Lavender and Delicate Gold Stamping

Hi all, happy Thursday. It's almost Friday and almost the three-day weekend. I am so freaking excited to have an extra day off! I have absolutely nothing planned but just having the extra day to do projects around my apartment is exciting. Today's nails are a color combo that I have been thinking about trying for awhile. Lavender is my favorite shade of purple- it's so delicate and soft. A perfect color for Spring. I wanted to keep that softness but add some subtle bling to it!

For the base I used two coats of American Apparel L'Esprit. I love this polish. It's so easy to apply and has no streaking which is rare for pastels.I applied a fast dry top coat to speed up the drying time. Once dry, I used NY & Co. Millionaire and BM Plate 314. 

 I  really love how these turned out. They're so feminine and subtle. I got a ton of compliments on these as well which is always nice!

Another Day...Another Leopard Print Mani

Hi lovelies! Today's design is brought to you by the letter O. As in obsessed - with animal print. All kinds. But especially leopard. We go waaaay back leopard print and me. What tends to happen with us is that we don't see each for awhile and then when we do it's like we were never apart! I am always trying to perfect my leopard print. Today's iteration is something that popped into my head while I was doing Saturday's leopard and tiger print skittle mani. But I had already committed to that design (and loved it) so this one was put on the back burner for today. 

I started by painting my nails with two coats of Floss Gloss Tan Lines. This is such a great neutral and the perfect backdrop for this design. I then added random spots of Floss Gloss Stun.  I own a lot of blingy glitters but this one is the hands down the blingiest of them all. I used a small nail art brush and LynBDesigns Quoth The Raven for the spots. 

I seriously love this. It turned out just how I pictured it which is always great and not always attainable. I was going to save this idea for Animal Print Week which is coming up soon but thought, "Nah! There's plenty of leopard print to go around!" 

They're Not The Same. They're Similar- Battle of the Pinks

Happy Monday gang! Starting off the week with a new battle! It's been awhile since I've done one of these but it's back with an epic battle: PINK. Until recently I was never really a pink nail polish girl. I like the color but polish-wise I have always been very meh about it. I liked soft pinks, pale pink, milky pinks...but pink pink? Not so much. Over the last few months that has changed and when I was thinking of what the next color battle should be I realized that I actually had a decent collection of pinks to compare.

Photo courtesy of Elsa at Like a Candy Shop

Today's battle participants are American Apparel Angeline, Butter London Snog, Essence Ultimate Pink and Sinful Colors Sugar Rush.

 Let's start off by talking color: I was actually really surprised at how light Sugar Rush was compared to the other colors. In the bottle it looked nearly identical to Ultimate Pink but is actually a full shade lighter on the nail. Snog and Angeline are the closest in color though Snog leans more toward a blue-pink. Angeline is more of a  "hot" pink. The formulas on these could not be more different. UP is very thin and went on quite streaky on the first coat. Snog is thin as well and need three coats for full opacity. It did not however, have any streakiness. Sugar Rush and Angeline were both completely opaque in two coats with no streakiness or thinness to their formulas. Sugar Rush is the thickest of all four and you could probably get away with only one coat.

So who is the winner of this battle? American Apparel Angeline. It has great coverage. Wasn't too thick or too thin and has a great "juicy" pink hue.  If I had to pick a loser I would have to say Essence for it's too thin formula and streak issues. What do you guys think? Do you own any of these colors and if so what is your personal favorite? Stay tuned for the next battle!

Blog Sale New Additions

Hi all! Just added quite a few new items to the blog sale. I am de-stashing so I will be updating periodically!

http://www.valiantlyvarnished.com/p/blog-sale.html

Born Pretty Store Review - 2 Way Nail Art Polish Pen and Tiger and Leopard Print Skittles

Press Sample

Happy Saturday gang! Today I have the second of the two Born Pretty Store reviews I have for you this week, Born Pretty Store's 2 Way Nail Art Polish Pen. I am a sucker for a good nail art pen as I find them sometimes easier to use than just a plain nail art brush. This one features two   tips: one with a pen and one with a brush. I decided to do a nail design that uses both  - leopard and tiger print skittles!

First, let me show you the pen. It's on the larger side which took some getting used to since most of the stripers I've used have been more compact. It did take some getting used to but the top half that holds both the tip and the brush comes off. 

I painted my nails with two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I then dabbed  random splotches of Julep Meryl for the leopard print and lightly sponged it down the center of my ring and index fingers for the tiger print. I used the pen tip for the leopard spots and the brush for the tiger stripes. I topped it off with NYC In A New York Minute Top Coat.

Overall, this pen was okay. Not fabulous, but not bad. I prefer my nail art pens smaller. I did like the fact that you get a ton of polish in the tube. The pen retails for $3.55 plus free international shipping. I highy recommend checking the out Born Pretty Store website since they have tons of great nail art supplies for really inexpensive prices. If you decide to place an order be sure to use my discount code PSL91 to receive 10% off your order!