When this Barry M glitter polish came out, I wasn't crazy about it as it wasn't great for whole-nail application. But on a whim this week, I wondered what it would look like sponged over just the tips of my nails, and the answer was fab!
I started with a base of Essie Mademoiselle, and then sponged Barry M Jingle Bells over the tips with a small makeup sponge. I added two coats of topcoat to smooth it down, and wore these for two days.
I love how sparkly and pretty they look!
I even got compliments from two different cashiers in shops!
I was so excited to be asked to review the June Nailbox! I've seen so many of these subscription boxes around for everything from dog toys to makeup to sweets, and only fairly recently heard about Nailbox. I'd heard good things, so I jumped at the chance.
Nailbox is a subscription service where for £13.50 a month, you get a box with
three or four different nail polishes, and one or two nail care or nail art items. These include lots of big brands like OPI, China Glaze, MoYou London, Nails Inc and many others. I was skeptical at first - I have so much nail varnish already, surely I would get a duplicate or colours that are similar to what I already have?
The June 2016 box is themed around Festival Fever, and contains 4 polishes and some nail art tape.
OPI Is Mai Tai Crooked - usually costs at least £9
Bourjois Turquoise Block - usually costs around £5.99
Rimmel Cheeky Chap - usually costs around £2.99
Essie Jazzy Jubilant - usually costs around £7.99
Elegant Touch Metalllic Nail Art Tape - usually costs around £4
So I calculate the value of the box at around £30, which is obviously lots more than the £13.50 the box costs! In fact in some shops, you couldn't buy one bottle of OPI for that amount.
It was also a big plus in that there were no duplicates in my collection, and the OPI and the Essie weren't even similar to any polishes I own. The nail art tape is gorgeous! There are five long strips each of 6 different colours. I use striping tape from time to time, and not as often as I'd like, because I generally find the rolls really fiddly to use. I love the idea of having nice short strips all ready for you to peel off the card! Plus, look at that third one down! It's copper, but it's full of rainbows in the light!
So, what did I do with the contents? I decided to try two different looks. First up is a floral design. I started with a base of the Rimmel, which is a one coater that applies nicely and dries to a matte finish. Then I freehanded some leaves with the Bourjois, and flowers with the OPI. I found that the green didn't really contrast with the blue enough to show clearly in the photos, but it was more obvious in real life. I sponged a bit of the glitter from the Essie into the flower centres and topcoated everything. I wore these nails for two days.
My thoughts about the polishes after making this first design was that the Rimmel was really nice, and I really really like the peachy orange of the OPI. I didn't feel I used enough of the Essie or the Bourjois to really comment.
Next up I wanted to swatch all the colours individually. I made a skittle across all my nails, and then used the tape to make a rays design on two of my nails.
The green swatched beautifully - it applies really well and is another one coater. The OPI is a gorgeous colour, but is a bit thinner and streakier than the other two, and needed two coats. I preferred to topcoat the Rimmel one, as I wasn't crazy about the matte finish.
I did the ray design freehand and then added the tape to cover any wobbles on the joins. I topcoated over everything just in case the tape wasn't sticky enough (I think it was though) and because I want to wear these for a couple of days.
Overall, I'm massively impressed! I'm trying really hard to spend less at the moment, but I am so tempted to sign up. The August box is called "Into the Sunset", which sounds gorgeous. It's my birthday in early September, so maybe I need to treat myself!
You can check out Nailbox on their website here.
This box was provided by Nailbox for my honest review. See my Disclaimer for more details.
I went to an outlet shopping place at the weekend, acting on a Facebook tip-off! I'm not keen on shopping, and don't really care about clothes. But having heard there was a bargain make-up supply place, I headed off. They had a HUGE wall of polish, from cheapy bargain ones to standard high street, to Essie, OPI, Leighton Denny and loads more. I was quite restrained, and bought 6.
The first one I tried was this Essie, Meet Me at Sunset, which was apparently from their summer 2011 collection. I paid £3 for this.
This is a lovely bright jelly-like orange. It's also got the old Essie brush, which I much prefer to their current brush as it's narrower and easier for me to use.
The formula was good - a little on the runny side, but nice and smooth. This is three thin coats, although I could have got away with two. I wanted a third for extra opacity.
The jelly finish convinced me that this would peel straight off - somehow, these sorts of polishes never seem to stay on my nails very well. But I wore this to work for three days and was only just starting to get a little tip wear, so I'd say this was excellent. This also had a beautiful shiny finish, which I loved.
For months now, every time I have a bath I've looked at my bathroom window and tried to work out how I could get that on my nails. The flowery pattern against a pale sky is so pretty!
Today's nails aren't really anywhere close to it, but they were inspired by it, so they count!
I did a gradient using Barry M Huckleberry, Essie Maximillian Strasse Her (I still don't understand that name!) and Barry M Grey.
I then stamped over it using Konad White and the MoYou London ProXL 14 plate.
What do you think? Success, or not?
I toyed with the idea of keeping my French mani plain for a day, but I just couldn't do it!
I used a fine paintbrush with China Glaze Mingle with Kringle and Jacava Blackberry Fool in order to do this design. It's only simple but I do like it.
The gold lines are a bit thicker than I meant to do, but I suppose that doesn't matter.
What do you think?
Just a quick post for now to show you what I've just put on my nails. I realised earlier that I'd NEVER worn a classic French tip mani, so I thought I'd try it.
This is Essie Blanc and Essie Mademoiselle. I used tip guides to get a clean line.
I like how this looks! It's very plain though, so I'm going to do some kind of nail art over the top.
The next plate I tried from my delivery from Born Pretty Store, was BP-48, which has a large paisley floral design covering half the disc (great if you have really long nails!), a pretty rose design, a butterfly, and a lacy pattern that's easily large enough for a full nail.
I wore a base of Essie Sand Tropez, which is a fab nude polish that I really like. This is two coats.
I then stamped using Konad White and the lacy pattern that takes up a quarter of the stamping plate. As you can see, I misjudged this on my thumb slightly and missed a bit, but that was nothing to do with the plate, and everything to do with my clumsiness.
I love how this turned out! It's such a delicate design that it could easily have become smeary or patchy, but the plate etching is obviously good, because the pattern transferred easily and stayed perfectly clear.
I'm really impressed with these Born Pretty plates - the quality is good, and the designs are really nice. And they're really good value! This is available on the Born Pretty website here, for $2.99 - and you can get 10% off if you use my discount code too.
This stamping plate was provided for honest review. See my Disclaimer section for more details.
I've been feeling cold all weekend, so my mind turned to snowflakes.
I started this look with a white base of Barry M Coconut. This is another of the Gelly range, and is a really nice slightly off-white creme. I don't think it's as good as Models Own Coconut Cream, as the MO one is a bit more opaque (and smells nice into the bargain) but it's a nice polish. I then sponged using Essie Maximillian Strasse-her and Barry M Grey to get a gradient.
I then stamped over everything using MoYou London Festive plate 02, and Barry M Silver Foil. The Barry M foils (silver, gold and lilac) are fantastic for stamping - they're opaque, shiny, smooth... I wish they'd do them in other colours! A red and a green would be awesome for Christmas.
Anyway, I'm really pleased with how well this came out! I don't think I've stamped over a gradient before, but I do like the effect.
Incidentally, I snapped this photo in the middle of the process because it amused me - gradient and stamping together is MESSY!
It's my birthday today! I haven't actually done anything about it because I'm old and it's been a ridiculously busy week at work, but I have had a lovely lazy day with a long sleep and some wine, and I have been wearing SPARKLY nails!
As you may have noticed, I'm getting increasingly fond of 3D nail charms, especially the really sparkly ones! This is one I spotted on the Born Pretty Store website a while ago, and was lusting after for quite some time. And now I've been sent one to review! This is item #9798 and is officially called "3D Nail Art Sticker Bling Rhinestoned Drop-shape Design Nail Art Decoration". It costs $1.99 at the moment, which is a total bargain!
As you can see, it's a teardrop metal shape in a gold colour, with lots of sparkly multicoloured rhinestones and some tiny pearly beads. How PRETTY is this??
I wore it first over my earlier polish (see previous post) of Essie Naughty Nautical, a lovely shimmery green.
I really like the charm paired with this greeny turquoise, as it matches some of the rhinestones and ties it together.
Then today, as it was my birthday, I decided to really go for it, and put it with Jacava Knightsbridge Opulence (a goooorgeous shimmery pink which I previously received for review) and some more rhinestones.
Not content with just the sparkles, I wondered what it would look like with a gold louboutin reverse polish on the backs of my nails, and the mega ridiculous sparkly ring I bought online last year (but have never worn because... well!)
...and the answer appears to be BLINGTASTIC!
The gold on the back of the nails is Barry M Gold Foil (the limited edition Christmas one).
I'm in love with this 3D charm! It's comfortably chunky and has a nice feeling of weight on my finger, without being heavy or rough-edged. It doesn't catch on things and sticks down easily with topcoat, and is obviously easily reusable. It's slightly curved, so sits easily on the nail. I have very long nails at the moment and it fits easily on the nail. If you have short nails though it may overhang at the front, and that could look pretty cool too, for a special occasion!
This charm is also available in a silver and white design, which also looks REALLY pretty! I think I will have to buy a couple of those too.
If you do fancy getting something like this, they are currently on sale at BPS, and you can use my discount code to get an extra 10% off as well!
This charm was provided for review purposes. See my Disclaimer section for more details.
Last week I was in Boots, buying some Orly Color Blast polishes, and the barcode scanner wasn't working. The lady on the till couldn't read the tiny barcodes on the bottles, so I read them out to her - and she then gave me a free bottle of Essie as a thank you! So this is Essie Naughty Nautical.
This is two coats of Naughty Nautical, with no topcoat.
The formula is really nice - very smooth and opaque, with a really pretty shimmery sparkle that's subtle but lovely.
I really like the brush - it's the normal Essie brush (which is great) but slightly narrower as this is a mini bottle, which is even better for me and my narrow nails!
I think this one is a hit!
I'm almost late again! This time of year is ridiculously busy for me, and I haven't had time this last week to blog (although my nails weren't bare the whole time), so I'm catching up over the weekend! This week the British Nail Bloggers are doing Black and White.
I started with a base of Essie Blanc, and then used striping tape and OPI 4 in the Morning to make this geometric design.
I also added a couple of black rhinestones and topcoat for a bit more shine.
I was pretty pleased with these - apart from one or two tiny splodges, the lines are really neat and even.
Inspired by something The Naily Mail said on Twitter, I then added a contrasting coat of red underneath the nails using Orly Ma Cherie (because it's a mini and the brush is nice and easy to get underneath my nails neatly).
I do this contrasting flip colour underneath my nails from time to time, usually when my nails are really long like this. They're too long really - they're starting to make it awkward to do some things. I'll have to shorten them soon, but I really hate filing or cutting, it sets my teeth on edge a bit, so I'll avoid it for a few more days (probably until one breaks!)
What do you think? I'm pleased with these, and I wish I'd left them on for work tomorrow. I'm not quite sure why I didn't!
