Born Pretty Store Haul & Review

Hey, everyone!

This is a post I've been meaning to do for a while, but life's been a bit busy. So here's a look at my recent order from Born Pretty Store! This is a reeeeally long post, so keep reading to find out what I thought of these products.

Before getting to the products, I have to say that this order gave me a bit of trouble. I'm usually really pleased with how speedy Born Pretty Store ships to me, considering that the shipping is free and everything. This time I decided to pay the extra few dollars to upgrade to order tracking. I must have picked a really bad time to try this feature from BPS, because I wasn't able to track my order until a few days before it got to me. And the shipping this time around took just over a month. It turns out, after talking with BPS customer service, that Singapore Post was waaaay backed up with U.S. Customs at the time of my order. At least I finally got my goodies in the end!

Alright, on to the goodies! Unfortunately, these first items were a huge disappointment to me. I ordered two of these little mouse rings, because I have two pet rats and I thought "Well, they're only $0.99, so why not?" When they arrived, however, they looked practically nothing like the rings I thought I ordered. They aren't nearly as round-headed, almost like they got squished in the mold. And in the pictures I took, you can see they lack the small black rhinestone eyes. To top it all off, some of the edges were rather sharp, I assume from being poorly molded. Thankfully I was able to trim the excess soft metal off with a pair of wire cutters. But seriously, I was genuinely bummed. Am I just being super picky, or do you guys agree with me? Compare my pics with the ones on BPS's website and let me know in the comments, please!

I have never used water decals before, but I keep hearing how fantastic and easy they are to use. So I picked up this set of water decals because I'm pretty positive this is the cat from the short anime Chi's Sweet Home (which I think is adorable and you can watch the first very short episode here!). Also, these are the same water decals I used in this look for the November Les Nail Smiths theme!

I was really really excited to get this item. It's a cuticle oil pen with a brush applicator that smells like oranges! I also ordered a lavender scented one for my mom for her birthday last month. After using this product for a couple weeks now, I have pretty mixed feelings about it. It is pretty handy, the perfect size to put in my purse or even stash on my nightstand. And the smell is fantastic - it smells so fresh and orange-y, yet it isn't heavy and the scent doesn't linger too long. The oil also absorbs super quickly, which is nice. But I'm not sure it's very moisturizing. It's either that, or it's finally getting dry and cold around here so it's hard to tell. I'm definitely a huge fan of the applicator brush though, and once this baby's empty (which might not be too long from now), I'm planning on refilling it with another cuticle oil. Overall, a pretty good purchase!

Lately I have been seeing all kinds of nail art bloggers swear by these wax pencils. So needless to say I was excited to try them out! I gotta admit, they are really fantastic! They make picking up rhinestones, glitter, and studs a breeze. And you can sharpen them to either a really fine point for tiny accessories, or a broader duller point for larger ones. A must have for nail artists!

These were so different looking that, even though I have a bunch of rhinestones already, I had to pick these up! They're multi-sized iridescent black rhinestones and I really love the way they look! Unfortunately, as I discovered while wearing them on this Halloween mani, the iridescence goes away if you don't top coat them and then proceed to shower or wash your hands. At least now I know! I have a feeling that the largest sized rhinestones might be too flat for my curved nails, but the smaller ones worked great!

While shopping around on BPS I realized that I had zero studs in my stash. So I changed that! To me, this wheel of studs is the perfect basic mix - round and square, silver and gold. One thing I like a lot about them is they have a shallower profile (or height from the nail) than regular rhinestones do. So I have a feeling I'm going to really enjoy playing with these! I'll do a mini review of them when I finally get around to using them, I promise!

Last, but definitely not least, I got 4 packs of these nail adhesive tabs. Although I don't wear fake nails often (only for costumes or really special occasions), I prefer using tabs like these to using nail glue. You can see how I used them for my Halloween costume in this post!

To tell the truth, this is the largest order I've ever made from BPS, and it was barely over $20! Needless to say, I think I'm stocked up for a good long while. If you have any questions about one of these products, feel free to leave a comment below!

Thanks for stopping by!