Legally Nailed

Eye of the Tiger

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 08:27:00 +0000

Apologies for the long absence, AGAIN. Today i've got another review for Born Pretty Store! Today I've got this super rad and trippy eye nail decals. You can get a set of these for USD$3.99 right HERE.

I usually don't have a lot of luck with nail decals 1) cos my nails are way too small, 2) my top coat never seems to cooperate with the nail decals.

I'm happy to say I FINALLY had some luck with these decals. I had to cut some of the decals to fit my nails, but thankfully they managed to lay nice and flat on my nails. Typically because my nails are too small, it kinda crinkles at the edges. But I had no problems with this one!

Secondly, the decals were already quite glossy, so I decided to skip putting top coat altogether. Usually when I use a top coat, it kinda shrinks the decals by the 2nd day of wear. The decals kinda started scraping off by the 4th day, but steal beats when I use a top coat.

All in all, I think I finally found the brand/type of decal that works for my nails! Born Pretty Store has a loads of decals available and there are a lot of different ranges, but I have to say this one is the best so far.

Anyway use the code NTL91 to get 10% off from Born Pretty Store! They have loads of nail art stuff, so be sure to check it out! What's more there's free international shipping! Always an added bonus :)

Full Nail Water Decals

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Tue, 26 May 2015 15:09:00 +0000

Hola everyone!! Here's a quick review of full nail water decals from Born Pretty Store!!! Unfortunately, the water decals looked nothing like what they appeared on the site! *DISAPPOINTED*

LOOK AT THIS. AND NOW LOOK AT MY PEASANT NAILS.

The actual decals were not glorious and shiny, but well, kinda meh. It didn't help that my nails are tiny so I ended up using only half a decal for each nail. And that meant that the actual design was absolutely UNIDENTIFIABLE. I had loads of people asking me annoying questions like "What's it supposed to be?" "Are they golf balls?" "Is it snake skin?" Idk. No. And no.

It didn't last that long either!! By the second or third day, there was a substantial amount of tip wear already.

There are other designs available, but chances are you'll end up with the same meh result.

For some tips and a video tutorial on how to apply these water decals you can check out these posts:

1) Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs Water Decals - for a video tutorial on the application, and;

2) #socialmedianails - for some tips on application!

Hope you enjoyed this post!!

How to Apply Rhinestones!!!

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Sun, 17 May 2015 14:28:00 +0000

Hello again! It feels great that I can post somewhat more regularly now that i've graduated, am unemployed and on voluntary house arrest, well, because i'm quite literally broke.

As I mentioned previously, this post features another sponsored product from Born Pretty Store! What I have here is a "Rhinestone Picker Wax Pen/ Glue/ Palette Kit" (or so it's called). I am certaintly not exaggerating when I say this is a REVOLUTIONARY, LIFE-CHANGING product. #truth

I don't know about you guys, but every time i try to apply rhinestones, or any other nail art decoration for that matter, it always ends up in a disastrous and sticky mess. Typically, I use tweezers to pick them up, but because the rhinestones are so tiny and oddly shaped, it simply slips from the tweezer's grip. Add glue into the equation and you get rhinestones stuck all over the place EXCEPT on your nail.

I've seen this wax pencil for sale at Daiso, but as you must know, it was SGD $2 for one miserable pencil and I absolutely was not having it. Fortunately, I saw this set on Born Pretty Store! One wax pencil, palette and glue, all for only USD $1.69!! (~SGD $2.20).

It's pretty dummy-proof to use, just use the tip of the pencil and use it "pick up" the rhinestone. It amazingly sticks pretty well to the wax pencil! At first I thought, I BET it'll drop off once it comes into contact with the glue. BUT NO, it stayed on the pencil and I managed to apply it to my nail fuss free. I did face some problems when I had left out my glue for a while and it started to dry. Naturally the rhinestone stuck to the tackier surface. But if your glue is straight out from the tube it should be absolutely fine!

Speaking of the glue, if you're familiar with hobby crafts/construction, I'm not sure if the glue provided is supposed to be E6000 glue, or simply a China knock-off. But it sure smells (disclaimer: i'm not a glue sniffer) and applies like the authentic E6000 industrial glue. The rhinestones adhere and hold up pretty well on my nail, and is actually easier to remove than normal watery Superglue or nail glue.

Finally the set comes with this INGENIOUSLY designed palette. Because it's shaped like a triangle, it makes it fantastic for putting the rhinestones back into their minuscule containers. Being the a absolute klutz that I am, I'll most definitely spill half of my nail art decorations on the floor by the time i'm done.

Enough of me waffling on, here's the final end product! I used Orly Boho Bonnet from the Hope and Freedom Collection as my base colour and these rhinestones are actually also from Born Pretty Store!

This is definitely a must-have and life-saving product for all you nail art junkies! Just for you Legally Nailed readers, get 10% off all (non-discounted) products on Born Pretty Store using the code NTL91.

Hope you enjoyed this post and till the next time!

Gold Foil Stickers

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Mon, 11 May 2015 14:07:00 +0000

I'm back again after a long, long, long, long while. The past month or so has been absolutely crazy and hectic!!!! I finished my final exams for my last semester in law school and following that, my schedule was jammed packed with dance practices for my school's dance production!!! But i'm back again, though probably briefly, before I embark on my trip to Bangkok at the end of the month :) The next few posts are sponsored posts from Born Pretty Store and i'm kicking it off with these gorgeous gold foil-like stickers!

You can get this WHOLE sheet of stickers for only USD $4.34!!!! *inserts shocked face emoji* The designs range from hamsa palms, seashells, crosses, roses and even chess pieces!! I chose these stickers because it reminded of the gold foil flash tattoos that are super on trend right now!

Source: Flash Tattoos

I used OPI Alpine Snow as my base colour and further embellished my mani with studs and rhinestones which were previously given to me by Born Pretty Store.

The stickers are very thin and adhesive, meaning that it will last long on your nail with a good top coat. However, because the stickers were so small and thin, I found that it made it difficult for one to take the stickers off the sheet. For the first few stickers I tried to remove from the sheet, they were completely destroyed because they just folded over on themselves. I had to use my super sharp and thin eyebrow scissors to carefully pry the sticker off to make sure that i didn't nick the edges off. Thankfully there were so many stickers on the sheet so it wasn't that much of a waste that I had destroyed some.

Overall, I find that these stickers are super value for money and a easy way to embellish you nails for the nail art noobs (I mean that in the most endearing way)

As always, remember to use the code NTL91 to get a 10% discount off Born Pretty Store, specially for Legally Nailed readers!

Virgin Mary

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 10:33:00 +0000

Ahhh ok i've been terrible at updating this space. I wanted to post my Chinese New Year manicure but never got the chance to edit the photos. And then after I removed my fake nails my nails and fingers were in bad shape so I didn't want to do this last Born Pretty Store review with ugly nubs. Hahaha. ANYWAYYYY, today i'm reviewing these Virgin Mary water decals!

If you've been a religious (lol) follower of this blog, you'll know that water decals are my #1 nail art of choice! Its easy to apply and it gives the impression that you've put in a lot of effort into your nails!!! A lot of professional nail salons use nail decals too but I don't see the need to spend a whole ton of money when you can do it yourself for really cheap. These decals cost USD $2.16 and it's good for multiple uses. I probably only used a quarter of the sheet for this mani.

I legitimately love the Born Pretty Store decals cos they're very thin so with a top coat it looks as if it's printed on your nail. Andddd this particular design matches a snapback that I have hehe

I used OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh as my base colour and also used these studs from Born Pretty Store. I also made a "frame" out of microbeads (from a now defunct e-shop) which was hella tedious as I had to glue them on one by one and my tweezers were wayyyy to big (I use an eyebrow tweezer). I probably should get a better tweezer which is more suited for picking up tiny nail art decorations.

Hope I didn't offend anyone and anyway rmb to use the code NTL91 for 10% off non-sale items! :)

Tree Branch Nail Wraps

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:24:00 +0000

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's weekend! I would love to see any of your V'day manis in the comments below. Today i've got another review from Born Pretty Store!! I spent a good amount of time today browsing through the site for random stuff #truestory. So let me just jump right in!

Today i'm featuring these tree branch nail wrap stickers! I've reviewed these nail wraps before (these cat ones and floral ones). I had a particularly annoying experience this time for some reason. But firstly with the pros. These nail wraps are good because they are super soft so it's easy to cut and trim and apply it to your nail. Removal is fairly easy to, just peel/scrape it off!!

Now for the cons!!! I used Seche Vite to seal the wraps in and they shrunk like mad. I took these pics the day after I put them on and you can see it shrunk by 1mm. It continued to shrink by at least another millimeter. Not sure if I should change the topcoat used or not use a top coat at all! Secondly, the nail wraps discoloured and turned yellow-ish by the 3rd/4th day of wear. Not pleasant at all!! And lastly, I think the tips started to peel off by the second day.

Due to the poor durability of these nail wraps, I think they are only suitable for ONE night out and you have to apply them right before you go out. But they are pretty cheap, at USD $2.54 so they're worth it for a special occasion! Plus point, they glow in the dark!

Anyway as always, remember to use the code NTL91 for 10% discount off all non-sale items.

Valentine's Day Nails 2015

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 15:40:00 +0000

It's almost Valentine's Day!! Today I've got the perfect mani for that special day, even if you're just hanging with friends :)

This year, I decided to attempt these Valentine's-themed mosaic nails! I started off with a white base, OPI Alpine Snow. Then I randomly filled in some geometric shapes using Covet London Racy Lacy Bikini, Covet London Confidence (c/o Luxola) and Sally Hansen Celeb City. The white base ensures that the colours pop without having to apply more than one coat. Then I used by nail art striper to outline my nail as well as the different shapes.

The last Valentine's Day mani I did was back in 2013 using the (though unintentionally) same colours. I really loved how this mani turned out though!! :)

Hope you liked this post! Enjoy your Valentine's Day and look forward to a Chinese New Year mani next week!!!

Triangle Studs

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 09:54:00 +0000

It's February already! Time is flying by and I haven't been updating this blog as much as I would've liked. I think I say that all the time but oh well #LIFE. Today i've got another review for Born Pretty Store!

Today i'm featuring these gold triangle studs. A set of 20 is available at USD$2.99 over at this link. I got the gold 2mm studs (product code B2). I used a nail glue from Daiso to adhere them to my nail but they were so tiny it was difficult to pick them up with my tweezers. Also, I didn't put a top coat over so the studs tarnished by the next day:/ They were a lot shinier than in my pictures!

I chose the black/white/red colour scheme to match my performance outfit!! I did a dance performance for my school's anniversary event. Hit me up on instagram @basementvandals :)

A photo posted by Xun-Lin (@basementvandals) on Jan 30, 2015 at 10:26pm PST

I used Nails Inc Noho (which is a leather effect polish), China Glaze Ruby Pumps and OPI Alpine Snow. Then I used a black nail art striper to get the geometric lines.

Hope you enjoyed this post! Remember to use the code "NTL91" for a 10% discount off Born Pretty Store!!!

China Glaze Mosaic Madness + Revlon Royal

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:35:00 +0000

Happy Mid-Week everyone!! I've got a quick post for you today!

Today i've got a jelly glitter sandwich using Revlon Royal and China Glaze Mosaic Madness. I painted one coat of Royal, one coat of Mosaic Madness, followed by another coat of Royal and Mosaic Madness (i.e. 4 coats in total!) and then topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Revlon Royal is a super gorgeous jelly polish. On its own, it's opaque in about 2 coats.
Mosaic Madness is a glitter explosion of blue and black hex/bar glitter. The formulation is great for a glitter polish. I can get a nice even coat of glitter just by applying it normally. No need to dab and re-arrange the glitter on my nails. It is a sparse glitter though, so you will most definitely have to use a base colour.

That's it for today! Hope you liked this short post! :)

Dainty Daisy Nails

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 09:59:00 +0000

Ahhhhh I really hoped to post more during the holiday season but time slipped away from me and now i'm back to school again :'( But I'm back now and i've got a bunch of posts queued up from Born Pretty Store! The first one i've got are the dainty daisy nails!!! You can get a set of 2 resins HERE for USD$1.99. It's a bit pricey but the resins are totally reusable, given that you don't lose them like me -__- I got the white daisies which is colour no. 1

With resins you can just use some nail glue to adhere it to your nail. I used one I got from Daiso. But because my nails are kinda small, I have to use quite a lot of glue to get it to stay on as there is less surface area. For the base colour, I used China Glaze For Audrey which is one of my all-time

favourite nail polishes!

That's all for today! Hope you enjoyed this post! As always remember to use the code NTL91 to get 10% off Born Pretty Store!!!

Candy Cane Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 17:46:00 +0000

Here's a quick post wishing everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (or Merry Pug-mas if you prefer). This Christmas, I decided to sport some simple candy cane nails!

I started with the base colour COVET London Confidence from Luxola and painted on the white stripes with my Konad Nail Art Pen in White.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Vintage Cats

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 06:26:00 +0000

I'm back with another cat post!!!! I got these cute cat water decals from Born Pretty Store!

You can get these super adorable decals here for USD$2.86! For tips and a video tutorial you can check out these posts:

1) Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs Water Decals - for a video tutorial on the application, and;
2) #socialmedianails - for some tips on application!

I was going for a Dolores Umbridge kinda vibe so I used OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around as my base colour. It's a soft pinky-purplish nude.

Hope you enjoyed this post!!! Remember to use the code NTL91 to get a 10% discount off Born Pretty Store! They have a whole bunch of nail art accessories so there's something for everyone!!

Marble Nails

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 18:29:00 +0000

I'm back again!! Just got done with my final examinations last week but I was busy worming around at home, doing some sewing projects and also dancing so I kinda put off updating the blog. Today I have a fashion-inspired set of nails to feature!!! I actually did this during the exam study week (if you follow me on instagram you would of had a sneak peak!! Hit me up @ instagram.com/basementvandals) but I didn't have time to edit the photos and blog. Because it was study week I was at home most of the time and I managed to catch a lot of daylight to get some decent pictures. I'm usually only at home when it's evening/night so I have to resort to using my lightbox+lamp, but I much prefer to use natural lighting as much as possible!

I've been loving the marble/cracked paint trend so I decided to recreate it on my nails!!! I used a dry marble technique to achieve this look. I actually tried to film a video tutorial but I didn't manage to get my light/camera set up right, so video turned out pretty rubbish. SOoooooo, i'll attempt to be as comprehensive as possible.

TUTORIAL

Step 1: Paint one thin layer of white polish on all your nails and let them dry completely. I used OPI Alpine Snow.

Step 2: Once dry, you want to take a grey polish (I used China Glaze Recycle) and put a blob of it on a piece of plastic or dish.

Step 3: Next, paint a THICK layer of white polish on your nail. WHILE IT IS STILL WET, get a toothpick or your smallest dotting tool, dip it in the grey polish and then swirl it into the wet white polish. The technique is to have a fairly light hand, and just skim the surface of the white to achieve the perfect marble effect. You HAVE to do one nail at a time because the white polish has to be wet to be able to swirl the grey polish in.

Step 4: If you put too much grey in, just go over the areas with a bit of white polish to achieve your desired effect. Then seal with a topcoat and you're done!!! I recommend a good top coat like Seche Vite to smooth out the surface.

If you wanna spruce up your mani you can add some studs or even rhinestones. The studs I used are from Born Pretty Store.

Anyway hope you liked this post!!! Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze in lots of posts this holiday month!! :D

Crown Jewels

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 09:54:00 +0000

School has been absolutely INTENSE. I had a 2 presentations and 2 individual research papers CONSECUTIVELY. *i died* One more presentation then I'm finally done with the semester (less for finals). But alas, I have a new post! Here's another review for bornprettystore!

I choose these gold delicate nail charms! They're made of a malleable metallic material so you can bend it to fit the curvature of your nail! I started off with Illamasqua Rampage which is a deep, almost black, green.

I glued on the charms with nail glue that I got from Daiso. Be sure to get glue all over the nail charm!! I think I didn't get glue on some of the edges, so the sides lifted off my nail by the next day and broke off a bit. Then I glued on some red rhinestones (also from bornprettystore). I was going for a sort of royal crown look! The colour combination turned out a bit more Christmas-y though. I guess it's pretty timely, especially since Christmas is next month!!! Nonetheless, it's a very Fall-appropriate mani that you can rock this season!

Hope you enjoyed this post and till next time!! Remember to use the code NTL91 to get a 10% discount off Born Pretty Store!!! They have lots of nail art accessories, jewellery and other knick-knacks, so there's something for everyone!

Breaking Bad, Bitch

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 18:30:00 +0000

Today, I've got a really, REALLY super cool post. As you can already see, I'm sporting some super rad Breaking Bad nails!!! I got all the decals on my nails from the shop, DIY Nails, where they sell a whole bunch of super eclectic and quirky nail water decals!

I bought the Breaking Bad decals, designed by Nick Cocozza from Bad Blood Clothing, and also the Alphabet decals. It's slightly more expensive for water decals (at £6.00), but I'll gladly pay more for unique illustrations and I reckon there are more decals per sheet than regular ones!!! The decals are a bit thinner than what I'm used to, so I had to be extra careful when applying them or they tend to fold over on itself. The trick is making sure your nail is wet so you have more time to manoeuvre the decal around in case the placement is off!

For this nail design I went with the images of the one and only Heisenberg and of course, his on/off sidekick Jesse Pinkman. On my other hand, I HAD to go with Pinkman's most iconic word, because he IS, in my opinion, the best character in the whole series.

To be honest, I was a bit wary going around school with "BITCH" emblazoned on my nails and I did get questions from the uneducated lot. But oh well, deal with it bitch.

Of course, a Breaking Bad-themed manicure isn't complete with some of the "blue stuff".

For the gradient, I started off with OPI Alpine Snow, then sponged on China Glaze For Audrey till about halfway down the nail. Then I sponged the tips with a bit of piCture pOlish Lagoon.

The "blue stuff" on my other hand is just Lagoon again, embellished with rhinestones c/o bornprettystore.

It was really fun doing this manicure, and I hoped you liked it! Here's me saying hello to everyone from the Breaking Bad fandom! :P

Beauty Hack: Cleaning Make-up Brushes!

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 10:47:00 +0000

Here's my first non-nails beauty post!!! Other than nails, I love make-up so I thought it'll be great to add some beauty posts to this blog as well!! I just submitted a nauseatingly-tough research paper, so I'm taking a well-deserved (though short) break! Today i'm going to share how I wash my make-up brushes!!

Typically, it's recommended to deep-clean your make-up brushes at least once a week, especially for foundation brushes, since you use it all over your face. Some people even recommend to wash them everyday, but.... AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT. For most of my brushes, I just use a brush-cleaner spray to clean them occasionally. I use the Sephora house-brand spray which is a pretty decent cleanser for my needs. But typically, I will always deep-cleanse my foundation and concealer brushes. Foundations and concealers are really thick and tend to dry up and accumulate in the brush. This is bad because it means you're spreading bacteria all over your face, and secondly, it won't buff the product on your face properly when there's dried up product in the brush. When I deep-clean my brushes, I put some shampoo and water in a small sauce-dish, dip my brush in, and then lather it against my palm. But I felt that this method wouldn't leave my foundation brush completely squeaky clean. I use the Real Techniques Expert Face brush to apply BB Cream, almost daily (I use the SKIN79 VIP Gold BB Cream).

So i'm sure a lot of you have seen the Sigma Brush Cleaning Glove which retails for SGD$66 for that ridiculous-looking silicone thing. It certainly costs more than all the make-up brushes I own. I figured I use something similar to that to achieve the same deep-cleanse that the Cleaning Glove purports to give. I remember using those silicone face defoliator scrubbers, which costs like $2 from Daiso, and I thought hey if it's gentle to use on my face I should be able to wash my make-up brushes with it right!!?! Here's a close-up in case you're confused as to what it is exactly. It's a small pad looking thing which is about half the size of your hand. It's a bit small, but you really don't need such a huge glove to wash make-up brushes...

Basically, you just load up some soap on the brush and lather it on the silicon brush and voila clean brushes!! Here's a not very useful video clip. The song is Tegan & Sara - Call it Off.

Hope you enjoyed this non-nails beauty posts!! Leave a comment if you would like to see more! :)

piCture pOlish Fool's Gold

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 08:46:00 +0000

Quick swatch Sunday!!! Today I have the very gorgeous piCture pOlish Fool's Gold, part of the blogger Collaboration Shades. This beauty is the brain child of Sammy over at The Nailasaurus (--> I'm always fearful that I spell her blog name incorrectly).

Fool's Gold is a gorgeous light teal with gold glitter and microshimmer!!! The colour combination reminds me of Hare Polish Bisbee, though with smaller chunks of glitter.

The formula was buttery smooth, much like the 3 other piCture pOlish shades I own (See Cosmos, Freya's Cats and Lagoon). Somehow all the piCture pOlish shades manage to photograph beautifully as well!!! *in aweeeee*

Fool's Gold is slightly more on the sheer side though. This was 3 coats and there were still some lighter patches, but they weren't too visible. Now that my nails are slightly longer, I can still see part of my nail line as well. But because I am awfully reluctant for my polishes to go past 3 coats, I left it as it is.

I got my bottle of Fool's Gold from the piCture pOlish website with the help of Priscilla from Pobby Nails. Thanks a load!

Floral Tips

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 13:40:00 +0000

Whoop de doo, it's Friday!! Today i've got another review of a Born Pretty Store product! I achieved this dainty floral french tips using the French Edge Water Decal transfers, priced at only USD$1.99.

The water decals come in a sheet of 14 (which is honestly quite an odd number), so it's only good for one use. I ALWAYS feature water decals on the blog so you can check out these posts for some application tips and a tutorial video on how to use them.

1) Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs Water Decals - for a video tutorial on the application, and;
2) #socialmedianails - for some tips on application!

For my base colour, I used Essie Marshmallow which is a soft jelly white. It's a bit of a bitch to apply though. Some parts were still splotchy after 3 coats, which is where my patience starts to wear thin.

The difference with these decals are that they are specifically for your tips. So after applying the nail decals, you will have to snip and file off the excess product.

I recommend that you wait for the decal to dry a bit because when it's moist, it may tear or shift around a bit on your nails when you try to file the excess off.

Unfortunately, I don't have the habit or capability of keep my nails long, so I only managed to fit maybe about a third of the actual image on my nails. But I know that these decals will look stunning on someone with really long nails or extensions.

Anyway, as always remember to use the code NTL91 to get 10% off ANY purchase at Born Pretty Store. There's a ton of nail art products to choose from and a major plus is that there is FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING.

Hope you enjoyed this post and have a great weekend!

Monochrome Chevrons

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 09:10:00 +0000

Happy Almost-Friday guys! Today i've got another review for Born Pretty Store!! I achieved these monochrome zig-zags using vinyl tip guides which you can get for USD$1.58 per sheet.

The tip guides come in a sheet with about 30 (?) sticker vinyls. They work like tape manis where you mask out the area you DON'T want the colour to be. You have to start off with a base colour (I used OPI Alpine Snow) and wait for it to dry COMPLETELY. I think I waited about 45 minutes for my white polish base to dry first. You know it's relatively dry when you press your finger over the polish and it doesn't leave any fingerprint marks. If not, when you remove the sticker vinyls it'll rip off your base colour!!!

I placed the vinyl sticker vertically, and slightly off the centre of my nail and then painted Orly Liquid Vinyl on the unmasked side of my nail. I let it dry for a moment (about a minute) and then removed the vinyl carefully. It's advised to do one nail at a time, rather than stick all the vinyls at once, cos you dont want to leave the stickers on for too long less they become too sticky and rip off your base nail colour!

I'm not sure if it's because the vinyl is too flimsy and thin, or because I didn't wait for the black polish to dry completely, but I wasn't able to get nice crisps zig zags. I usually manage to get crisp lines using ordinary Scotch tape. I ended up having to touch-up some of the edges with my white nail polish.

Anyway I took this set of photos using my new Xiaomi Redmi 1S phone!! Amazed at the high quality resolution!!! I was lucky that I got home early and managed to catch some natural sunlight as well.

Anyway, remember to use the code NTL91 to get a 10% discount off Born Pretty Store. There are plenty of nail art accessories so I'm sure you'll find something you like!!

Pastel Kitty Water Decals

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 10:24:00 +0000

Hope you're not sick of cats yet because I'M NOT. So here we go, more cats! Courtesy of Born Pretty Store.

I picked these adorable Kitty Water Decals!!! I've used water decals on countless occasions so I won't repeat myself with the application.

You can check these posts out:-
1) Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs Water Decals - for a video tutorial on the application, and;
2) #socialmedianails - for some tips on application!

To match the cutesy nail decals, I went with a pastel colour palette.

The polishes I used are:

China Glaze Lemon Fizz
OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around
Sinful Colors Cinderella
Essence No More Drama

My favourite ^^

Close-up of the thumb

Hope this short post brightened your day! ^^

For all Legally Nailed readers, you can use the code NTL91 to get a 10% discount off any order! Shipping is entirely free so what are you waiting for!! They have a whole range of nail art products so there's something for everyone :)

China Glaze Evening Seduction + Updates!

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 13:01:00 +0000

HI EVERYONE!!! I'm back after errrrr, 2 months?? To think i've been even more inactive during the holidays than my school term hahaha. A lot has been going on but first, let me drop a review of this polish first! :D

This is China Glaze Evening Seduction! I participated in a Facebook contest organised by China Glaze Singapore a while back and I won!! Lucky me~~ They gave me a list of China Glaze polishes available and I got to pick 3!! I didn't recognise this colour/name and there didn't seem to be many swatches of it online either, so I'm assuming it's a pretty old shade. I love polishes which are almost-black-but-not-quite so I immediately gravitated towards this colour!! It's a really deep, dark wine red almost bordering on brown. Kinda like the colour of dried up blood.

The application was pretty smooth and it took 2 coats to reach opacity. Pretty standard for a China Glaze polish. It looks more black on the nail in my photos, but I think you can get a more accurate representation of the colour of the polish from the bottle! The colour shows better under sunlight. Thanks again China Glaze Singapore and go give their Facebook page a like.

Anyway, moving on to some updates!!! Blogging solely about nails can be a bit drab and also tedious (since I can only paint my nails max 1-2 times a week) so I thought I could maybe inject a bit more content into this blog!! Perhaps a bit more about what's going on with my life and also my other interests like make-up and fashion whilst still updating about my nails :D I think this will allow me to post more content on this blog while juggling school and other activities.

Anyway here's what I've been up to for the past month or so!! I'm in my university's hip-hop dance club and we put up a performance for the CCA (co-curricular activity) fair to get the freshmen to join us!!! I choreographed the fourth piece!!! Enjoy!!

Quick Swatch: Rimmel Kate in Classical Red

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 10:25:00 +0000

Here's another quick swatch after my very long absence! Today i've got Rimmel Kate Salon Pro in Classical red.

My sister got this for me when she was holiday-ing in Australia. I don't think Rimmel is available in Singapore anymore but you can get it easily online from Asos and the like.

The formula is pretty good, opaque in about 2 coats with a really high-shine finish. The colour and finish is quite similar to Megan Miller Framboise, a deep wine red, with a bit of a jelly-like finish.

Hope you enjoyed this short post!

Everybody Wants to be a Cat!

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 13:43:00 +0000

My internship and dance competition are finally over so I finally had the time to do my nails and whip up a blog post! What better way to celebrate my return with cats!!!!!!

Today's post is courtesy of KKCenterHK!!! If you had a wholesome childhood i'm sure you would find these images familiar!!! I've got Marie from the Aristocats on my nails!!! In case you don't know what i'm referring to, hopefully this video will jog your memory.

The images are actually water decals (get them HERE) which apply like temporary body tattoos! This blog is no stranger to water decals can you can check out our water decals tag to check out how to apply them and also some useful tips. GO CHECK THEM ALL OUT :D

Remember to use the code "LNAILED" at check out to get a 10% discount of KKCenterHK!!!

Black & Orange

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Sun, 25 May 2014 09:25:00 +0000

Now that it's the holidays I thought I would have a lot more time to paint my nails and blog but NO I WAS WRONG. Dance practice on top of my internship has made me even more busy than during the school term! :/ I did this nail art a few weeks ago but only just found the time to edit and blog about them.

I created this nail art using these Striping Brushes from KKCenterHK. They come in a 3-piece set with different sizes (15mm, 17mm, 20mm). Honestly, there isn't much difference in length as you can see from my picture and all three can be used for creating nice thin lines.

I started off with Catrice Sunny Side as a base, which is a pretty sheer orange with lots of shimmer. I needed about 3 coats to reach a somewhat opaque finish and it was still a bit patchy! For the black, I used Orly Liquid Vinyl, my go-to black polish!

To be quite frank, I still prefer using my nail art stripers from Art Club to create nice crisp lines! I feel that it's much easier to control and to load up more product on the brush. When using the striping brushes, the product dries up really fast on the brush and it becomes too dry to work with. Also the brush is a lot flimsier than the striping brushes I have from PNC, so it makes it more difficult to control. These brushes may work better with acrylic paint instead!

Hope you found this post useful!

Look, A Cat!

noreply@blogger.com (legallynailed) — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 09:54:00 +0000

My exams are finally over!! So what better way to mark my return to this blog than some cat nail art! You can get these cat nail stickers from Born Pretty Store at USD$2.38 for a set of 14 stickers.

They come in a pack like so, with a nail sticker for all each nail. As usual, these nail stickers are always way to large for my small nails so I had to cut them down to the width of my nail for most of them. Lather on a layer of topcoat and you're done!

The application was pretty easy though! The stickers are a kind of thin vinyl which moulds to the shape of your nail perfectly. Basically you align the curved part to the base of your nail where the cuticle is, smooth it on your nail, then fold over the excess over the tip of your nail and finally, file it off.

Unfortunately this means that the image faces toward me, instead of away, which I usually prefer my nail art image to be. But oh well, nothing I can do about that.

The wear time is kind of average for these kinds of nail stickers/nail decals that cover the entire nail. The tips of the nail always peel off within about 1-2 days! But it's definitely good for someone who wants easy nail art!

That's it for now and remember to use the code NTL91 for 10% off all orders. There's free international shipping as well!

Stay tuned for hopefully, more regular posts! Though my internship will be starting very soon and I'll probably have to stick to nudes and more neutral colours. Maybe i'll do a post on that soon! :)