Browsing Tag:

Barry M

Nail Art, Stamping, Uncategorised

Fair Isle Nail Art, New eBay Collection and a Giveaway

14th November 2014

21 Comments

My Inspiration

Winter is coming so it’s officially acceptable to crack out the chunky knit jumpers and your sparkliest nail polish. While I’m not a big fan of the chill or inevitable British rain, I’ve always been a night owl so I do really love when the dark nights start closing in. I’m more than happy to spend the evenings snuggled up under my favourite fluffy blanket with a hot chocolate and my Kobo or couple episodes of Grey’s Anatomy.

I’ve been pretty much inseparable from my thermal cup recently (although less because I need the thermal properties, more because I’m a huge klutz and the sippy cup is essential!) and I’ve teamed up with eBay to create a collection around this image. If you follow me elsewhere, you may have already spotted the inspiration pic. It looks so cozy and warm so I thought it would be perfect for some autumn inspiration.

My new collection features some of my Autumn Essentials when it comes to nail art and I’m still adding to it. Let me know if you think I’ve missed anything!

The Nail Art

For this nail art, I used Barry M Coconut as my base colour. I stamped on the design using the most perfect winter stamping plate, MoYou Festive 06, with Sally Hansen So-nata Problem and Rimmel Rock N Roll. In order to get the two colours on one stamp, I had to carefully paint the design on the plate first and scrape very carefully to leave the colours where I wanted them. It’s all topped with one coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

Giveaway

For the chance to win a £20 eBay Gift Voucher all you have to do is hop over to my ‘Autumn Essentials‘ collection and give it a follow. It really is as simple as it sounds:

Click here to go to the Collection
If you like what you see, use the ‘Follow’ button in the top right of the page (just make sure you’re logged in to eBay)
eBay will contact the winner at the end of the competition (more details to follow)

This content was created in partnership with eBay UK

Nail Art, Uncategorised

In Remembrance: Poppy Nail Art

11th November 2014

15 Comments

Remembrance Day Nail Art

‘When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die.’ -Jean-Paul Sartre

Gradient, Nail Art, Stamping, Uncategorised

Gradient Stamping with MoYou Fashionista Collection

28th October 2014

18 Comments

Gradient Stamping Nail Art

I did a spot of MoYou shopping last weekend because I’ve had my eye on a few of the Fashionista plates since they dropped in to my inbox a while back. I’m showing off one of the Fashionista plates today – SO MANY CHEVRONS! I also did some quick thinking while I was there and picked up the Festive Collection 06 plate (the one with all the cute fair isle patterns) since it sold out last year before I had the chance to snap it up! Looks like I did the right thing because it seems to be sold out already. It’ll be here when it comes back in stock.

I’m having a lot of fun experimenting with stamping on gradients. It’s a good alternative for stamping over a gradient since it requires considerably less time and skill than creating the traditional gradient with a sponge. This time I used a bright blue and bright pink for the stamping and they’ve mixed nicely to create a purple fade through the middle.

A video tutorial for this technique is on my to-do list, and has been for a while. I’m completely swamped with other projects at the moment – all very exciting stuff but very time consuming – so I just haven’t had enough time to sit down and film it. I just wish I had a camera-person to do the filming for me because I love the editing process and can just get lost in it for hours… maybe one day! In the meantime, my YouTube channel is here if you want to catch up on some of my older tutorials.

1. I painted on a base of Barry M Elderberry.
2. Using MoYou Fashionista 05 Stamping Plate, I painted on the two colours next to each other and mixed them together as I swiped to create the gradient effect. The shades I used are Barry M Rhossili and Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue.
3. Finally, I topped it off with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

31 Day Challenge, Glitter, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Honor Nails You Love

6th October 2014

12 Comments

Better late than never! I’m here at the finish line of the 31 Day Challenge and amazingly only a few days late. For the very final day of the challenge (oh god, it feels so good to say that!), I have to Honour Nails I ♥ so I’ve selected a design by one of my favourite nail artists – Paulina’s Passions. Paulina was actually inspired by Very Emily – another one of my favourite nail ladies so this mani has given me the chance to pay tribute to two talented artists that I admire!

As you may know, I’m in the running for the Best Established Beauty Blog award at the Cosmo Blog Awards and the ceremony is tomorrow. I’ve had a busy evening spent packing and I’ve managed to get everything I need in to a reasonably sized duffle bag so I’m feeling like a packing pro right now! This is the third year I’ve been nominated but only the second time I’ll be going to the ceremony. Last year was amazing fun and I’m sure this year will be another night to remember. I’ll be meeting up with Lucie and Alice in London and we’ll be representing the nail blogs this year! If you want to follow any of the action, keep up with me on Twitter and Instagram.

For this nail art, I put down my base colours: Barry M White, Essie Go Ginza and Barry M Majesty.

For the patterned nails, I used striping tape to mark off where I wanted the white to show through. I created a textured saran wrap pattern over the top using Nicole by OPI LeaPink for Joy, Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue and Essie Go Ginza and removed the striping tape immediately. There’s a tutorial for the textured saran wrap technique here.

It’s all topped off with two coats of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Gradient, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Tutorial

4th October 2014

10 Comments

There’s a tutorial that keeps popping up in my Pinterest feed by Hannah Rox Nails for LuLu’s Blog and every time I see it, I promise myself I will try it out one day. Well today is that day! This was the first tutorial my mind jumped to for the penultimate day of the 31 Day Challenge. It looks so beautifully intricate but there are only two really simple steps to achieve it – a gradient and some squiggly freehanding! See the original tutorial for this nail art here.

1. I used Barry M Pearl as my base colour again today, then created the gradient using Rimmel Mind The Gap, Victoria (tutorial here).
2. The detail is freehanded with a nail art brush using Graffiti Nails Ice White.
3. Finally, I topped it off with Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by The Supernatural

3rd October 2014

5 Comments

If I undertake the 31 Day Challenge again in the future, I’m going to take a stand and switch out Inspired by the Supernatural to Inspired by Legend (or something of the sort) because each and every year, I get stuck on ghosts! This time, I’ve gone for a more abstract take on the challenge with ghosty silhouettes. Pac Man style!

I used a base of Barry M Pearl and painted on a frame with a wavy tip using No7 Just Black and a nail art brush. It’s all topped with two coats of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

Gradient, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge x Nailvengers: Gradient Artwork

30th September 2014

17 Comments

Image source: May Frenzy on Etsy

There’s so much going on in this post that I just can’t even! We’ve got some nail art, a video tutorial and a pretty sweet link-up right at the bottom! I’ve smushed together two different challenges in one for today’s nail art. Nailvengers this month called for gradients and I’ve gotten as far as ‘Inspired by Artwork’ in the 31 Day Challenge which looks like it’ll be stretching over more than 31 days by the time I get to the finish line.

My first stop for beautiful art these days is always Etsy and it never fails to deliver a healthy dose of nail art inspiration. I was looking for something featuring a gradient but with a fancy twist and when I came across this piece by May Frenzy Designs, I knew I’d struck gold. The watercolour finish is just perfect for me to revisit the watercolour gradient technique with a funky new colour combination.

For the nail art, I started with a base of Barry M White then created the watercolour gradient effect on top. There’s a video tutorial at the bottom of the post so be sure to scroll down for that and the colours used are: OPI William Tell Me About OPI, piCture pOlish Bonkers, Barry M Burgundy Crush and Barry M Caramel.

Watercolour Gradient Nail Art // The Nailasaurus

Watercolour Gradient Nails // The Nailasaurus

Purple Watercolour Gradient Nails // The Nailasaurus

Neutral Watercolour Gradient Nails // The Nailasaurus

An InLinkz Link-up