Born Pretty Store Review - Part 2

*All the decals in this post were provided in exchange for a 100% honest review.

Hiya lovelies!  Today I have the second part to my Born Pretty Store review.  In part 1 (here), I showed you a stamping plate, and today I'm showing you the second nail art product I chose - some neon water decals (here).  I've only ever tried water decals once, and it didn't go very well, so I was really interested to see if I got on better with these ones.......

So, these are the decals I chose (pictures are from the BPS website) As you've probably noticed, the colours in these photo's are pretty off.  The purple is in fact, pink, and they're all a bit lighter and brighter, but the designs depicted are accurate, and at £3.67 they are cheap. 

If you've never tried water decals before, the process is very simple. Paint your base and let it dry, then cut out the image you want to use, and peel off the clear film that covers the image.  Then submerge the decal into water for 10-20 seconds, wet your fingernail, and place the decal design side down on your nails. The design will transfer to your nail, and you can take away the paper backing it was attached to.  I found that I was able to really carefully adjust the position of the image with a wet finger if it wasn't quite right, before carefully dabbing it dry with a tissue/cotton bud.  Then once it was nice and dry, seal it with a top coat.

Unfortunately, my massive bottle of HKGirl is getting pretty low, I've got about a quarter left, and I'd run out of thinner at the time, so it was quite thick. I tried to top coat it carefully, but I still managed to do some damage, especially near the tips.  Please trust me though, they weren't at all patchy or smushed before I covered them with my shiny syrup :D

That aside, I still really liked this mani, and in real life nobody would really notice the flaws.

The last time I tried water decals, (cheap ones from ebay) I had major issues with the edges curling up, and being really obvious on the nail. I was actually able to peel one of the decals off, even after 3 coats of Seche Vite! These were very different though.  The film they're printed on is really, really thin, and good luck finding the edges once they're on.  I was even able to layer multiple decals on the same nail and you still can't see the edges.   I used 4 each on the index and middle finger :D

I decided to do a second mani with the decals, as I couldn't wait to try them again.  I've been completely put off water decals after the ones I tried initially being so rubbish, that I was just itching to use the funky neon eyeballs in this pack......

I didn't really have a clue what I was planning to do with these, I just knew I was going to use them near the cuticle.  I started with a white base, and then applied the decals near(ish) the cuticles.  Next I added the lines underneath the eyes, as I was thinking maybe half-moons would be cool. I used Moyra - 66, an eye-searingly neon green, and Color Club - Raspberry Rush for the pink.  I added the leopard print outlines next, but it still looked a little bare, so I filled them in with the opposing colours.  Then, finally, I added the lines above the decals just because it looked a little empty there.

 I actually loved how these turned out in the end.  The lines are like a second outer eye, and I'm just loving the whole weirdness of this mani.  I actually found myself chuckling when I first finished it, but the longer I wore it the more I loved it.  How can a girl not be happy with freaky neon eyeballs on her nails?  :p

 So, overall, I was really impressed with these water decals.  They've shown me that they can be really good, and aren't all like the ones I tried before.  I was really annoyed that my thick top coat damaged them, but I have acquired some thinner since I painted these, so I'll be trying them out in another mani soon enough. When I do I'll edit this post to include a link.

So, that's all from me today, but I'll be back tomorrow with my next A-Z of Polish post.  We're up to X this week, so it should be interesting to see what on earth we're actually going to find! :D

And don't forget that BPS have very kindly provided me with a reader discount code to share with you all.  Just enter the code: GHCQ10 during the checkout process for 10% off your order.