Oops! I've managed to go ages without blogging again, somehow. I have been doing my nails though, honest! So here's a quick catch up of some of the nails I've had over the last couple of weeks.
I wore these for 4 days or so before Christmas. This is two coats of China Glaze Ruby Pumps (one of my favourite polishes ever) with an accent nail using China Glaze Mingle With Kringle and a stencil from What's Up Nails, and a stud for extra accent.
These nails were made with some polishes I got as a Christmas gift set - this is a base of Maybelline Watery Waste, a silver metallic polish. I then used tape and Maybelline Downtown Red on top, and Maybelline Black Magic on top of that. Black Magic is an interesting matte finish glitter, which I really liked. I added topcoat for shine.
These nails were something I wore for a couple of days around new year. I started with a base of Barry M Persian, a pretty purple-gold duochrome. I added rhinestones, and an accent nail using sparkly white glitter dust.
I love wearing rhinestones!
Finally, these are the nails I'm wearing now - I've had these on for a couple of days now. I started with a base of Barry M Butterscotch Sundae, and then used What's Up Nails vinyls and a variety of polishes for the pattern.
I sponged on a mix of Barry M Guava and Blood Orange, Illamasqua Prosperity, and Models Own Island Hop, Sarong Wrap and Beach Fire. I'm not totally happy with how these came out, as the colours got a bit murky in places - I really wanted a brighter, zingier blend. I'm still pretty happy with them though.
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!
Last week I bought my first stamping plates from Bundle Monster - the first plates I've bought that aren't from MoYou London in a very long time. I bought a set of 5 blogger plates, and the nails in this post use the plate by YaGala.
I started with a base of Barry M Golden Sands, and then stamped using Konad Black and Bundle Monster BM-XL208 and a lacey design.
I wore these for a couple of days without topcoat, and then for another couple of days with topcoat. I like how they look in closeup, but at arms' length I felt they looked sort of grubby... Whether that was the colour combination or what, I'm not sure.
Today's nails are an autumnal waterfall design. I started with two coats of Barry M's new black gelly, Black Forest. I was SO excited to hear that Barry M are finally doing a black in the gelly range - they've got so many colours and a really good formula, but so far no pure black. Anyway, it's finally here, and it's really nice.
Over the black, I then used a thin striping brush and added stripes of China Glaze Riveting and Colours by Llarowe The Heart Bleeds and Golden Rule.
I love how this came out! It's sparkly without being too over the top, and the colours blend together really nicely into an autumnal look.
What do you think?
I have no idea what to call these nails, or how to describe them!
Recently I've been consciously trying to NOT use Barry M polishes, because I'm aware that I use Barry M far more often than any other brands. So a couple of days ago I painted my nails using Tami Gleneagles Glamour, which is a really pretty rose gold with holo glitter. I then thought it was a bit boring, so I freehanded a black line and a bit of a curve round the cuticle... using a Barry M nail art pen! Oops.
I really liked how these looked, but I don't think my colleagues were very impressed. Several people said things along the lines of "oh... they're... different. I loved the ones you had on yesterday though!"
Oh well, I don't care. I liked them.
As promised, here are some of the nails I've worn recently, but hadn't got round to posting.
I wore these a couple of weeks ago. The pink gradient is sponged on and used Barry M Cotton and Sugar Plum.
I then used the mesh vinyls from Whats Up Nails, and painted on a stamping polish by Colors by Llarowe, Golden Rule. Because this was a stamping polish, it was a bit on the thick side, and maybe wasn't ideal for nail vinyls, as you can see in some spots the pattern isn't completely sharp.
Still, I think these looked pretty good! I especially like how Golden Rule looks in the sunshine.
This is another of the new Barry M Gelly range for 2016, Cream Soda. This is another off-white creme, this time with a slightly greeny-yellow tinge.
This is two coats, with topcoat. I like this colour, but I'm not sure that it's as flattering with my skin tone as some of the other pale Gelly shades.
Formula is the usual good Barry M Gelly quality, and I'm starting to get more used to the big brushes now. I didn't like them when they first came out.
I stamped over this using Models Own Chrome Gold and MoYou London Pro XL14. I think this looks really pretty, and the gold tones down the greeny shade in the polish.
Today's nails were a quick job last night before I went to bed.
I started with a base of Barry M Black Cherry, the very dark red gelly colour. This is two coats.
I then stamped using Barry M Gold Foil and MoYou London Steampunk XL 07.
I only realised afterwards that the pattern on each nail goes alternate ways! That wasn't deliberate. On my right hand, they're all pointing the same way. Oh well.
Today is NET Cancer Day and lots of the British Nail Bloggers are doing nails in support of this. I'd never heard of NET (neuroendocrine tumour) cancer until last year, when our nail blogger friend Emma (of Em's Little Corner)'s husband was diagnosed. Thankfully, he is on the mend.
The NET organisation uses the analogy of the zebra to raise awareness, effectively saying that if something looks like a horse and clops like a horse, the mostly likely chance is that it is a horse. However, it could possibly be a zebra, and so people shouldn't necessarily write symptoms off as the most likely cause, because it could be something else. Emma's post (see links below) explain it so much better than I can!
Anyway, on to the nails, which are pink and zebra, in honour of the NET Cancer logo.
I was a bit scared of doing zebra nails, because I've never done them before. I don't have any zebra stamping plates, so I had to freehand these. I was quite apprehensive!
I started with a base of two coats of Barry M Coconut on three nails, and two coats of Barry M Pink Punch on the other two. I then used a black Barry M nail art pen to freehand the zebra stripes. I also added a tiny French tip on the pink nails using Models Own Gold Chrome.
I topcoated over the pink nails, and used a matte topcoat over the zebra nails.
I am so pleased with how these turned out! My right hand is also not bad at all, so I'm really chuffed with myself! If I look at them too much, I start thinking they look like twigs instead of zebra stripes, so I'm trying not to look too closely!
This is another of the polishes I found at the outlet mall place last week. I'm not sure how much Leighton Denny polishes, usually cost (over a tenner, I think) but these were £4.99 - I bought a couple of different colours. This is Fireball.
While this isn't that unique a colour - I have a few similar ones, I'm sure - it is just my kind of colour!
This is two coats, with no topcoat.
Application is really nice - smooth and easy, nice brush, no messiness, dries well. And the colour is gorgeous! Glowy red with gold and orange particles that really shine.
Close-up, you can see the blend of colours in there.
Isn't this a pretty colour? I wore this to work for two days, and it lasted really nicely, no chips or wear or peeling or anything. I then stamped over this with some guitars, because I was going to see Nils Lofgren in Sheffield on Thursday night.
I used MoYou London Rockstar 01 and Konad Black. I didn't have time to do anything fancy, but I wanted to add something to the nails rather than just leaving them plain.
The topcoat also really brought out the shine of the Leighton Denny polish!
This is possibly a very geeky admission, but today's nails were inspired by Alex Hassell's costume in the RSC's current production of Henry V. I saw it in Stratford a couple of weeks ago, and will be seeing it in the cinema (there's a live screening link across the UK) again on the 21st. I can't find a decent photo of his costume, but he wore a lot of dark reds. He had a fancy brocade coat thing, and a leather jacket, with fleur de lys.
This stamp isn't actually a fleur de lys, but it's the closest I have to it. I started with a base of Barry M Crush, the matte dark red. I then stamped using Barry M Chilli, a glossy red almost identical to Crush, and Barry M Gold Foil. The stamping plate is MoYou London Steampunk 07.
The stamping here is quite subtle, but I love how it looks! It isn't at all obvious unless you're staring closely at my nails.
I feel quite elegant with these nails for once. I don't often do elegant.
If it helps, I'm currently sitting in my pyjamas and covered in cat hair, so it's only my nails that are elegant.
If you're at all interested in theatre, or Shakespeare, I can highly recommend this production of Henry V, which is on in cinemas all over the UK on Wednesday.
I fell in love with the MoYou London Steampunk plates, and bought two of them. However, I'm not quite sure what to do with them!
Today I used a couple of metallic autumnal shades and the XL plate 01, with a few tiny studs. I'm not convinced by the whole look. It's nice, but it doesn't blow me away.
I used OPI's Germanicure by OPI and China Glaze Harvest Moon. I stamped using my very precious and diminishing Barry M Gold Foil. The studs are stuck down with topcoat.
I really like the clock design on my thumb! The gold isn't a high contrast with the China Glaze polish, so in hindsight I'd have used black to stamp on those nails.
Just a quick one today as I've had a massively busy week at work and I'm exhausted! I've also hardly done my nails, although I have worn nail varnish!
My nails are getting really long now! I'm amazed that they haven't broken yet. I've been dashing around at work so much recently that I was sure I'd have ripped a nail off by now! This week I wore Barry M Pink Punch on its own for a couple of days, with Barry M's Christmas limited edition 2012 gold foil as a louboutin on the backs of the nails.
This is the bright pink Gelly, and I love it! After a couple of days I used striping tape to make an accent nail using the same gold.
It's simple, but I think it's quite cute.
Recently I was sent this set of beatiful studs from the Born Pretty Store to review. Aren't they gorgeous?
This is a set of very shiny metallic studs in circles and oval shapes, in a variety of bright colours. See here for the details on the store website, where they cost $2.32 for this pack.
I decided to wear these with some of my favourite holographic polish. I used Jade Deja Vu and Jade Mystic Gold, and then stuck on the studs using topcoat.
The studs themselves are light, and have a flat back. Because they are quite large, I bent the oval ones slightly by bending them round a pen, so that they lie flush on my nails. This was really easy to do, and makes them lie on the nail much more easily.
I think these studs are pretty fantastic, and they're even better paired with a sparkly holo polish. They looked amazing in the sunshine!
If you fancy trying out these, you can get an extra 10% off using my discount code.
I received this product for review purposes, but words and opinions are entirely my own. I do not receive anything if you use my discount code, although when it's been used ten times, BPS will let me host a giveaway for my readers! See my Disclosure page for more details.
