Blue on Blue with Shimmer Polish Maria

It just so happens that this morning, I had put some Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream on my nails! I hadn't worn it for so long and it's such a pretty saturated sky blue.

The blue lover in me couldn't neglect Shimmer Polish Maria which was still sitting in my untrieds stash but because I didn't want my whole mani to be too glittery, I opted for an accent nail of Maria with some silver studs. Maria is definitely for blue lovers as it's packed with blue glitters of all different shapes and sizes.
I haven't worn anything that even remotely resembles nail art in the past few weeks as the smell of polish still bothers me a lot if I spend too long around it, so one tiny accent nail is perfect right now.

You can purchase Shimmer Polish directly from Cindy's Etsy store. There are also lots of beautiful swatches and product information on their website and Facebook page.

*Some of the products featured  in this post were sent to me for review.

Barry M "Rose Quartz" (Jewel Glitter Paints)

I went into Superdrug the other day to buy some polishes for a swap but then saw the new(ish) Barry M glitters from their Jewel Glitter Paints collection on the shelf and they looked so cute! I came back with a few for myself too of course!

Rose Quartz is a clear based polish packed with rosey pink hex and fine holographic glitter. Yes, that's right, I said rose glitter although for some reason it looks more brown'ish than anything else in these pictures. I'm not sure why that is, it just catches the light like that but the glitter is a really pale pink in the bottle. The holo in there really makes it shine bright in the sunlight and it looks so pretty and sparkly. It's a very delicate and feminine glitter.

I layered two coats of Rose Quartz over two coats of Nails Inc Elizabeth Street which is a very pale pearly pink polish. Rose Quartz reminds me a little of OPI Pink Yet Lavender from the Mariah Carey Collection but I actually like the fact that the holo micro glitter in this one is more evident. I just wish it photographed better!

Boyish Chic Polka Dots & Bows

Today I have yet another review for you guys - Born Pretty m-59 stamping plate. I find this plate, consisting of cute bows, hearts and snow flakes very versatile, probably because it has some of my favourite images. It's round and the same size as regular Konad or Bundle Monster plates (unlike the m71 which is the only other Born Pretty plate I've tried).

As you'll probably know from my previous review, I have had good experiences with Born Pretty stamping plates although I have purposely chosen small picture plates as opposed to full nail plates to avoid problems with image size and full nail coverage, etc.

The images are well engraved and detailed, thus transfer with ease onto the nail. This plate retails for $2.99 and I would definitely recommend if you are looking for a cheaper alternative to Konad. To purchase this plate or any other items on the Born Pretty online store, you can use my discount code - VA7J61 - to get 7% off.

The base colour for this mani is OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam which I received in a swap. This grey toned muted periwinkle packed with silver glass fleck shimmer was my favourite colour from the Holland Collection. For some reason it looks much more grey'ish than blue on me so I shall have to use 3 coats next time.

I used the polka dot image on the plate and kept with the theme on the remaining nails too. To keep the mani quite soft and subdued, I chose a complementing silver polish - Barry M Silver Foil. I liked the final result of contrasting feminine and masculine qualities - bows and polka dots yet they look boyish and muted!

Pastel Watercolour Zebra

Today's design has been on my "to do" list for such a long time. I've always wanted to try a pastel watercolour technique but I don't really like it when all the colours look too messy on the nail. So I only let the four colours I used for this design overlap slightly.

I started with a white base (OPI Alpine Snow) and also used the following polishes to create the watercolour effect - Yes Love 243 (yellow), Yes Love Y17 (pink), Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream and Rimmel London Misty Jade. All of these pastels together remind me of soft scoop ice cream :)

I finally stamped with BM223 (probably my most used BM plate) for a subtle zebra effect.

Citrus Stripes

Today, I've put my scotch tape roll to good use again and have some "nudies" and some diagonal citrusy stripes for you.
Very rarely will you see a glimpse of my natural nails! Too much polish all the time means they are usually very stained and I don't often bother to scrub the staining away when I'm just going to be using more polish that stains the next day! However, I've been trying some very light and soft colours lately so I grabbed some lemon juice and baking soda and got scrubbing and buffing.

The base colour is in fact no colour at all, it's just base coat and for the stripes I used Barry M Lemon Ice Cream and Essence Wake Up, sent to me by the lovely Nihrida.

New Barry M Chameleon Pink

Yesterday in Superdrug I spotted three Barry M "Chameleon"shades, right next to the crackles and the magnetics so I gathered that was a new concept they were trying to launch (well, No.7 did have Miracle Plum).

These polishes are dubbed Chameleon because they apply one colour and as soon as a clear polish is added to it, they change to another colour, in this case from a frosty pink to purple. They also had blue (which turns to burgundy) and lilac (which turns to blue).

Right from the outset, I have to say, although I love Barry M to no end and it's my favourite British drugstore brand, I don't like this trend/ concept. This is just my opinion and I can see why a lot of people might actually like these.

I just about got into Magnetic and Crackle polishes when they were first released (I called them my lazy nail art) but this Chameleon one goes over my head. I mean, if I wanted my pink polish to have purple dots/ lines etc, I would just add an actual purple polish to it instead of adding a clear polish! And still be able to finish with a top coat to add longevity.

I would have much preferred if these colour-morphed like mood polishes instead!

The only good thing I can say about this polish is that's it's a true one-coater and it will probably make a good polish for stamping as it's extremely pigmented.
One of the many reasons I don't like this polish is because you cannot finish your mani off with a top coat for obvious reasons. I also tried a matte top coat and of course, it still ignites the change because even matte polish is wet upon touching the nail. I was so tired of this polish by the time I finished swatching my left hand that I couldn't even be bothered to do my other hand.

Definitely not for me, but seeing as it's only £3.99, you might want to give it a go yourself!

Golden Leaf

I'm back to stamping! It seems like ages since I last stamped but in fact, it's only been a couple of weeks! That's the kind of relationship I have with stamping, I can do it for four manis in a row and then go months without touching my plates! You probably wouldn't believe if I told you that 60% of my plates still have the blue cover sticker on them :(

Anyway, last night I dusted them off and stamped with BM210 and Barry M Gold Foil over Color Club Alias which I received in a swap. I also added some thin french tips (and had a bit of an accident with my pointer).

I completely forgot to take pictures of Alias on it's own, I was watching Glee and got a bit distracted. Alias, from Color Club's Alter Ego collection, is an amazing multichrome but it's so hard to capture all the colour shifts on the nail. I want that bottle look on my nails!!!

Dragon & The Shield

This polish needs no introduction. Dragon from A England's The Legends collection is a stunning scattered holo masterpiece. If you love greens, you need to go and get yourself this polish! If you have tried A England polishes before, you'll know that they apply like butter and are mostly one coaters. The holo effect of this green is subtly packed with tones of gold! I love it!

I added a "shield" to the accent finger using Barry M Gold Foil. I would usually call this a "checkered mani" but it does remind me of a medieval shield and it fits the theme of the polish, so let's go with shield :)

 

I love all types of holo polishes, I know I'm not the only one! But the biggest pet peeve of mine is when I so badly want to wear a holo and there isn't a single ray of sunlight! However, I also took a picture of this polish indoors and I was surprised that some of the subtle holo effect was still there! It's amazing how it doesn't look completely flat like a lot of other holos.

Retro Dots

Time for some polka dots! I just love everything about polka dot manis. They always look great and are extremely quick and simple to do with no major drying time between layers.

This is the last mani I did before I went on holiday, thus the reason my nails were still short. I haven't filed them right down in a while so they are quite long at the moment. I guess I'm giving the long nail look another go, until I break one, scratch myself or do something idiotic like that.

I went a bit crazy with the dots for this mani. I just started layering smaller dots over larger dots and when I finished, maybe because of the colours I used, it looked quite retro to me. I used Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream as my base colour and for the dots I used Color Club Best Dressed List and OPI Alpine Snow.

Here is what Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream looks like on it's own! It's such a gorgeous blue. In fact, I really like all the colours in the Barry M Ice Cream collection.

Papa-paparazzi

A while ago I was looking at "Lady Gaga nails" on You Tube and came across some really cool designs! There were quite a few clips on how to do nails like her Paparazzi outfit which I found really cute so I thought I'd give them a go!

I used Beauty UK Yellow Peril as a base colour and a dotting tool to draw the Mickey Mouse heads. The very thin gold french tips are made of striping tape.

Electric Beat & Shredded Silver Micro Glitter

I know you guys have probably seen a million and one swatches of China Glaze Electric Beat but as CG is one of my favourite brands of polish (and quite pricey in the UK), I just couldn't pass up a post on it.

Electric Beat is the only polish I got from the Electropop collection. Although I loved nearly all the shades in that collection, this one was my favourite. I've got a couple of cornflower blues similar to this but this one is just so fresh and interesting. In the swatches I saw, it looked quite bright but irl it's not so much.  It's a dusty blue, muted looking compared to the rest of the collection. The formula is quite thick but applies well, two coats is all you need for opacity.

I don't have GC Techno which was re-launched for the Electropop collection so I had a look through my stash and came across this limited edition Barry M Silver Glitter which I bought a couple of months back.


I can only assume this glitter is limited edition because I haven't seen it since and it's not like their regular silver glitter. It's not hex or round, it's literally tiny irregular shredded pieces. To be honest, I only picked it up after glancing at the lid which is holographic, so for some reason I thought the glitter was holo too. Obviously there isn't anything holo about it but I still like the irregularity of the glitter pieces.

Get Me Some Red Glitter Pupms!

I don't own Ruby Pumps or Ruby Slippers or any other form of Ruby footwear *hangs head in shame*! I know they are amazing polishes but although Ruby Pumps is quite easy to find as is OPI Speak for your Elf, Ruby Slippers is discontinued! Maybe I'll get it in a swap one day, from someone who has a spare bottle lying around, *hint hint*! :)

In the meantime I have Barry M Red Glitter which I'm really loving! I let out a little gasp when I first put it on, the micro glitter creates so much depth.

Apart from the silver and gold glitters, Barry M's other glitters are of really good quality. The pictures show 2 coats of Red Glitter over 1 coat of Boots 17 Knockout Pout (a poppy red creme) and a thick coat of SV. The glitter is dense enough to be applied on it's own but it would probably need 3 coats to be the way I like it!

It makes me want these red glitter Louboutin pumps! Haha!

source

Foil Leopard

Leopard time again!

This mani was done using two Barry M polishes - Instant Nail Effects Gold and Silver foil! It's inspired by a mani that Deniz posted on her "My365" calendar on 29th Jan! The contrast between the two foil colours isn't as obvious as a dark and light colour would create but it actually looks kind of "spacey" irl!

Golden Eye Lagoon

I'm overdoing it with these spring/ summer pastel and milky colours aren't I? It's just that I made a point to at least use some of my lighter colours that have been sitting on the shelf for what seems like forever. So, I have a few swatches and manis in mind to show you.

This is Mavala Lagoon stamped with Barry M Gold Foil and BM212. Although a lot of people use this stamp for their "peacock" nails, it also reminds me of some of the patterns in Indian lace. Oh, and eyes as well! Lol!

Lagoon is a light blue/ green creme with the smallest hint of shimmer. In some light it looks like a pale turquoise but in others it resembles a sort of minty green (see pics below - I painted my nails this morning but only stamped this evening and couldn't capture the same shade!).
It's quite similar to Chanel Nouvelle Vague. From swatches I've seen, Lagoon has a tiny bit more of a green tinge to it but they're close enough for me.

It's a pretty colour, applies well and needs 2 coats for full opacity! The brushes in Mavala are actually quite good for a small bottle. I would say I love this colour, but hey!!! There are very few polish colours I dislike, it just depends on my mood!

Hearty Half Moons - Quick & Easy Valentine's Nails

And here you have it. The actual Valentine's day mani. I actually did this one last week but was waiting for 14th February to post it.

If you follow my blog you have probably seen this before, I did the same half moon variation back in October 2011 with Illamasqua Purity, just after Theatre of The Nameless was released and all because the shape of the half moon reminded me of theatre curtains! Weird I know! Well this shape also reminds me of a heart so I've had this mani in mind for quite some time and was waiting for Valentine's to do it.

I used Barry M Black over Jessica Samba Parade (my only Jessica polish) as a base colour. I've had this polish for so long that the formula has gone a bit goopy and it was hard to manage, however it's a good quality polish and they have very interesting colours. The only downside is the price, they retail at about £9.45.

Purple Kisses - Quick & Easy Valentine's Nails

I have a love/ hate relationship with festive/ seasonal manis. I usually don't have a problem stamping hearts or snowflakes on my nails throughout the year but when it's Christmas or Valentine's, I end up not managing my time properly and panicking because for some reason I get really busy and have to rush all my festive manis. They always end up a mess!

So, for this Valentines I decided to do a series (hopefully I will manage more than one mani until Tuesday) which are very quick and easy but still capture the Valentine's feel.

This mani is inspired by Erika. I spotted it on her blog last year and loved it so much that I kept it in my "to do" folder for this year. Erika added some amazing matte french tips but to keep this mani quick and not have to mess around with scotch tape, I didn't add any tips :(

Base colour is Barry M Black. I love Barry M polishes but their black is really bad to work with, it's extremely hard to control and gets goopy by the time you reach your 3rd nail. I had quite a bit of clean-up to do. I just want this bottle to finish already!!! I then stamped using BM02, GOSH Metallic Purple and an unnamed Primark polish.

It's Black, It's Gold, It's Matte!

I'm obsessed with matte again! I was really into it at one point but then sort of forgot about it, now I feel like I have to mattify everything, well... nearly everything!

After I laid the gold stamp over the black base, it just didn't look right being glossy! I had also been looking at some of Amy Grace's past matte manis and who doesn't totally fall in love with Amy Grace's manis?! I also took a page out of Finger's and Erika's book and added some french tips for good measure!

So here it is, 2 coats of Barry M Black, stamped with Barry M Gold Foil and BM201. I smudged the image a little and not all of it transferred as I had hoped but I'm getting better at stamping.  Hope you like it :)

Croc effect polish??

Ok, so I know I'm a little behind here but to be completely honest, I hadn't seen or heard of this until today!!! - Croc effect polish! As in, instead of shatter effect, you get croc effect?!

I know a lot of people love shatter/ crackle polishes but they started irritating me pretty much as soon as they came out. I use them very rarely and for nail art only. Therefore I don't know if I'll be getting this Croc effect. Having said that, I'm also easily persuaded when it comes to polish :)

Apparently it cracks much smaller and thinner than it's crackle/ shatter cousins and seems to be less bumpy. Then again, I don't know if the effect will look as good as it does in the promo pic. If any of you try it, let me know, I would love to see how you get on.

French Twist

This morning on the train, I saw a girl wearing gold nails with black tips. I see her every now and then on my way to work and she always has impeccable nails. I wonder if she is a blogger or something?! I'm too shy to ask! Lol!

Anyway, back to my point. I'd forgotten how much I actually like french tips of various colours. It makes for a simple yet fun mani.

I used Barry M Silver as a base colour. This isn't the best silver I've tried. In fact, it's below average. On the brush, the micro glitter is plenty and quite densely packed but it doesn't translate to the nail (not the same calibre as Zoya Trixie which is my favourite silver). I used 3 coats and there was still some sheer patches.

Drying time was horrible, even with a fast dry top coat (or maybe I'm just too impatient). Because of this, I dented my ring finger and had to try and cover it up with another coat. My other Barry M polishes are much better than this so I guess it's just this particular one that's problematic. The black tips are Barry M Black.

Do you guys like french manicures of various colours as well or are you a traditional french manicure kind of person? I like both to be perfectly honest but traditional french is so unadventurous! I haven't done one in years so I might actually do one sometime soon :)

Starry Starry Blue Sky Gradient

Check out the nubbins! I've had to file my nails right down after removing the glue-on nails. After a little buffering, they were as good as new!

I decided on a blue and glitter gradient today as I wasn't really inspired to stamp, scotch tape or do whatever kind of nail art. Sometimes a gradient is just as pretty!

Polishes used: Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, Miss Sporty Blue Berry, China Glaze Blue Iguana, 17 Midnight Sapphire, Essence Blair, La Femme Purple Glitter.