Red bow + Born Pretty Store

I love to use rhinestones for my nail art. They're fast and easy. But the best thing is that they look so good with minimal effort! Sometimes the simplest touches can turn an ordinary mani into something quite special.

Base is 2 coats of OPI Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I always like to add the extra bits of bling on my fourth finger. To be honest, it just looks better on that finger.

A great place to get quality rhinestones and endless other nail art goodies is Born Pretty. They're extremely affordable, even for a poor university student such as myself. That store is like paradise! A nail art blogger's candy store.

Remember to use my special code MUL91 at the check out for 10% off your order!

And the world will be dominated by the bling power of rhinestones!

Make your polish dry faster: ice water method tutorial

I think by far, waiting for your nail polish to dry is the biggest turn off when it comes to changing manis. You can't do anything during that time! Even the slightly bump can ruin a perfect polish job.

Today I bring to you, wait for it, drum roll please... A tutorial on using a bowl of icy water to dry your nail polish in under 15 minutes (I also had in total 6 layers of nail polish: 1 base, 4 polish, 1 topcoat). And I should add, I slap on really thick layers of polish each time.

Step 1

Before you dive into painting your nails, get the water and ice ready. There's nothing worse than ruining your nails before you even got to dry them. You'll need a cup of ice, and half a bowl of tap water.

Step 2

Add the ice into the bowl. Be careful because I got splashed.

Step 3

Watch the ice starting to melt already! Now you can start painting your nails. On a hot day, it'll still take the ice 30 minutes to melt away completely. So don't rush yourself. Slow and steady wins the award of perfect-no-clean-ups-needed-manis.

Step 4

Make sure to always put on topcoat. I waited around 1 minute after my layer of topcoat, then plunged my fingertips into the bowl of icy water.

The rule is:
Alternate every 15 seconds for each hand. Otherwise your fingers will feel like they're going to freeze off. Repeat each hand 4 times so it adds up to 1 minute per hand. 2 minutes in total.

You can dry your hands off afterwards but make sure to avoid your nails. My polish was dry to touch in 5 minutes' time after taking them out of the water. The most amazing thing is that they're pretty much indestructible after half an hour! As opposed to my normal 2 hour wait because I like thick layers.


Check out the result! I used Essie Lilacism. It is such a gorgeous cool shade for summer.

Like they say, time is money. I've just saved myself a lot of money.

5 minutes glitter nail polish removal tutorial

I'd like to thank everyone's support for the success of my previous removal tutorial and roll out the second installment, how to remove the much loved (and hated) glitters.

This tutorial is everywhere already but I hope this will be the mother of all tutorials! Be the most comprehensive.

Step 1

Get the piece of foil ready. Any type will do. The cheaper the better. I like to find mine in those variety / $2 stores. But it doesn't really matter because there is an ingenious way of saving foils and time!

Step 2

You'd have to trim the large piece of foil down to smaller pieces. I'd like to have mine around 4cm by 5cm because I have rather long nails which make typing pretty difficult. The trick is to make a little snip (shown in the previous image) and just rip along the snip. Saves time cutting without folding the foil.

Step 3

Gather your foil pieces. So shiny! Sparkle sparkle.

Step 4

Get your nails ready. Mine's all ugly and chipped because I was naughty and didn't put on topcoat from my last mani.

Step 5

Put a cotton strip over your nail like shown in my last tutorial. Click HERE for the link. I've just noticed that my nails are green in both tutorials. Fate is at work. Kind of scary since I sometimes have dreams about an event then it comes true the next day. Usually bad things. Sucks to be me.

Step 6

Grab a piece of foil and wrap it around your nail. Don't worry if it is messy and it's not rolled up like a perfect tube. Foil is the most forgiving, nail-related material I've ever used.

Step 7

After it's been wrapped around your nail, fold the extra tip down behind your nail. Gently squeeze around your finger to make sure everything is secure. The key reason for the foil is to prevent the nail polish remover from evaporating. They keep everything nice and moist so the remover can do its job to be fullest.

Step 8

Repeat steps 5-7 for all of your nails. I'd like to do one hand at a time because it is a bit clumsy working with foil as fingertips. Shiny sparkly fingers. Leave it on your fingers for 1 to 2 minutes.
WARNING: Your nails WILL feel hot underneath the foil. That is because although manufacturers try to make their chemicals as 'safe' as possible, it is NOT natural for your skin. Don't worry, just remember to moisturise really well afterwards.

Step 9

After 1-2 minutes, remove the foil capping while still leaving the cotton on your nails. I like to save the foil cap to do my other hand with.

Step 10

Like in the first removal tutorial, hold down and drag the cotton piece off the nail. This is with just one swipe. Pretty impressive, right?

Step 11

As you can see, the only flaw is that this method isn't 100% effective on chunky glitters. Not to worry! You can either scratch them off with your nails, or repeat the cotton piece removal method on the chunky glitters. They've already been softed by the remover so they'll have no problem coming off.

Step 12

Like I said before, recycle the foil tips and use them on the other hand! Saves you time cutting, folding, squeezing and they're so much eaiser to use the second time around.

I hope this was helpful and comprehensive enough. I swear this took me 5 minutes. No joke!