for purchase at most craft stores, like Michael's and Joann's. Joann's website has a nice selection of them, prices are regularly $4.99 for a 0.5 oz bottle and $9.99 for a pack of 3. It does look like they're having a sale right now, making the single bottles $3.49 and the 3-packs $6.99, so it's a good time to buy if you're interested!
Have you tried any DIY alcohol ink recipes? I'd love to hear about your results or see any pics of your lead lighted manis! I hope this post was helpful and thanks so much for reading!
