Barry M 'Black Multi Glitter'

Hi everyone.

Today I have a polish for you that I bought before Christmas and never worn. It was the holographic particles that swung it for me.

Barry M's 'Black Multi Glitter'

This was amazing in the bottle, subtle on the nail, but so difficult to capture with the camera.

Far better in real life - really! I can't really fault any of the Barry M nail paints. They always seem to (quietly) release new polishes with such regularity.

I'm also using a different top coat at the moment. Recently I went to my local beauty supply before a shoot and I was horrified to find that there was NO SECHE VITE in the store. As the blood drained from my face, the sales assistant said, 'you can try Toma'. I was at a loose end, because all I had in my Helmer was the OPI Rapid Dry (and I don't particularly like it), so I grabbed some Toma.

I'm happy to report that this was a very welcomed alternative to Seche Vite, for me anyway. There wasn't an issue with shrinkage either!

Thanks for reading.

xx

What I've been wearing...

Hi friends.

Although I haven't been blogging everyday or posting pictures of nail art does not mean that I'm not wearing polish. Here are a few of the 'looks' I've been sporting recently:

This is 'Candy Shop' by Claire's. I actually won this in a giveaway hosted by Beau's Mom a few months back.

 

I used a creamy pale pink over this polish in an attempt to make a 'jelly sandwich'. I don't quite think it was a sucess, but I liked it nonetheless. Oh and here is me posing with me my new iPhone case.

 

This is a polish that one of my lovely Instagram friends send to me.

Okay, that's it from me. I hope you have a lovely weekend!

xx

Invisible wings

On Sunday it was my daughter's second birthday and because she loves animals so much, we all went to London Zoo on the Saturday, as a warm-up celebration. She loved it, but she didn't like the Gorilla's. She spent most of the time wrapped around my neck when she eyed those bad boys.

One thing she did like was the butterfly house. It's literally a tent-like structure hosting an artificial tropical climate and hundreds of butterflies. They have big ones the size of your hands and tiny little ones which land on you if you aren't screaming your head off. 

I found this little beauty:

 Look, the wings are practically invisible! I don't know her name, but she inspired me to create this:

I hate this nail length, but this glitter IS pretty!

 I was trying to capture the wings.

 

I like the design better on a longer 'nail'.

Right, I'm off to go and find something to plaster onto these nubbins of mine. I hope you are having a lovely week.

Thanks for all of your nice comments and support. I don't always get a chance to reply or visit other blogs nowadays but I'm going to change that!

xx

Gems and glitter.

Hi everyone, happy Hump day (the hump being the middle of the week, just in case you didn't know. I'm not being condescending...I'd never heard that phrase before until last year. I kid you not!)

I was hankering after a bit of embellishment last week and came up with this. I even rocked this for a couple of days at work - hence the tip wear.

Sally Hansen's 'Red Carpet' in it's glittery goodness.

 I used Swarovski crystals here, so even after putting on a layer of Seche Vite, the shine wasn't dulled.  I have found, in the past, that some of the cheaper rhinestones can be dulled by clear polish. I put some holographic glitter polish on the area joining the black and red and then stuck the stones into it whilst the polish was still tacky.

My right hand thumbnail was slightly different.

All in all, I actually enjoyed wearing this, but did experience some evil staining underneath the stones :( I know it's probably more fitting for a night out than a week in the office, but since when has that ever stopped me?

I'm not the only one who likes a bit of 'grrr' on their nails am I?

Sometimes, you just have to leave things alone

I'm really behind with my manicures. I have about four different ones that I've taken photos of but have yet to edit.

I was wearing the very lovely Catherine Arley '805' holographic polish recently:

This was taken by artificial light at night.

The holographic qualities are far more striking in real life but the camera couldn't capture it.

 Later that night, I got the amazing idea to stamp the living daylights out of this polish.  It looked alright before I went to bed, but in the harsh reality of daylight, it was a DOOZIE. It was fine until I put the black and white feather-looking images over the flowers.  Why didn't one of you stop me?!
This is a prime example of over zealous stamping.  Sometimes, you just have to leave things alone.

See? This is my right hand. Perfectly fine and not busy and crazy looking like her counterpart.

Oh well, I'm glad I could share my doozie with you :)

Thanks for reading.

xx

Denim zippers!

Hey everyone.

I don't know how many of you have ever created your own 'zipper' manicure either by way of free-hand paint or with embellishments, but I have been meaning to try it for ages. I actually have TWO zipper images on some stamping plates, but up until now, I haven't used them. I'm not about to go into how many plates are sat here covered in the same blue cellophane wrapping I received them in.

Anyway, I digress.  I was contacted a while ago by Maggie at KKcenterHk and asked to review one of their items. Of course, I accepted...and guess what I chose?

Gold zipper water decals by N.Nail. Ahhhh yeaahhh.

I used the very beautiful Tristam by a-england as a base colour (two coats).  This polish was actually bought exactly a year ago and is still the only a-england polish I own.  If only the photographs could actually convey how lovely this shade it. The holographic qualities are amazing and it was PERFECT for denim manicure. The pink polish was from a nail art pen and I added a little glitter too.

 The water decals were spaced wide enough so that they were easy to cut and they didn't take long to detach from the card after soaking in water for a few seconds. I was pleased to see that they were sturdy and didn't stick together or tear when I removed them (yay!). There is nothing worse than a thin decal that sticks to itself when you remove it from the card! I am also happy to report that the decals did not disintegrate when I used my top coat either - I hate it when that happens as well.

These decals can be bought from KKcenterHk and they also come in silver (for those of you who prefer a less gaudy manicure). Feel free to use my discount code : BLGA402AS10 to receive a 10% discount if you want to make a purchase.

I was trying to make it look like there was pink underwear under that denim on my nails...I didn't do a very good job. Perhaps if I'd painted on a lace pattern, that might have helped. Not sure.

I actually really liked these decals (and you aren't surprised are you?).  I did draw a bit of attention to myself when I wore this, but then I got a little embarrassed and had to take it off.  I think the pink underwear idea was at the forefront of my mind when people were complementing me *blush*.

So would you have gone for zippers or something a little more sedate? Let me know your thoughts, as always.

xx

Catherine Arley HOLO swatch 805

In this post I have another Catherine Arley Holographic goody to show you.

 

805 and some nail stickers from Viva La Nails

The sun's been out recently so I've been making the most of the natural light. The clocks went back an hour over the weekend and it's going to start getting darker earlier :(  I'm going to have to start using my lightbox again. Either that or carry my camera and polish around with me and take nail pictures in my work car park at lunch time!

Close up of the sparkles.

xx

Catherine Arley HOLO swatch

Hey, hey!

Recently I managed to acquire several Catherine Arley Holographic polishes. I ordered them aaages ago, but they were all out of stock due to other bloggers swooping and clearing out stock. Yep, some of you guys made me wait!  Not to worry, I have them now and I'm HAPPY.

This is 677

Glorious, right? I can't express how much I love nail polish that sparkles, shatters, changes, shimmers, and mattifies. I have a few more of these pretties languishing in my Helmer so, I'll be back with those at some point.

Take care and thank you for reading.
xx

Milani!

Hi friends.

I hope you are doing better then me at the moment. I'm bunged up with a cold. Boo. I've also misplaced my usb cable for my camera and the pictures that I wanted to upload are stuck there on the memory card. Laughing at me.

I only have two teensy pictures this evening. They are both of a gorgeous Milani polish...whose name escapes me at the moment and so does the bottle. I'm starting to have the feeling that the polish and my usb cable have arranged a secret rendezvous. I'm not impressed.

xx

Sinful...Dream On

Hey friends.

Hope you've all been well. 

I've had a lot of things going on separate projects going on for me over the past few weeks (looking for nail technician courses, business ideas, trying to get the right hair colour...I'm now a red-head) so whilst I haven't been posting, I have been doing 'nail stuff'.

My nails are getting longer and are actually longer on my right than they are on my left hand. But because I've been neglecting them a little, they are dehydrated and have started to curve inwards at the corners.  To help alleviate that problem, I've rounded them slightly.  And now I don't like them.  Never satisfied, me.

Here's what I did last night and have intentions of wearing into next week.

Here is the polish in order of use:

L-R: Sinful Colors 'Dream On', Gabrini '365', MUA Shade 2 and GOSH 'Holographic'.


A close-up of Gabrini's beautiful holographic glitter:

 

The plate I used from the most recent Bundle Monster set:

I hope you like it.  I'm off to have a look at my dashboard because I know I've missed out on some good blog posts recently. 

xx

Nubar Absolute and my new BM plates

Hi friends, how's it going?

I got my BM plates a few weeks ago and just had to try them out.

Here is an image with Nubar's Absolute.

Love.

xx

GOSH Holographic. A rainbow trapped in a bottle.

Hi Friends, how are you? 

Having only worn Gosh Holographic once (and been totally bowled over by it) I wondered what it might look like with black.  I was bored when I did this and because I loved the effect so much, I thought I'd post a few pictures.  Here you go!

It looks like silver glitter, but seriously, this is like a rainbow trapped in a bottle, bursting to get out. I think this is now discontinued...although you may still find a bottle laying around gathering dust in Superdrug.  Guess who has another bottle in her Helmer?

Blurred to show the rainbow...drool.

Um. That's it!

xx

a-england Tristam Swatch

Whilst I was away, I thought I'd keep my eye out for some new polishes that might not have been available in the UK.  I saw plenty of China Glaze, but nothing new. So I thought I'd make the most of the discount I told you about in this post and bought myself Tristan, by a-england.

Here it is in all it's regal glory:

This is the gorgeous dark blue holo that I've had my eyes on for a while now.

I'm not sure if I like the sticky label on the back. It would probably be better (aesthetically) if it was printed onto the bottle or was a see-through sticker, rather than white. Meh, it's neither here nor there really. After two coats, the colour was opaque but it did smudge after half an hour. Perhaps I should have used the top and bottom coats that the website suggested but they were a bit pricey for me. Maybe next time I wear it, I'll leave much longer between applications of each coat.

Indoors with no flash.

Indoors with a flash.

Pro's : Gorgeous colour, good coverage with just two coats, thin consistency, pretty bottle.
Con's: Took too long to dry without the special base and top coats.

Overall I love this colour and I will be buying from a-england again in future.

xx