Before & After: Skelepunk!

(Some of the products in this post were provided for review. These are marked with '*')

Hello!

Recently, Born Pretty Store sent me a few items to review. One of the items was water decals*, which I don't think I've ever used before--if I have, it's been so long I can't really remember. Anyway, because I love all things Halloween, I chose that theme out of the four available. :)

For the base of my test manicure, I chose Finger Paints Sketch-y, a reddish-brown shimmer that nearly covers in one coat (I have two here just to be sure):

Finger Paints Sketcy-y, direct sunlight

Finger Paints Sketch-y, direct sunlight

Next, I layered over a coat of Lucky 13 Lacquer's Phoenix Lament, a yellow and orange shred glitter that looks like flames licking at your polish (can't wait to use this in a 'girl on fire' manicure!):

Lucky 13 Lacquer's Phoenix Lament over Finger Paints Sketch-y, artificial light

Next it was time to test out the water decals. Here is the set I chose:

Halloween Decals FTW!

And here are close-ups of each section:

The instructions are simple, and the decals are very easy to apply. Basically, you cut out your design, soak it in water for about 20 seconds, slip off the decal from the backing, put it on your nail, and cover with polish. 

I chose the cool skeleton guy sitting behind a pumpkin, and applied with no problems at all. The decal came off easily from the backing, and was easy to work with. It stayed where I put it when I wanted it too, didn't slip and slide everywhere, but when I wanted to move it to adjust it, I was able to do so. Here is the end result: 

There is a lot I love about these decals. I love how easy they were to apply; no special tools, no wishing you had three hands. I love the detailing on the decal, with all the different colors and teeny designs, which would be hard to get with stamping or free-hand. I also love how fast these are to apply--literally seconds is all it takes. 

However, there were also things I wasn't in love with about these. Some of the images I was most excited about (the faux 'portrait' images) turned out the be too small to really see the detail; if you look at the pictures above, you'll notice the details of the spooky pictures are really hard to see, and you can't tell what they are in some cases, even. This isn't a problem with most of the decals, but you definitely want to take that into account when deciding if there are images here that you'll use for the price. I've included a picture below with my thumbnail so you can see the relative size and detail of the decals: 

For me, there are enough decals on here that I can use to make this worth purchasing at the $3.99 price; for you, that might be different. The good news on this point is that two of the other sets, the nautical decals and the mask decals, have a higher percentage of useable images: 

Okay, to sum up: First, I love my little manicure! The glitter polish is gorgeous, and the little skele-puniken guy is extremely cute. In terms of the product, I think these are great for nail art if there are enough images in the set that you feel you'll use; the ease of use is amazing and the quality is extremely good.

Don't forget that I have a 10% off coupon that you can use for these and/or anything else in the Born Pretty Store that you want:

If 10 people use the code, Born Pretty Store will sponsor a giveaway on my blog. :)

Thanks for looking, I hope you liked the manicure! Hugs and loves,
M.

(The decals in this post were sent for honest review. The other products were purchased with my own money.)