Barry M: Caramel with Dolly Mixture

Hello all,

This is just going to be a quick one today as this wasn't the manicure I had planned this week.  Just a note to you all, stamping with matte polish does not work!

After my ruined plans I decided to go for a fairly neutral combo as I was sulking a bit after my mini fail.  I used Caramel from the matte range for my base and topped it with Dolly Mixture from the Confetti range.

I really love the Confetti polishes as they add tiny flecks of colour to an otherwise plain manicure.  Dolly Mixture has a range of pastel flecks in it making it perfect for spring.  I used a glossy top coat over this which made my Caramel base slightly darker than it's true colour.  Overall I am not sure how I feel about this manicure.  I like it close up but from a distance it seems a bit lacking. Perhaps it's because it was a second choice, that I am not crazy about it, I don't know!  What do you think?

Polish Party: Black and White - Mix and Match Nail Art

Hello all,

The end of the month is here again and that means it's Polish Party time!  This month's theme is Black and White.  I knew that I was going to do a mix and match design for this, but it was just a case of deciding what patterns and designs.

The black is Sally Hansen Midnight in New York, which has a really subtle shimmer, and the white is Models Own Snow White.  Here's a quick run through of what I went for when I took on the challenge this month.

• Thumb - Checker board
• Index Finger - Black with Barry M Confetti in Liquorice
• Middle Finger - Double dot dotticure
• Ring Finger - Half and half
• Little Finger - Black with a white heart

None of these were difficult designs and I love all the patterns, unfortunately this was a disaster manicure though! My top coat was far too gloopy and did not dry.  I now have bubbles all over the white and hair imprinted into the polish.  You know when you go to bed and think it was dry enough... alas no... It just didn't dry :-( Sad times!  I had a feeling it was going to happen, so luckily I took my picture straight after finishing my design.  This means that my clean up was not quite as good as I would have liked, but still means I could share my design and join in with this month's Polish Party.

Lets hope the other girls didn't have a disaster like me... Take a look at their designs below 

Polish Party: Autumn - Hedgehog Nails

Hi all,

Today I have my first post for the Polish Party group challenge.  I am so excited to be taking part in this monthly challenge along with some other girls from Twitter.  To find out more about who's taking part click here.

We decided that our first month's theme was going to be Autumn, so I started to think about different ideas.  I had a quick search to see what other autumn nails were out there, and I really could find that many different ones.  Most seemed to come grouped together with Halloween.  There were lots of browns, yellows and golds in the ones that I saw.  Still not really having a plan I typed into Google, autumn animals for some inspiration.  In amongst the foxes and owls there was a cute little hedgehog nestled in some autumn leaves; I had my idea... hedgehog nails.

I used Barry M nail paints to create my loved up hedgehogs.  For their spikes I used a small nail art brush dipped into Mushroom.  Staring in the middle of my nail I painted stripes towards the tip of my nail.  To make their faces I simply mixed together a few drops of Mushroom with some white polish.  Using a dotting tool I created a small semi circle for the face and two little dots for ears.  In the middle of the ears I used the smaller end of my dotting tool and Strawberry Ice Cream to make them pink inside.  Then adding the nose and eyes I used a nail art pen in black.  Tah dah, autumn hedgehogs! I decided that I didn't want to do hedgehogs on every nail so I used Dolly Mixture Confetti as I thought this looked a bit like falling autumn leaves.  I then used a pink nail art pen to draw on a little love heart in the middle of my two hedgehogs.  I am a little disappointed that the heart doesn't photograph very well; it doesn't look that bad in person, but I love how my hedgehogs turned out.

Make sure you check out the other Polish Party girls taking part using their links below.  Leave me a comment to let me know what you think of my design.  What should the next Polish Party theme be?

Barry M: Blue Grape and Bubblegum Confetti

Hi all,

It's just a quick post this week to show off the gorgeous Barry M Blue Grape Gelly and Bubblegum Confetti.

 

Blue Grape is my first Gelly and I love, love, love it!!!!! It's such a rich blue and when they hi-shine, they mean it! I haven't been able to stop looking at my nails since I put it on.  As it's a gelly it's quite a thick formula.  If done carefully you could get away with one coat, but I would recommend two.  It takes a little longer to dry than other polishes, but it's worth it for the hi-shine afterwards.  You could get away without a topcoat if you wanted but I always like to use one to prolong my manicure.

 

As you can see I topped this with Bubblegum Confetti.  This too is gorgeous.  It is jam packed with tiny flecks of light blue and white.  I have only used one coat, but got plenty of coverage, I didn't want to over do it otherwise you wouldn't see my Blue Grape underneath.  It would work well building it up in layers as well if you wanted to go with that look though.  The finish isn't grainy after one topcoat either which is a great bonus!

 

I can see myself going for some more Barry M gellies and confettis! Have you got any? What are your favorites? x