NOTD: OPI Russian Navy Plus

Today I have my actual nails of the day featuring another product that the nail art supplier Born Pretty sent me for review. The package calls them "Nail Sticker" but they're what I call water decals.



I had trouble getting a photo of the whole sheet. It has 11 different sets of Christmas-themed designs on it; you can see them on the Born Pretty site here. Each set has 20 motifs (five different designs plus the mirror image of those designs, each image repeats so you could do a matching manicure and pedicure if you were so inclined).

Since it's February, I chose one of the the least Christmas-y motifs to use as an accent nail: some smiling golden snowflakes.



For a base color, I used two coats of OPI Russian Navy, which I thought would be a nice contrast with the gold of the snowflakes. (Underneath, I used one coat of Orly Nail Defense from an old, old bottle and one coat of Salon Science Instant Artificials. I am hoping the Nail Defense still works as well now as it did for me back when that bottle was new because my poor peelie tips could use some help.)

I don't remember the last time I used water decals, but between the directions on the back of the package and my own common sense, it was pretty easy.



I did not need to use a blowdryer at any point, but putting the decal in warm water definitely helps. The first one, which I did use warm water for, went on pretty easily though I did get a couple little areas folded over on the edges (was I patient enough to smooth them out? no, I was not). The second one, for which the water had cooled, was less pliable, and I got more wrinkles in that one, but once I added a layer of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Top Coat all was smoothed out. I found it helped to fish the decal out of the water with the rounded end of my metal cuticle pusher and slide the decal off from there. (Not leaving it in the water until the decal floated entirely off the backing would have been another option.)




Above: my less frequently seen right hand.


Above: not a great picture of the decal, but the only shot I had that showed the shimmer in Russian Navy.

It didn't occur to me until after I got the decals on that the base color might be so dark that it would show through the snowflakes, but the decals seem pretty opaque so that wasn't a problem. The white snowflakes were a nice surprise; I hadn't noticed them against the white backing paper.

I've worn this mani for five days now and the decals are holding up great. They're still very flat to my nail surface, not lifting or peeling at all. These are very thin and not detectable when I run my finger over them.

Born Pretty does have a few other sticker designs besides holiday themed ones; if you use code KARENDK31 you will get 10% off from now through March 31, 2011.

The stickers/water decals in this entry were provided to me for free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the stickers for my own use.