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Freehand, Uncategorised

NY Fashionail Week! Monika Chiang

17th September 2012

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Welcome to my first theme week for a long time – NY Fashionail Week! The plan is to create 5 looks based on the catwalk looks created for some of New York Fashion Week SS13’s runway shows.

I’ve started simple today with a design from Monika Chiang‘s show created by Lancôme which you can see here – coral with a silver stripe down the middle. Don’t worry, your eyes are not deceiving you, my stripes are actually bright yellow gold. They were silver but as soon as I applied my top coat, something happened and they immediately changed colour to this. I actually like it better than silver, it’s way more summery!

I used one coat of Jay Jays Ablaze and one of W7 Flaming Orange, which is an almost jelly, to create the perfect coral base colour. Then I took my striping brush and freehanded on the stripes in Barry M Silver Foil. Finally, I used one top coat of Essence Better Than Gel Nails which magically changed the silver to gold!

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Swatch, Uncategorised

Barry M Gelly Collection Swatches: Plum, Watermelon, Blood Orange, Blueberry and Blackberry

16th September 2012

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Today I have swatches of 5 shades from the upcoming Gelly collection* from Barry M. Despite the name, none of the polishes actually have a ‘Jelly’ finish so don’t get too ahead of yourselves like I did and start planning your Jelly Sandwich recipes!

I’m still mighty impressed with the polishes though – their formula is creamy, easy to apply and shiny as hell! I didn’t use a top coat in any of these swatches. For realz!

This is without a doubt the longest post I’ve ever published (there are a whopping 25 photos after the cut) so sorry if it takes a while to load! I promise it’ll be worth it!

Plum

Plum is exactly what it says on the bottle – a perfect plum purple. Swatches are two coats.

Watermelon

This shade is a deep teal green. Very rich and regal, it’s very much a winter polish. I used two coats for this swatch.

Blood Orange

I would describe this colour as more of a post box red. It’s really just a classic red polish which is kinda hard to come by these days! It’s the most jelly-like from the collection as it’s slightly see through (if you look carefully, you’ll see my nail line right through the polish). If you’re fussy about this, a third coat would cover it but I stuck with 2 this time.

Blueberry

I think this is my favourite from the collection. Sky blue works well to describe the shade, it’s so soft and almost powdery. I haven’t had much luck with pastelly blues in the past but I think I’ve finally found one I’m happy with. It took 3 thin coats to apply streak free but 2 thick ones would do the same job.

Blackberry

This is a close contender for the title of my favourite. I used two coats for these swatches.

It’s royal blue with a teeny hint of purple which reminds me of indigo denim. It’s almost a TARDIS blue.

There are a total of 9 colours in this collection. The others are Pomegranate, Satsuma, Prickly Pear and Grapefruit which look something like this….

Barry M Gelly Nail Paints are £3.99 each and will be available on the Barry M website from September 21st.

You can pick them up in Superdrug from September 26th and Boots from October 3rd.

*The items in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own. See my disclaimer for more information

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Glitter, Uncategorised

Holiday Nails: Frankencherry

6th August 2012

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These are the nails that I’m wearing as I depart for my holiday. No doubt, they’ll be off in a few days as the pick factor sets in but I’m taking a few nail supplies with me so I won’t be naked nailed! I have a few posts scheduled for the week, including one I’m very excited about tomorrow, so you probably won’t even notice I’m gone!

I reorganised my polish collection on the weekend as it had started to spread throughout the room and I wanted to get it all in one place! 28 bottles ended up in the recycling pile. They were either ones that I’d never used, would never use again or nearly empties. The lovely Wendy on Twitter suggested that I mix a few together to create new colours a.k.a Frankens – new polishes made up of the leftovers of others!

This ‘Frankencherry’ is one of the outcomes. I couldn’t tell you what colours are in here, I just know that the resulting ‘cherry with a subtle shimmer’ is absolutely ace!

I used Frankencherry as a base and added some glequins whilst it was still tacky using a toothpick dipped in clear polish to make it tacky.

Finally, I added two coats of Cult Nails Wicked Fast to seal it all in and hopefully make those glequins stay on for a few days at least!

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Freehand, Uncategorised

Superheroes Challenge: Disney Villain… Off With Their Heads

26th June 2012

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Give me comic books over Disney any day! I’ve been really stuck for ideas this week but I think I’ve managed to come up with something decent. I really wanted to do Cruella De Vil because 100 Dalmatians is really the only Disney movie I remember watching as a kid – the 1996 live action version I mean! I just wasn’t much of a Disney child.

Well I ultimately decided on the Queen of Hearts because I’ve had a long day and I wanted something simple and easy. What a cop out, right! I loved Helena Bonham Carter’s portrayal of her in Tim Burton’s version but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the Disney animated original. I’m just full of disappointments today aren’t I?!

I used L’Oreal Resist and Shine Red, W7 Black, Barry M White, Barry M Gold Foil and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed. As always, the details were applied with a nail art brush.

Previously: Disney Princesses

As always, the other ladies taking part will have some awesome designs today too!

Jo at Northern Nails

Charlotte at Charlotte’s Nails

Debbie at The Crumpet

Kerrie at PishPosh and Polish

Sarah at Spellbinding Nails

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Freehand, Uncategorised

Superheroes Challenge: DC Hero… Superman

21st June 2012

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I know Superman is kind of an obvious choice but sometimes that’s the best way to go! He gets a bad rap these days for being kind of irrelevant and you have to admit his powers are kind of lame compared to the superheroes we know today. But you’ve gotta give the guy some credit, he’s kind of ‘the original’ superhero and he can’t really keep up with his modern contemporaries who have all those cool technologies and weapons to make them awesome.
(Superman Wiki)

I had a hectic day but I had a swatch post ready to go until I realised a few hours ago that it was a challenge day and I didn’t even have any nail art prepared. Whoops! I knew who my hero was but I hadn’t even thought about the nail art so I kept it simple. The ‘Super S’ is so iconic that I don’t think it needs much else to get the point across!

I used NYC Lexington Yellow, No7 Poolside Blue and that unnamed L’Oreal Resist and Shine red I seem to be using every day this week!

I freehanded the details with a small nail art brush and outlined in black acrylic paint. The glitter, or ‘glequins’, came in 12 colour pack from Born Pretty Store.

As always, go check out what the other ladies came up with today!

Jo from Northern Nails

Charlotte from Charlotte’s Nails

Debbie from The Crumpet

Kerrie from PishPosh and Polish

Sarah from Spellbinding Nails

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Freehand, Uncategorised

Superheroes Challenge: DC Villain…Harley Quinn

19th June 2012

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Harley Quinn is completely ‘bat’ crazy but you have to admire her in some ways! She’s very loyal (some might say a sycophant) and incredibly resourceful. Her first appearance was in a Batman cartoon back in the 90’s and the character was only created to serve as The Joker’s sidekick in one episode. In 2009, Harley made it on to IGN’s Top 100 Comic Book Villains at #45. Not bad for a psycho psychiatrist from Brooklyn!

(Harley Quinn Wiki)

Aside from Comics, her biggest role in mainstream media was in Batman: Arkham Asylum but I would really love to see her brought to life in a movie. Damn you, Christopher Nolan! I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for another Batman reboot in the future. Preferably with Zach Snyder directing but he’s on that whole Man of Steel thing (hint hint) so that doesn’t seem very likely. Can you imagine his slow-mo scenes in a Batman movie… heaven! Hey, a fangirl can dream!

Superheroes Nail Art Challenge: DC Villain

I used an unnamed L’Oreal Resist and Shine polish for the red base and W7 Black for the harlequin patterns using a nail art brush.

I painted Harley herself on a base of Barry M White using Black Acrylic Paint for the outlines and details plus the aforementioned L’Oreal red. I used Rimmel Grey Matter to fill in the background and for the shading. Her eyes are Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue.

I added two top coats of Cult Nails Wicked Fast to finish it off.

Previously: Batman and Foes Nail Art

I’m excited to see what the other girls come up with today! I’m hoping to see a Joker for my Harley somewhere!

Jo from Northern Nails

Charlotte from Charlotte’s Nails

Debbie from The Crumpet

Kerrie from PishPosh and Polish

Sarah from Spellbinding Nails

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Freehand, Uncategorised

Diamond Jubilee Nail Art!

2nd June 2012

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In the UK this weekend, we’re celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee! This is only the second Diamond Jubilee in British history so I think Elizabeth deserves a good party. Today, the 2nd of June, marks exactly 60 years since she was crowned Monarch in 1953 but the celebrations are going on right through to Tuesday with a long bank holiday weekend. This does nothing but enforce stereotype that Brits are obsessed with royalty and the Queen. But hey, it’s all good fun if you ask me! I hope everyone has a great weekend, whatever you’re up to!

I spent way too long on this manicure. It took at least two hours because I kept making mistakes and having to restart nails so by the time I’d finished, I felt like my back had been snapped in half!

Red, White and Blue Caviar; Crown Jewels; Glequin Diamond; Union Jack.

If anyone wants to know what polishes I used or where I got all the bits, just ask in the comments. There’s way too much going on here for me to link it all up!

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