New Barry M Under the Sea

Just a quick one today to show a couple of new Barry M polishes I picked up a few weeks ago, before all the working from home and the subsequent lockdown! I think this was actually my last trip to any kind of shop besides a supermarket before all of that. I saw Barry M advertise these two new polishes on Instagram, so popped into Boots on my lunch break to pick them up. Annoyingly I missed that they were on 3 for 2, and the cashier didn't tell me either, so don't make the same mistake I did! I believe they are still on 3 for 2 now though of course you'd need to order them online.

SO, onto the polishes themselves, first up is Mermaid Tail, which is a gorgeous deep teal-ish metallic green. I have painted both of these colours over a pale pink, so it's pretty close to how they'd be over my natural nails. This one definitely builds up quicker and is less sheer than most of the other Under the Sea polishes, with only two to three coats needed.

The second polish is Underworld, a shimmery blue metallic. This one is more sheer like the other polishes in the collection, and I used four to five coats for the below look. You can of course use less coats and make it a shimmery topper over another colour. I like the formula for both of these and they have the now classic Barry M wide flat brush which in my opinion is perfect! Mermaid Tail is my favourite as it's such a strong colour, but I think they are a good pair, and would recommend :) Great names too!
Colours used: Mermaid Tail - Barry M, Underworld - Barry M

Aeronaut Nails

Hello again! I am a bit behind (again) and there really is no excuse now given I am home all the time! I am lucky enough to still be working though (from home) so I will use that as my excuse! This nail art is based on the film Aeronauts, which I watched with my friend Jess a few weeks ago. The film has a family connection as one of the main characters is based on a distant ancestor of my boyfriend!

So I used the Mother Nature 06 plate from Mo You London, which had been sitting untried in my collection for a while for the hot air balloons. I went for a red and gold theme as those were the main colours of the hot air balloon in the film. With hindsight I possibly should have stamped the balloons in gold as well but I still think it works. For the clouds I simply used white nail polish and a cotton bud to dab the nail polish onto my nails in cloud-like blobs! I added a gold flakie topper over the clouds, to represent a part in the film where they are in the sky surrounded by lots of butterflies. I finished the look with a matte top coat to make the colours pop. So there you have it! Feels good to be getting more spring like colours out for a change, even if I adore darker shades and glitters.
Colours used: Can't Find My Czechbook - OPI, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Gold Digger - Barry M, Karma - ILNP

A Galaxy Far Away...

Evening all, hope your weekend has been good and not to strange! (Looking back that will probably seem like a really strange way to start this blog post haha!) So this nail look was inspired by someone on Instagram and unfortunately I have gone and forgotten who it was! Will come back to update this if I remember. They did black nails instead of blue I think but the colours in the middle are similar as is the image.

So I started with a white base on my middle two fingernails on each hand, and ILNP's Night Drive on all other nails. This was an untried nail polish for me and I love the way it sparkles! It has quite an intense holo flare under bright light. Over the white polish I used three different shades of polish which I'd mixed with a little nail polish remover on some foil, before dabbing onto my nails with a nail art brush. I do like the way it came out in the end but I'm not sure it worked as well as it has done for me previously. I possibly didn't use enough nail polish remover.

Finally, I used black stamping polish and an image from my Mo You London Sc-Fi 10 plate over the colourful nails, followed by a matte top coat. On my other nails I used a regular shiny top coat. I really enjoyed wearing these and kept them on for the whole week. Thank you to the unnamed Instagram inspiration!
Colours used: Night Drive - ILNP, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Cobalt Blue - Barry M, Cyan Blue - Barry M, Holland Park - Nails Inc

Cirque Colors Juicy Fruit

Hi everyone, hope you're doing well. It's such a crazy world we live in at the moment! Sending positive thoughts and pictures of nail polish to you :)

Today I'm sharing pictures from my first time wearing Juicy Fruit from Cirque Colors, such a gorgeous shade! My last nail polish look didn't last that long due to the peel off base, and I lost a peely when trying to get out of my raincoat (long story, my scarf got stuck in it - I am free now)!! So as it was mid-week and I didn't have a long time to do nail art I decided to try out one of my 'untrieds', and I am certainly glad I did! These pictures were taken in sunlight through thin curtains and you can see how packed this polish is with flakies. I used three coats and a top coat for this finish, and kept admiring my nails while wearing it. They looked super shiny and at a glance almost as if there was some kind of foil effect going on. I would highly recommend this polish!

Stretchy Yoga Nail Art

OK so the nails aren't stretchy...but yoga kind of is right? Today I am sharing some nail art with you from my first use of my Yoga plate from Mo You London (Mandala 16). I'd always pictured using this with paler or muted matte shades but here I am using a deep blue! I decided to combine it with ILNP's Confetti so thought the blue would work well under that (and it does - I loved it!).

So on my index and little finger nails I used deep blue topped with confetti, on the other nails I mixed the patterns up on each hand, and used white on two nails and blue on the other. For two of the nails on each hand I made decals using my Uber Mat, you can see how here, and on the other I stamped the lotus flower image over the blue in gold. I finished with a matte topcoat over the white nails, and glossy top coat over the others. Interestingly when I applied the top coat over the blue nails the base colour kind of ran and ended up making the gold look purple! You can kind of see it in the pictures but I layered some gold over the top as lovely as the purple looked it didn't stand out as well next to the other nails.

Overall I enjoyed this look and am looking forward to trying this stamping plate with some other colours.
Colours used: Indigo Ink - Nail Paint Palette, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Foil Effects in Gold - Barry M, Confetti - ILNP

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Nail Art!

Hi everyone, hope you've had a good week! Today I am sharing some Harry Potter nail art, using a stamping plate I bought absolutely ages ago (the Christmas before last I think)! I have a substantial pile of untried stamping plates I'm working my way through at the moment. I also used an untried polish from ILNP, much more recently purchased, the gorgeous Madeline. It came out a bit darker than I expected although it is SO gorgeously sparkly in the sun and under bright lights.

I painted two nails on each hand white and the rest with Madeline, the white ones were to have the nail art on but I did add a snitch and lightning scar on my ring fingernails too as there were too many cute images on that plate! The plate used was M11 by Loja BBF which I purchased from Nail Artisan (UK). With the glasses image there is a little scar as well which I did in gold, but it was pretty small and you can only see it in some of the pictures. I did keep going to wipe it off my nails as I thought it was a bit of fluff or something! Some of the below pictures have a matte top coat on the white nails, and some don't, I think I preferred the matte topcoat for this look. Overall I'm pleased with it, easy to do and I enjoyed the final look.
Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Madeline - ILNP, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Foil Effects in Gold - Barry M