Monthly Indie Review: ILNP

I'm very excited to be sharing this months indie polish review with you! I actually swatched these colours around the same time as posting last months review so I've been dying to share them for some time now. I don't know where to start. This. Polish. Is. AMAZING!! I carefully chose two shades to try, and now i'm carefully trying to resist buying all of them, they're just so beautiful! So first of all they come in lovely little black boxes with heart shaped gaps so you can get a peak at the colours. The bottles are pretty too and have a matte lid which is easy to grip.
First up is Black Orchid, this is one that I just had to have as soon as I saw it. Very much my kind of colour. It's lovely rich dark redish purple, the sort of thing that's very in this season, but I don't think i've seen anything quite like it. I had high expectations of this polish and it didn't disappoint! It catches the light beautifully and is packed with shimmer and gentle glitter. Absolutely radiant! This is two coats.


The second colour I chose was Flower Girl, this is quite different to the sort of thing I normally go for, I'm not much of a pink person, but I loved how delicate it looked, and the champagne sort of tint to it. I wonder if they do a champagne shade?! This came out a little pinker than expected, but it's not too obtrusive! The gentle colour and shimmer make it such an elegant shade. There's a lovely holographic shimmer to it which just gives it that extra something. Beautiful in two to three coats.


I don't think I can choose a favourite out of these. before I tried them I liked Black Orchid best but I don't know now, they're just too beautiful! For my fellow UK nail obsessives you can purchase these at Rainbow Connection. I think they are more readily available in the US. I will be avoiding this site until I have bought everyones Christmas presents as I think it could be very dangerous for my bank balance! I hope you enjoy these polishes as much as I do! TTFN!

Throwback Thursday: New Year Tartan

Today's throwback is the nail art I did for last years new year celebrations. It brings back fond memories! One of which was using a giant chocolate box to lean on while I tried this lovely (and new at the time) OPI red. I copied this design from a few I've seen floating around on Instragram and Pinterest, again as it's an older one I wouldn't have the foggiest who to credit it to!

I used a small nail art brush to draw the lines across my nail in black, and filled in the lines (avoiding the squares where they overlap) with a burgundy shade. I then added two thinner lines in gold. Was fairly simple to do and I'd definitely give it another go. It feels quite Christmassy to me but as it's not explicitly Christmas themed I think it would work for either of the autumn and winter seasons.

Colours used: Red Hot Rio - OPI, New York Noir by Kate Spade - Nails Inc, Kensington High Street - Nails Inc, Gold - Limited Collection Polish at M&S

Matte Metallic Criss Cross

Matte metallics, one of my favourite creations in nail polish! I first came across them when a friend got me three of Topshops for my birthday last year (in dark blue, dark green and black). This was my first try of the green one and it was love at first sight! I have since ended up with a further four, oops! I think Topshop were one of the earlier places to start doing these but they are now around a lot more, most prominently in Barry M's silk collection and Zoya's satins (still need to try Zoya, they look so beautiful!).

Below is Topshops Shameless with a patterned accent nail to jazz it up. The green is perfect for the season, dark and mysterious but with a bit of shimmer and subtle sparkle. I think the matte effect really brings out the intensity of the colour. For the accent nail I used a black striping brush and some loose glitter I got in  a Seventeen. The glitter had a vaguely green tint to it which was brought out by being next to the darker green. Can't wait to get the matte metallics out again this year!

Colours used: Shameless - Topshop, Matt White - Barry M, Nail Art Pen - Seventeen, Nail Glitter - Seventeen

Barry M Party Season Colours: First Taste

As promised, my swatches/ reviews of Barry M's delicious new-ish party season polishes. I love them so much! These were given to me as a birthday present by my sister, and I'm very glad as I probably couldn't have found an excuse to get them otherwise!

So first up is Sparkling Amethyst, a lovely rich dark purple with a whole lot of shimmer. Both are somehow part way between a glitter and a shimmer, they don't quite have glitter chunks/pieces in them but they're a lot more sparkly than what I would normally call a shimmer polish. If that makes sense! This colour is perfect for the season, and the whole of autumn and winter, it's a lovely dark colour and catches the light just perfectly. Even better, it's a one coater! It comes out fairly thick but easy to paint with and covers evenly in one coat.


Next up is Sparkling Ruby, possibly my favourite, but that might just be because it's the one I wore second! This one is the ultimate Christmas polish, but still works for the rest of winter two. The classic red with an extra glamorousness to it. Again, it's packed with shimmer and catches the light beautifully. It's worth mentioning with both of these as well that they have the wide brush like the new Speedy polishes which makes application a dream. This one was also a one coater though very slightly less opaque that Sparkling Amethyst. I don't think there's much else I can say about these too, they are really beautiful and I love them! Barry M have done super well here.

Stamping Sundays: Seafood Special

New stamping plates to show today, yaayy! I got three delightful new Mo You plates from my sister for my birthday and this was my first use. I have just received a bunch more I've ordered online so there will be much more of this to come. I used a matte grey from Topshop as a base and then used my three new birthday polishes for the design (Barry M's two holiday specials and British racing green from Butter London). You can't quite see the glitteryness of the Barry M's here but they do stamp well with a bit of shimmer. I'm hoping to have my swatches/reviews up of those during the week.

The plate I'm using here is number 12 from the cookbook collection.which has a seafood theme. I'm not a fan of actual seafood but I love sea creatures so this plate is perfect as it's entirely sea themed, I will probably just skip the shrimp on a fork pattern! I've tested different patterns on each hand and I love how they look. The shell patterns are my favourite, especially the one on my little finger. I think it looks like wrapping paper!

There has been a theme over my birthday and Christmas last year of lobster themed presents (bottle opener, slippers etc) so I believe this plate was the perfect way to continue this tradition!


Colours used: Easy Peasy - Topshop, British Racing Green - Butter London, Sparkling Ruby - Barry M, Sparkling Amethyst - Barry M

N'awww Narwhal

Todays blog post is a throwback to when I was a nailwhal! I must do this again. As with a lot of my older pictures, this was inspired by a design on Pinterest, but I cannot find where to credit the original one to so please let me know if you know.

I'm very fond of this design for it's sheer cuteness, and who could fail to notice the adorable little creature in my hand?! I started with a base of Barry M's Cobalt blue, and then sponged on some metallic teal/blue with scrunched up cling film/ saran wrap. I like the colour it made, especially because it is unique!  The narwhal was very easy to do, I used the brush in the polish bottle for her head, and nail tape for her horn. I then outlined this with a nail art pen, and used a dotting tool for her eye.

Under my ring finger there there is the base of her horn, but it looks a lot better with the nails together. I like the need to match it up though, it's like a nail jigsaw!

Colours Used: Cobalt - Barry M, Teal - Barry M, Matt White - Barry M, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M, New York Noir - Nails Inc

Party Sprinkles

I've found this design floating around in my nail art folder and am delighted to share it! The design itself is not one of mine. I took inspiration from Pinterest, if anyone knows who did the original please let me know so I can credit them. So it's a replica, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

There's not an awful lot to say about how it was done. I used a beige base on the accent nails, and then used a dotting tool to apply the different colours. I particularly like the unusual range of colours, I would place this as a spring or summer design but think it can work for any time of year. Besides I couldn't wait till next spring to share! Over the top I've used Nails Inc's plumping gel effect top coat for some extra shine. It's a lovely shiny topcoat but I've since acquired their Kensington Caviar one which is even better as it's just as shiny and dried so fast!

Colours Used: Basil Street - Nails Inc, Tate - Nails Inc, Cyan - Barry M, Notting Hill Carnival - Nails Inc, Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Peach Melba - Barry M, Coconut - Barry M, Blue Moon - Barry M, Plum - Barry M