Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Sugar and Spice (+Brush Set Review)

Hey lovelies, I hope you're all doing well! Or at least better than I am, anyways. Like pretty much everyone else right now I seem to have picked up a cold over the weekend and man is it draining. But fear not - if you happen to have a cold as well or are just tired of the bleak winter weather then I have some flowers to hopefully brighten your day and remind you of warmer times to come!




This is kind of my own twist on Not Everyone's Cup of Tea (which was inspired by Ladycrappo); I really love the combination of pretty, girly florals and metal chains and studs. It's just such a satisfying clash of two opposite aesthetics!

I will admit though, I was a little hesitant about adding the charms to this design. I was originally planning on having a thin stripe of negative space between the roses and the black, but the dreaded Seche-Vite-Shrinkage thwarted that plan:


It's kind of difficult to see, but you can kind of see how the line on my ring finger is all wobbly - the topcoat completely pulled the yellow and black polishes with it as it shrank and dried. It's not that big of a deal since I ended up covering it up anyways, but it does kind of irk me that it ruined the lines.

Moving on, it is not actually Seche Vite that is up for review in this post - it's this set of 4 Nail Art Brushes from Born Pretty Store!
The set includes a detail brush, a cleanup brush (I'm assuming that's its intended purpose), and two different lengths of stripers.




The detail brush (the shortest one) is the one that I used to paint the roses, and while it's a little longer and thicker than the brush I'm used to working with it was surprisingly easy to paint with. All my lines came out well and thin enough for my liking, though painting roses is pretty blotchy so it probably wouldn't have mattered if they didn't. I did try using it for some thinner lines in a previous design though and I found it to be too thick for the fine lines I wanted. This is a very easy problem to fix by trimming though, (which ngl I'll definitely be doing after finishing this review).

I've never actually used a striper for my lines before so I don't really have anything to compare these brushes to, but they seem to work pretty well, (same notes as for the detail brush though, they're a little thick for my taste).

Lastly we have what I'm assuming is a cleanup brush based on it's shape. It's actually a lot better than the brush I was previously using for cleanup (a long, round-tipped paintbrush I'd picked up at an art store a while ago) but I found it to be a little too soft for the task. It's ok if it's all you have, but I would probably go pick up a stiffer, angled brush for cleanup if I were you.



They are quite nice brushes though and I'm sure I'll be using the detail brush quite a bit (after trimming it down to more manageable size). If you're interested in trying the brushes out for yourselves, they sell for C$ 7.35 (US$ 5.92) for a set of four. 

If you do end up getting these brushes then don't forget that BPS has worldwide free shipping and you can use my code FHX31 for 10% off of your order!

Products Used:
Borghese - Incantato Purple

Ciaté - Cabaret

Ciaté - La Confidentiale

Coco + Lulu - Macaron
Cult - Dogtown
Cult - Hermosa Beach
Cult - Hollywood Hills
Cult - Runyon
Essie - Bottle Service
Essie - DJ Play That Song
Essie - Dress to Kilt
Essie - Grow Stronger Base Coat
Essie - Licorice
Gosh - Lazy Green
Models Own - Cerise Shine
Revlon - Sublime Strawberry
Sally Hansen - White On
Seche Vite - Quick Dry Top Coat 
Gold Chain [x]
Triangle Studs [x]

xo,
Becca.

** These products were provided for review. All opinions are my own and have not been influenced by anyone. **

4 comments:

  1. Nice! What a happy accident, the shrinkage - the chains and studs look awesome with the delicate floral.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Robyn!
      I'm still not that happy with Seche shrinking on me but I will admit that since it helped me commit to the chains it was probably a good thing haha ^^

      Delete