Yesterday I did a pretty purple gradient using three Barry M polishes - Fondant, Sugar Plum and Blackberry.
I really liked this, and wore it alone for the day.
Today I wanted to do something else to it, and decided to do a freehand floral design over it. I used some thin brushes and Konad White to make some grassy leafy stems, which I thought looked quite pretty.
However, because I never know when to leave well enough alone, I started adding Barry M Lilac Foil - which wasn't too bad when it was just the stems, but then I added stupid flowery blobs on top of the stems too, which was a mistake. I don't like how this all looks, so I've taken these off now. Boo.
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.
I hate this time of year! It's wet and cold and clammy and work is stressful and everything is just generally uurgh. Hence the lack of blogging I suppose. I have done my nails, but I've only taken photos of some of them.
Anyway, here are some nails I wore a couple of weeks ago. I started with a gradient using China Glaze Riveting and Barry M Sparkling Amethyst. I wore these like this for a couple of days at work.
I then stamped over the gradient using Konad Black and.... probably one of the MoYou London XL plates, although I can't remember which one.
I really liked how these looked. The stamp is supposed to be floral, but I think it's ended up looking more abstract here. I love Riveting (the shimmery orange one) but haven't worn it for a really long time - I clearly need to dig it out more often!
Today I've been wearing the second of my Bow Thermo Topcoats.
This is two coats of Bow Thermo Topcoat Violet. I then stamped on top of it using MoYou London Flower Power XL06 and Barry M Blackberry.
The Violet Thermo changes from a translucent polish with a hint of lilac when warm to a dark purple when cold. Like yesterday's Red Thermo Topcoat, there is a really pretty shimmery glitter running through it.
When my nails are cold, they are almost completely plain purple. For most of today though it's been really hot, so my nails have been the paler lilac base with the purple flowery pattern showing in full.
I really like these thermals! They're so pretty!
Recently Lauren from The Naily Mail has been having a polish sale, and I took the chance to snap up some more Jacava polishes. I LOVE Jacava, and they seem to have gone out of business, so I was really happy to get these.
I used three of these for this look, all purples. I started with a base using Purple Promise (the dark creme) and Blueberry Muffin (the lilac creme) and then used Marrakesh Nights (the dark purple shimmery one) and some tape for the triangles.
Marrakesh Nights is a bit too dark to really show over Purple Promise in these photos, but in real life it's a bit more visible.
Both the cremes are the usual excellent Jacava quality - Blueberry Muffin is a one coater and I used two for Purple Promise.
I love the Jacava brushes as they're very narrow, which works really well for me, and the long handle makes them really easy to control.
I live near Sheffield, and there is currently a fantastic art installation and charity fundraiser going on across the city, called the Herd of Sheffield. You can read more about it here. To cut a long story short, Sheffield is full of elephants - the big ones have been created by various artists, and the small ones have been made by local primary schools. There is SO MUCH nail art inspiration amongst them all!
Today's nails were inspired by this theatrical baby elephant, Nelly Noodle, who is inside the Crucible (my very favourite Sheffield place!). I LOVE her toenails.
I did a simple skittle using Barry M Guava and Key Lime, Illamasqua Prosperity, Essence Flashy Pumpkin and Barry M Blood Orange. I then used topcoat to stick on my smallest rhinestones in a random colour order.
I realised afterwards that I'd got the purple and the orange the wrong way round, but never mind!
I love rhinestones! I haven't worn any for ages, but now I see these, I can't think why! Look how they're reflecting in the sunshine!
So sparkly!
People always ask whether rhinestones are really messy and impractical, but if you stick them down with topcoat and then topcoat over them, they pretty much stay in place through a normal day.
I will not be leaving it so long til I use rhinestones again! And I will definitely be doing more nails based on the Herd of Sheffield elephants!
I've posted before about how much I love the Crucible Theatre (see here for my previous nails) and I was there on Thursday night for Artistic Director Daniel Evans' leaving do, so I decided it was the perfect time to redo my Crucible nails.
I love the Crucible so much! It's my far my favourite theatre ever, and I go often (although not often enough for my liking!)
These are just a straightforward chevron skittle. I used nail vinyls from What's Up Nails to make these. The base colours are Barry M Blue Grape, Essence Flashy Pumpkin, Barry M Blood Orange, Illamasqua Prosperity and Barry M Key Lime. The black top colour is OPI 4 In the Morning.
I'm happy with how these came out. They're much tidier than my previous effort, and the colours are clearer.
I know, I know! I've hardly posted this year, sorry. I've had very little urge to write any posts, although I have been painting my nails. But I thought I'd show you these nails!
This gradient uses Illamasqua Prosperity, Illamasqua Superstition, Barry M Satsuma and Barry M Yellow, which I sponged on.
I'm a touch disappointed in how little the pink shows on these - it seems to disappear into the orange and the purple somehow. Still, that's a fairly minor point, because I do love how these turned out.
I am considering stamping over these tomorrow, but not sure I can decide what colour or pattern. Do you have any ideas?
I picked up a bunch of bargains yesterday in TK Maxx - two full size Illamasqua polishes for £3 each, and a set of China Glaze minis for a tenner. Here is one of the Illamasqua colours, Prosperity.
This is two coats of Prosperity, with topcoat.
Prosperity is a vivid purple, very pigmented and vibrant. It's a fairly thin formula, but applied nicely without pooling or making a mess.
It dries to a mattish rubbery finish, and I added topcoat for longevity and shine.
I think this looks fantastic! It's a gorgeous colour!
I don't do Hallowe'en, but I'd seen lots of nails like this recently and wanted to do some too!
I started with 4 purple polishes and made a gradient. I used Barry M Black Currant and Blackberry, Jacava Holbein Place and Barry M Fondant, to take it from an almost-black purple to a pale lilac. I started with a base of Jacava Holbein Place, and then sponged on the gradient.
I really like how this came out, and I wore this on its own for a day, with topcoat to make it glossy.
The cleanup round the cuticles was quite awkward - that Barry M Black Currant again! I still liked this though.
I then tried this matte, just to see what it was like. I like this too!
I then used a Barry M nail art pen to freehand a tree and some gravestones.
I like the contrast of the black against the sort of sunset sky, and the glossy against the matte.
I wish Black Currant wasn't so messy round the edges though!
Tonight's nails are quite simple, but I LOVE the colour combination! First I just painted my nails with Jacava Passion, a gorgeous bright berry pink. Then, because I had nothing else to do and didn't want to stop playing with my nails, I sponged on a gradient of Passion and Phene Street.
I had a little difficulty cleaning round my cuticles, as I managed to sponge Passion quite deep into the skin!
I think the colour combination is gorgeous though, so rich and glossy.
Both these colours look gorgeous on their own, but they really work well together.
I think I may stamp over these tomorrow evening, so I can wear these for an extra day. Maybe some gold leafy pattern? What do you think?
The new Barry M autumn-winter Gellys seem to be a big hit amongst bloggers currently. You can see my swatches here.
They work really well for stamping! I used 8 different Barry M Gelly colours for this skittle - a corresponding paler one for each of the 4 almost-black colours. I stamped using MoYou London Steampunk XL plate 7.
The red is the only one which doesn't work as well over the bright colour. The contrast isn't quite as strong as the other ones I chose.
These are Blood Orange, stamped with Black Cherry, Key Lime stamped with Black Pistachio, Fondant stamped with Black Currant and Guava stamped with Black Grape.
These work really well for stamping, and I can see them getting a lot of use from me this winter.
Barry M have released 6 new Gelly colours for Autumn 2015. They're out now - 4 new dark shades, and 2 glitters exclusive to Superdrug. I have been wanting a black Gelly for ages now, so I was really excited to hear about these. I managed to pick them all up on Friday.
Left to right, here are Black Cherry, Black Currant, Sparkling Ruby, Sparkling Amethyst, Black Grape and Black Pistachio.
First up, the four standard Gelly colours. These are all very dark colours that are almost black - one red, one purple, one blue and one green. The big difference with these is the new brush - it's a wider, flat brush with a curved edge. I know a lot of bloggers are loving the new brush. However, I am not a fan, I'm sorry to say! My nails are quite narrow, so I don't like wide brushes. I find it hard to not get polish on my cuticles, and these ones are particularly awkward to clean up.
First up, here is Black Pistachio. This is a black with a tinge of dark racing green.
As you can see, it's a very very dark green. In many normal lights, at arm's length, this is pretty close to black.
I found this hard to photograph and capture the green-ness of the colour. It does look a bit more green than this, I promise.
My issue is about the clean up! Ewww.
Black Cherry is a dark dark red Gelly, and probably the least black of the 4 colours.
Again, a lovely formula but rather stainy round the edges, and tricky to clean up. If this had the normal Barry M brush, I'd love it.
All these swatches are one coat, with topcoat. The formula is really nice, and dries glossy and opaque. I just find the brush hard work.
Next is Black Currant, the purple one, and perhaps the most black of the 4.
Same good formula, same glossy finish.
I'm wondering how other bloggers have managed to get swatches that clearly look green or red or purple! Mine all look black, with a tiny tiny hint of colour at the edges if you look hard!
Black Currant wasn't as stainy as the others, which surprised me, as it was the most opaque and pigmented.
Last of the 4 main range colours is Black Grape, the blue one.
Again, the same opaque, pigmented formula. And again, I wish the brush wasn't wide and flat.
It's been quite frustrating looking at my swatch photos in thumbnail and trying to work out which is which!
I mean - look!
On the plus side - these do work for stamping! They show their colour a bit more clearly then too, so I'm looking forward to using them in stamping designs.
On to the two limited editions for Superdrug, Sparkling Ruby and Sparkling Amethyst. These aren't strictly speaking glitters, they're more gelly with tiny microsparkle particles.
This is Sparkling Amethyst, the purple one.
This is two thin coats - the second one was only really a touch up - with topcoat for extra shine.
I like the blurriness here, it shows you the sparkle!
Sparkling Ruby is the red one.
Again, the same formula as the others (very nice) and the same brush (not my taste). Two thin coats again, with topcoat.
Amethyst and Ruby aren't as sparkly as I was hoping for, but they are very nice indeed, and I think will get considerable use from me over the autumn and winter. I just wish they had thinner brushes!
