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!
Regular readers will know how much I love the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield - I've posted about it and done nails here, as well as having done snooker nails here. Last night though, I got a very exciting opportunity which deserved its own nails!
Every Christmas, the Crucible does a classic musical. This year's is Annie Get Your Gun, which I'm very excited about because OMG! Cowboys! Chaps! Saloons and comedy shooting competitions? What's not to love? It opens on Friday and runs to the end of January, and I've got tickets for a week on Saturday. But yesterday I was lucky enough to be part of a group of twitter fans who got to have an exclusive backstage tour, and it was SO MUCH FUN! We met the musical director, who took us to the remote orchestra pit under the stage and gave us some sneak peeks at the music secrets. We went to the wardrobe and costume department and chatted to the staff, and tried on lots of hats (and oohed and aahed at Kenneth Branagh's Richard III costume). We ate pizza, we chatted panto and musicals and theatre, and we got to watch some of the technical rehearsal for AGYG itself. There's a TRAIN! And hats! And chaps!
The nails are inspired by the production artwork, which is gorgeous!
You can read all about Annie Get Your Gun (including lots of photos and cute video trailers) here.
Anyway, on to the nails! I started with a base of Barry M Mustard, and sponged a mix of Barry M Satsuma, Full Throttle and Models Own Sarong Wrap to make the blended background.
I really liked how these looked, and wore these for two days as they were.
Tonight I added the bullet holes, using Konad Black sponged on and then Konad White dotted on over the top. I then mattified everything using Barry M Matte Topcoat. Then, because I never know when to leave well enough alone, I added a fringe to the ring nail, using nail glue and some edges from a fringe on an old scarf, as well as an accent stud. Because every cowboy mani needs fringes!
The fringe wasn't massively successful to be honest, but I suppose it's quite fun. It was too short to have any weight though, so it wouldn't swing very well.
I'll let you know what I make of the show when I go - I really can't wait!
SOMEHOW, I mysteriously acquired these fabulous Models Own colours today. They just fell into my basket when I wasn't looking.
I mean, oof. Look at them! Some of them are from the new 2016 Polish for Tans range, and a couple (I think the yellow and the bright orange) are from older ones that I didn't have.
Anyway. This is what I did with them. I used the base colour I was already wearing (Barry M Fondant) which had been on for a couple of days) and some What's Up Nails vinyl stencils, and sponged on random blobs of all the new polishes.
I love how this came out! The stencils were a bit fiddly to use, especially on my other hand, but I'm happy with the result, and I'm hoping I can keep these on for a couple of days.
There are one or two splodgy areas where the polish went under the stencil, but I'm choosing to pretend you can't see them.
About two months ago, I saw this pack of temporary tattoo things in Accessorize, and snapped them up! Finally this week I got the chance to use them.
These were £4 for a pack of 14. As you can see, there are a variety of sizes of dripping blood designs. The instructions are simple - you peel off the covering plastic, place them on the fingers, press down with a wet piece of fabric or kitchen roll and then peel off the paper.
First I painted my nails - I started with a base of Barry M Vanilla, and then sponged over a whole variety of splodges, all with Barry M colours. I used Mustard, Black, Grey, Berry Ice Cream and Blackberry, in varying amounts for that bruised and battered effect. I then added a coat of Barry M Matte Topcoat.
The transfers came out looking really shiny and blood-like, which I think looked fab! I loved how gory these look!
I like how the slightly gluey bits where they touch my cuticles in places actually make them look more realistic.
I had hoped to keep them on all night and then wear them for work tomorrow, but sadly, the shiny finish was a bit sticky, and they got quite grubby rubbing against clothes and so on. I think if you were at a party or something, and only handling drinks, then you'd be fine, but these don't last overnight!
Still, I was pretty pleased with this look!
I was contacted recently and asked whether I'd like to try some Laqa & Co. products. I'd seen them online on other blogs and they looked so pretty, so I jumped at the chance! Here is the first of them, Bobby Dazzler.
Laqa & Co. is a New York based company which makes polishes that are 3-free, and come in beautifully decorated boxes, designed by up-and-coming artists. A nice twist with Laqa & Co. is that they give a percentage of the income from the products to the artists. They also feature these artists on their website, with a new one featured every month. Click here for more information!
As you can see, Bobby Dazzler is a bright orange, almost neon bright polish, which is right up my street! This is two coats. It applies really nicely, and dries well to a satin finish. The brush is really good, and the polish is smooth and even. I'm not a huge fan of the slender bottle though, as it's so easily knocked over! It is really pretty, but it's not the most practical, especially as I'm pretty clumsy!
It's a really good colour!
The artwork on the box for Bobby Dazzler was designed by Georgiana Paraschiv. I wish this information was on the box though - I think if you're going to feature artists and have their artwork on the box, it would be nice to put some details either on the box or inside, because I think people would be interested. You can see more of her work here. I was inspired by the pretty, abstract, blotchy pattern to do nails to match the box!
I did this by sponging colours over the base of Bobby Dazzler. I used Models Own Bubblegum, China Glaze Pink-ie Promise, and OPI Tickle My France-y, and a small makeup sponge.
I then added a matte topcoat (Rimmel Pro) to match the box.
I'm really pleased with how these came out! What do you think?
You can buy Laqa & Co. polishes in the UK from My Retail Beauty, where they cost £8.95 for these bottles (9ml). There are loads of colours to choose from! They also sell the famous Laqa & Co. nail polish PENS - I have one of those to try too, so look out for that post coming very soon! I'm excited to try that.
This polish was provided by the company/PR for my unbiased review. See my Disclaimer section for more details.
This week's Friday Challenge was on the theme of NAUTICAL... BUT NICE.
Yes, I know it's now Saturday! I usually do these nails on a Thursday night, but I was (ahem) otherwise engaged on Thursday and have only just had the chance to do these!
I wanted to avoid the common theme in nautical nails of the blue and white stripes, and the anchors, much as I always like those nails when I see them on blogs. I started by painting my nails with a base of OPI I Have a Herring Problem, a pretty dusky blue with lots of shimmer. Then I sponged a rough gradient over that using Zoya Sunshine on the tips and some Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream to lighten up the sky area. I also dabbed on a bit of Barry M Lady, a white textured glitter, over the top of some of the Sunshine.
I like how the glitter and the texture makes the sea look. And I like how the sky came out - sort of blotchy and stormy, with the dusty I Have a Herring Problem peeking through the prettier blue. I then used Barry M nail art pens in black and white to make the little boat, and added a few seagulls for good measure.
I love this matte, with all the texture showing. But then I decided to try it glossy too, and I like it that way too!
What do you think?
My friend hasn't seen this yet - I hope I pass muster! And I hope I'm forgiven for being late with the Friday nails; I did have a very good reason, honest!
I'm posting these tonight as I'll be busy tomorrow, but my Friday Challenge nails are ready!
This week, my friend's theme is... TURNING JAPANESE. Whilst I was very tempted to depict the fabulous 1980 pop song on my nails, in the end I decided to go instead with that beautiful Japanese image of cherry blossom.
I painted a base of one coat of Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream. Then I sponged on a gradient of Barry M Cyan Blue. It was a bit uneven, but I figured I'd be covering a lot of it with blossom, so I left it.
Then I painted the branches using Zoya Cheryl and a fine dotting tool. I thought the dotting tool would be better than a brush for making the knobbly branches. I also really like how the sparkliness in Cheryl made the branches look as though they were damp with rain or dew.
Then I used a very fine nail art brush and daubed on some random petals using Barry M Bright Pink. At this stage, I thought it looked awful - it was messy and ugly and nothing like blossom, and I almost took it all off.
However, I then daubed some more using Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream (paler pink) and Barry M Shocking Pink (deeper pink) and I think it looks a lot better! I topped everything with Seche Vite to finish off.
I'm so pleased with how these turned out! They're not neat, and they don't really want to be looked at too closely, but I think in a sort of blurry, impressionistic way, they look really pretty! At arm's length, I love the effect! I kind of wish I hadn't covered the branches so much, and left a bit more of them visible, but overall, I think my work friend will approve!
I've also thought recently that I've been getting better at doing my right hand...
Looking at these photos, I realise that this design is reminding me of one of my favourite poems ever, by Ezra Pound:
In a Station of the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Before I took off yesterday's China Glaze Fade into Hue, I decided to play around and try a gradient. I sponged some China Glaze For Audrey over the tips, using a cosmetic sponge.
It's not the neatest, but as a first attempt, I don't think it's too bad!
A few days ago I saw this wonderful mani at The Nail Network, and decided I wanted to have a go myself. So here is my zombie corpse dripping blood mani!
First I painted a coat of Nails Inc Colville Mews, a pale whitish nude, as a base. Then I sponged (my first attempt at sponging!) what was intended to look like dead or bruised flesh all over them. I used Barry M Yellow (my bruises always have tonnes of yellow round the edges) and a blend of Barry M Dusky Mauve and Berry Ice Cream. This ended up being a lot more yellow than I had intended, but I decided to carry on anyway. I added a matte topcoat (Rimmel Pro Matte Topcoat) for the really dead look.
Then when this was really dry, I freehanded the blood dribbles using Barry M Raspberry, a dotting tool and the polish brush.
The blood dribbles took quite a while to dry, and it took a lot of strength not to cave and use Seche Vite on top. I'm glad I didn't, because I think the contrast between matte and shiny makes a difference to this look.
I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, especially with it being my first attempt at sponging. I'm a bit horrified at how dry and untidy my cuticles look AGAIN! I think I need to do something about the lighting and or my eyesight, because I couldn't see this until after I'd taken the photos.
