Barry M Glitter Gradient with Louboutin Reverse Mani

These are the nails I've been wearing for the last few days. They've got so long recently that it seems a real waste not to paint the backs of my nails as well as the fronts, and I love the combination of pink and green!

The front of my nails is two coats of Barry M Sugar Plum. I then sponged a gradient of Barry M Socialite over the base of the nails.

On the back, I have Barry M Greenberry. 

It's really hard to take a clear photo of a louboutin mani!  

Pink and Gold Tape Mani

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.

Across the Universe Louboutin - Blue Glitter with Reverse Painting

I got a sudden urge to wear one of my first Deborah Lippmann polishes, Across the Universe. I haven't worn this is AGES - maybe two years!  

This is two coats of Across the Universe, with added topcoat for shine.

I love this polish. It's a deep blue jelly, filled with blue and silver glitter, which ends up giving a lovely jelly sandwich effect. I always think it looks mermaidy and sea-like. 

I decided to up this one by painting the backs of my nails too. I haven't done this in a while, but my nails are getting really long, so it seemed a good idea. I used the Barry M limited edition blue foil from Christmas 2012. 

It's really hard to take a photo of the back of my nails!

I've been wearing these nails for three days now, and I still don't want to take them off!

 

Born Pretty Store - Birthday Bling!

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.

Colour Me Crazy: Black and White

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!

An InLinkz Link-up

OPI 4 in the Morning - with Pink Foil Louboutin Double Sided Nails

The second of the OPI Gwen Stefani range that I bought was 4 in the Morning, a matte black.

This is two coats, no topcoat.

I love the finish on this - it's a smooth, satiny chalkboard kind of black, which I really like.  The application is lovely - it's a really nice formula, and I didn't do any clean up at all, which is almost unheard of for me with OPI brushes, which are usually too wide for my nails.

I then added some Barry M Pink Foil on the undersides of my nails - this is my new favourite way of jazzing up a look, now that my nails are getting so long. I love this pink, and this effect. It's very hard to photograph though!
 

 

"Louboutin" Double Sided Manicure in Red & Gold

I've seen these nails online over the last year or so, and every time my nails get long I'm tempted to try them, but have been put off by worrying about cleaning the underneath! But this week my nails are longer than they've every been, and I thought I'd have a go! I've used a combination of red and gold, one of my favourite colour combinations there is.

This is Barry M Christmas limited edition Gold Foil from last Christmas, and Zoya Chynna, from the pixie dust range. 

I often use OPI Nail Envy on both sides of my nails, just for extra strengthening and protection (I use it all the time as a base on my nails) but this time I added an extra coat just in case the gold was really hard to get off later.  Then I painted two coats of Barry M Gold Foil on the reverse sides of my nails. Then I painted two coats of Zoya Chynna on the front of my nails.

I am absolutely in LOVE with how this looks! I can't stop admiring them! The gold catches the light and looks subtly blingy.  Plus I hadn't realise how often I touch the backs of my nails with my tongue (ew, that sounds weird!) when I'm thinking and my fingers are in my mouth - the gold feels super smooth when I do! Makes me realise how rough the surface of my nails must be!

Aren't they pretty?

These are called "Louboutin" nails after the famous red-soled shoes. I don't fancy the shoes, but I love this look on the nails! I was a bit scared to try out red behind my nails though, in case it stained!  Maybe next time...

What do you think?

I have no idea how my nails got so long, by the way! I paint them almost every day, and they have polish on all the time. I use acetone on them almost daily, and I type a LOT and do housework and filing (with big heavy lever arch files) and am digging around in my handbag for keys all the time, and yet they seem really strong at the moment.  I may have to shorted them soon though, as I'm starting to find it awkward to use keypads when paying for things! I keep putting my PIN in wrong!

I snapped this last one on my phone in the sunshine.


I'm so chuffed with this look! I'm definitely going to be doing this again!