2mm Square Nail Studs - REVIEW

Good morning and Happy Hump Day!  My first nail post of 2014 comes half way into January.. shame on me :(  I'm such a bad blogger!  I have lost my drive to blog, but I have made the commitment to Born Pretty Store to do a review on a product they sent me, which I was really excited about receiving, so I figured it was high-time I pull myself together and get back in the saddle!  This post contains affiliate links, and this product was sent to me free of charge for an honest product review.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Born Pretty Store, the online shop for everything related to nail art.  All of their products are very reasonably priced, especially if you want to try something new and not want to spend a fortune on it.  They also ship worldwide, for free!

When Daisy asked me what product I would like to review, I gravitated towards the square nail studs, as I have never tried them before.  I chose the 2mm Square Stud Rhinestones (item ID 2859) in silver because I figured silver would go with everything, and they wouldn't be too big for my nails.  Let's take a look at what I came up with!

I wanted to do a pink and grey mani with the silver studs, but was still unsure about what design I wanted to do.  I cruised on over to Pinterest and searched for square stud manis for some inspiration.  I also searched using Google Images search.  I found this design on Google Images search and thought it would be perfect!  I couldn't find the original blog post, but this design belongs to Cosmetic Proof.

I started with 3 coats of Essie Chinchilly, a unique grey with purple-ish/blue-ish undertones.  I really like the colour of this, and I think it would depend what colour you put with it to what colour it leans towards.  Then I taped off a triangle on each fingertip in a 90° angle so the square stud would fit into it nicely.  Yup, I'm particular like that ;)  I lined the triangle with my Jordana Pop Art nail striping polish in Star Designer to give it a little extra bling.  Then, after applying a top coat, I used a dotting tool dipped in water to pick up and place each stud.  I went nail-by-nail so the top coat didn't dry before I got the stud on.

I didn't bother applying a top coat over the entire thing once I got everything on, but I'm sure it would have held the studs on better.  I had one fall off the morning after I did this mani, but that was my own laziness in not applying a final top coat.

The studs applied perfectly.  They are easy to pick up and apply to the nail.  The only thing I have to comment on is that they are a little heavier than the little round rhinestones or loose glitters, so it takes a little extra care between when you pick them up and when you get them on the nail.  They don't like to stay stuck to the dotting tool.  I would like to try one of those rhinestone picker-upper tools for these, just to see if it makes it easier.  In the meantime, I may try to rig something up :)

Make sure to head over to Born Pretty Store for all of your nail art supplies!  And while you are there, use my discount code CGBQ10 for 10% off of your entire purchase.