MUA Nail Constellations (Caviar Nails)

Certain brands (who shall not be named) market something called 'caviar nails', which sells at ridiculous prices for a bottle of polish and a jar of tiny beads. You can do your own, using any old polish and tiny beads bought in a craft store. I had never got round to bothering though. However, cheap highstreet UK brand MUA (Make Up Academy) has now launched their 'nail constellations' range. These sell for £3 in Superdrug, but they were doing a 3-for-2, so these only cost £2 each. 

First up is MUA Gemini. This is a blend of tiny pale pink, turquoise and lilac beads. The pink nail varnish is Essie's We're In It Together, which I bought this weekend. We're In It Together was from Essie's breast cancer awareness collection of pinks earlier in the year.  It's a lovely shimmery pale baby pink, with bluey white flashes in it. This is three coats. I have to say, this Essie was not very nice - it looks lovely, but my brush was a bit thick and uneven, and the application was streaky and took absolutely ages to dry.

The MUA bottle has a tiny spout, so you can pour out the beads carefully. You paint one nail, and while the polish is still tacky, either pour the beads on, or dip your finger in beads that you've pre-poured. I found pouring to be the best way, with my hand held over a piece of tinfoil to catch all the excess beads. You can then pull off the pointy spout, and pour the beads back in. 

As you can see, the MUA bottle is small, but there are enough beads here to last for absolutely ages. The beads felt really odd on my nail, and I kept touching them, which did make several fall off. I added some topcoat, but that wasn't a success - it dulled the colour and made the texture look a bit claggy and odd.

This is take two - using MUA Leo over Barielle's Swizzle Stix.

Swizzle Stix was a swap gift from Squeakymom.  It's very similar to Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, although perhaps a touch brighter.  The formula on this was a bit thick and draggy, and I had to trim the brush for a few stray hairs pointing in all directions, but after two coats it levelled itself out and became a lot smoother, and dried to a lovely shine. This is without topcoat. 

The beads in Leo are a mix of blue and purple. This time I think I applied them a bit more densely, as you can't see so many gaps between them. I also pressed them into the nail a bit more than on my first go, and they lasted well throughout me hanging up the washing, and making toast. I didn't notice any blue and purple sprinkles in my toast, so i think this was a success!