Monday Manicure: Sweeter With Sprinkles

Haven't done a Monday Mani post in FOREVER! Since I finished my University course and stopped getting the train to Derbyshire every Sunday (which became a regular nail painting occasion), my Manicures have started happening on other days of the week instead. This week, it just so happens that I have acquired a few new nail polishes in the last week during an unscheduled dash to Superdrug to buy conditioner.... It just kinda happened, okay? Soooooo I thought I'd showcase two of them at once and kick-start the Monday nail fun once again....

The two polishes I've used today are both Barry M creations. The base colour being their Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Dragonfruit and the candy-sprinkle top layer being their newly released Confetti Nail Effects in Sour Apple. I'm a huge fan of the Gelly range and have picked up at least 4 of the polishes so far. I just love how glossy and opaque they are, even after a single coat. The Confetti Nail Effects intrigued me in the same way as their Textured polishes did: I basically wanted to see if they lived up to the Nails Inc Feather versions (my post on these can be found Here). Barry M were also offering a free LE Neon polish with a £6 spend so I had to pick up a couple just for that!

It just so happens that these two polishes work PERFECTLY together! Here I've done two coats of Dragonfruit followed by a single coating of Sour Apple. I really like the proportion of confetti to polish here. One coat gave a good amount of confetti without the need to fill in too many gaps, nor did it obscure the base shade. I find the Nails Inc Feather polish to be more dense. Sour Apple is pretty much a dupe of Nails Inc Brighton (also teal and yellow) but Barry M have included a beautiful gold shimmer version which is pretty unique to switch it up a bit. I'd definitely recommend these as a budget option for those who couldn't justify the Nails Inc versions. 

I love this effect! Very Summery and looks just like candy! You can pick up both of these polishes from your regular Barry M stockist for £3.99 each.

Do you love Candy colours for Summer?? What nail effects are you loving this season?? Did you pick up any of the new Confetti Nail Effects??

Mavala Chilli & Spice Collection for SS13

Not a Monday Manicure post as such this week but I AM talking about nail polish, which is a step back in the right direction. Last week I went along to see the lovely ladies from Pure PR who were holding a 'Summer Getaway' event to showcase their best summer picks from their best Beauty and Healthcare brands. One of these brands is Mavala, who just happen to have a new collection out for SS13. It's called the Chilli and Spice Collection* and I'm lucky enough to have all of the polishes for your swatching pleasure!

Mavala are a brand with whom I have had limited experience, to be honest. Until now I've only owned a single nail polish and a single lipstick of theirs (not that they were no good, I love them both, I just haven't come across many since). Based out of Geneva, Switzerland and named after it's creator, the brand has an extensive range of nail colours and treatments, as well as having branched out into lipsticks. The Chilli & Spice Collection is a selection of 6 Summer brights named after a taste of the exotic. 

On first impressions I'm most drawn to Samarkand, Bamako and Bali out of the selection but, honestly, all the shades are stunning. The only one I've had on my own nails so far is Samarkand and I was extremely impressed at the opacity of it after just one coat. After swatching all of the polishes it does appear that some of the shades take more building up than others. However, I'm confident that, after a couple of coats, you'd get a decent payoff from all of them. I've only swatched one coat for this post. All of the colours are flat (by flat I mean there's no shimmer or glittery bits hiding in there) and dry to a lovely gloss.

Hopefully you'll be seeing each of these polishes in all their glory on this blog over the warmer months. I'm not one for painting my nails over and over again for the sake of one blog post as I don't believe in wiping off a lovely paint job and I don't like to waste a great polish. It really is a lovely shade range though. The polishes come in Mavala's signature 5ml bottles.

The Mavala Chilli & Spice Collection is available NOW from selected Boots stores.

Do you rate Mavala polishes?? What are your favourite shades??

Monday Manicure #5: Nails Inc Leather

Bit of a late one this week. I'd planned to have this post up early-evening, however, a quick nip to the corner shop ended in me being detained for 2 pints at the pub I work in (you know how these things go) and we don't do Tuesday Manicures on this blog. It's a Monday thing! 

The polish I'm featuring today is actually one I have featured before on this blog, although not in any great detail as I only got my mitts on one of my own yesterday. 

It's 

Nails Inc Leather Effect: Shoreditch Lane

Nails Inc describe this shade as 'Mulberry Leather Effect', in comparison to the other shades in the range which are your regular black and tan leather shades. I had it applied to my nails back in December when I attended Nails Inc's Spring/Summer '13 press event and it was instant infatuation. At the time, however it was not available as an individual polish. In fact they didn't release this shade at all until this month. The other shades in the range (Soho Mews and Noho) have, up until now, only been available as part of the 'Skulls and Leather' gift set with the awesome little skulls decals, but are also now available as individual polishes. 

(iPhone image from the event, showing all 3 shades)

I'm crushing on this polish big style! It's just so chic! If you weren't a fan of the Nails Inc Concrete Effect polishes, but still fancy trying something a bit different, then I urge you to give these a go. The texture is much more subtle and they have much more of a shine to them. The photo above is 2 coats of Shoreditch Lane with NO topcoat. Topcoat kills the texture and I find the polish is shiny enough without anyway. It's a lot easier to apply than the Concrete polish as well. It goes on glossy and the leather effect appears as it dries. 

This is my original leather mani, which was applied by one of the lovely ladies at the event in December, featuring those amazing skull decals I mentioned earlier. I managed to salvage them as well, so I may well be rocking this look again in the near future! 

I definitely prefer the Leather Effect to the Concrete. Not that I dislike the Concrete, it's just that I find this polish to be longer wearing and easier to apply. I'm now thinking that I may also need Soho Mews (Tan Leather) in my life!!

I picked this polish up for £12 from House of Fraser on Oxford Street but you can get it from any Nails Inc Concession/Counter as well as Nails Inc stores and on nailsinc.com. It's worth every penny so feel free to treat yourself! 

What nail trends will you be following this season?? Are you a texture kinda gal or do you prefer your polish to be more BLING?? Do you go for brights or neutrals when the weather gets warmer??

Monday Manicure #4: My Nail Care Routine

Hallelujah, BBB is back!! I absolutely HATE it when i haven't blogged for a whole week and i don't want this to be a blog where you only get one post per week. However, my life has been so crazy over the past fortnight i haven't even had time to scratch, let alone pick up my laptop. London Fashion Week (more on that later in the week), University and my parents first ever trip to visit me in London have kept me well and truly occupied. So tonight i wanna talk about nails. Not my usual Monday Manicure-type post but i got to thinking last week that i've posted my skincare and haircare routines recently, so why not my nail care picks as well?? 

As with skincare, i am no expert whatsoever with nail care and am just doing what has been working for me. My nails have recently improved dramatically and this has really encouraged me to step up my nail care and invest in good quality products as well as some budget drugstore staples. I am still learning and discovering new products all the time so the routine you see today may well evolve, but the products i'm featuring today have been serving me very well.

Hands and Cuticles: 

You've seen these products, briefly, before on this blog as i featured them at Christmas. They are part of the Nip+Fab Dry Hand Fix Kit* (and also come with a pair of rather fetching gloves for when you want to truly pamper your hands overnight). Regular readers will know that i really rate Nip+Fab products and that they are very much part of my every day life.The hand cream smells like pudding and i carry it around in my handbag all the time as it's a handy size. It's not an intensive treatment by any means but it is infused with Olive Oil and keeps my hands lovely and soft, which also keeps my nails happy. Those with very dry or chapped hands would probably need something richer but, for day to day use on normal skin, i really rate this cream. 

I'll level with you now.... I don't really know squat about what i'm supposed to do with my cuticles. I did initially question whether or not i even HAD any! Of course, i DO, but what i have is barely there and i don't feel the need to push or cut them and they don't obstruct my nails in any way. I know some have very dry cuticles but mine just seem very average so i just give them a blob of the Nip+Fab cuticle cream which i rub into the cuticle and over the nail to keep it soft and healthy. I actually bought the Sally Hansen Cuticle Pen the other day as well but have not used it yet. I'll report back, of course.

Clipping and Filing:

I don't clip my nails often. I used to when i went through a phase of wanting them mega square but, more recently, i've been a bit obsessed with filing them into a more pointed shape. Don't get me wrong, i don't want those scary TALONS i keep seeing all over Instagram, but i am definitely favouring a more tapered shape just lately. I'll be honest and admit that i actually use these to clip the FERRETS' nails more than i do my own (they get washed thoroughly in between, before anyone thinks i'm gross haha). The ones i'm using are Superdrug own brand and are actually meant for toenails, but i found them more robust and less fiddly to use and they work perfectly well for both human and ferret. 

As i travel a lot, i've been buying these cute mini polkadot emery boards from Boots rather than using anything too posh. These were only a couple of pounds for a pack of 3 and i have them dotted around my room and one is permanently in my travel bag so that i'm never far from one if i need it. I think that i will eventually treat myself to one of those beautiful glass/crystal nail files i keep seeing on QVC but i will always use these as they are so handy and so easily replaced if they get lost or worn out. 

Treatment/Base Coat: 

Most reading this will probably be well aware of the existence of OPI Nail Envy. It's been on my shopping list for what seems like forever but i only actually got around to buying it myself in January. I'd like to make it known that i ADORE it and that i will never be without it again. I purchased mine from eBay (Link), where there are some great deals to be had. The one i have is the Original, but they also have other formulas, including a Matte formula which intrigues me.

Before i started using this, although my nails were already improving a great deal, the surface of my nails was still flaking and they would occasionally split, painfully, very far down. I've been using two coats of Nail Envy as a base for my nail polish for just over a month now and you can actually SEE the difference as the nail has grown. The flaky part has almost grown out now. I also find that Nail Envy reduces the staining i get from nail polish and that my nails feel almost indestructible. I scour glass shelves in a pub every Thursday but you wouldn't be able to tell from my nails. This product is worth every penny and then some!

Top Coat:

I'm including this as a nail care product, even though it is a topcoat, because of how well it protects my polish and makes my manicures last for ages. As with Nail Envy, this is a product i'd heard a lot about over a long period of time but only got round to trying for myself just before Christmas 2012. It is the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat*. This product has completely revolutionised the way i do my nails. I love the glossy finish that it gives and how it dries my nails in a flash! Now i can do my nails every week on the train up to Derbyshire from London for uni and be confident that my nails will be dry and smudge-proof by the time i reach my destination. Usually, this mani will also last until the NEXT Sunday too (unless i get the urge to repaint them midweek). I've heard grumbles here and there that this product is very quick to go gloopy, but i haven't experienced this myself so far. I do, however, have a fresh bottle on standby just in case.

My Seche Vite came c/o QVC from their SS13 Press Event and is available as a great value multibuy on qvcuk.com (Link). I'm also aware that Seche Vite is also available in selected Boots stores and from some department stores so it's worth keeping an eye out while you're shopping too. 

So i thought i'd end with a little snap of my (almost) naked nails just so you can see how i'm getting on. Not a fantastic photo by any means (poorly lit iPhone pic from last night while i was curled up in my onesie, doing my nails). All i have on in this pic is OPI Nail Envy and nothing else. There is still a bit of nail polish staining towards the tips but thats almost grown out now and my nails are much stronger thanks to stepping up my nail care habits! 

Have you tried any of these products?? What are your can't-live-without nail fixes?? Any tips or things I should be doing differently??

Monday Manicure #3

Good evening my lovelies!!

This was almost a Tuesday Manicure! A little late on in the day for me to be blogging but i really wanted to do something with a Valentines theme again this year (last year it was girly, pink lipgloss) and this year i wanted to incorperate it as a theme for this week's Monday Manicure!! I'll be honest and admit that i consider the whole concept of Valentines Day to be a load of marketing BULLHONKEY, but i'm never one to resist a themed post and i've been enjoying dreaming up themes for my Monday Manis and couldn't let this one pass me by!! Plus it's an excuse to get all pink, girly and romantic (even though, instead of the man of my dreams, i'll be curling up with two ferrets this Valentines.... Face look bothered though???)

So here are the polishes....

Look Beauty Nail Pops in Bling and Petticoat

(The OCD in me is SCREAMING out about the smear on the cap in this photo, but it wouldn't shift)

I picked these polishes up as part of my cheeky little Look Beauty haul in January (see the full extent of the booty i snagged in my haul post HERE) and this is the debut outing for both of them. I did buy them with the intention of using them together somehow and they seemed very appropriate to the theme this week so i decided to go for it! I got the idea into my head that i wanted to try a kind of glitter gradient effect but, please keep in mind, that i was on a moving train when i did these and didn't have all the tools one would usually associate with doing a gradient effect. However, being a Virgo, i improvised...

(In artificial light)

This manicure consists of.....

2 layers of OPI Nail Envy

2 coats of Petticoat

A single coat of Bling

Finished with lashings of Seche Vite

For the (supposed) gradient glitter effect, in the absence of any type of sponge, i started by making sure that i'd wiped almost ALL of the polish off the brush to the point that it was almost a dry brush and started brushing from the middle of each nail, out towards the tip, adding more wherever i thought it needed it. I did also dab some extra glitter onto the very tips of the nails to ensure that the ends were more opaque and emphasise the fade between polishes. It's definitely not as effective as ombre/gradient nails done the proper way, but for a fast fix option i don't think it looks too bad at all!! I'm by no means an expert at nail art and do NOT have a steady hand when it comes to fiddly stuff, but i'm learning to experiment and am getting more creative lately!

(In natural light)

Petticoat is such a pretty pale, dusky pink nude. Reminds me of ballerina slippers, especially when teamed with the glitter! It isn't wishy washy like similar shades from other brands that i've tried and was lovely and opaque after two coats. 

Bling is reminiscent of it's ruby red cousin, Dorothy (see Monday Mani #1 HERE), only the glitters are ever so slightly bigger and are the most beautiful yet subtle pink colour. It gives a lovely sparkle without being too garish or over the top (i'm still coming around to glitter in things but my interest in glitter nails is mounting). As with Dorothy, if you're using this polish on its own, two coats is sufficient but you may want to use three depending on how much Bling you fancy. 

So that's about as much warm, fuzzy and romantic as you'll get out of me. I'll be going to bed on the 14th with a pack of choccy biccies, my electric blanket and my two fur-babies. 

Have you tried anything different with your nails recently?? What colours get you in the mood for romance?? Have you fallen head over heels for Look Beauty??

Monday Manicure #2

Monday Manicure time again lovelies!!

I'm actually really enjoying doing these nail posts so far. I've actually found myself dreaming up themes for them each week. The theme i'd planned for this week fell a bit flat when the mani smudged beyond all repair on my way off the train last night but i'm going to keep it on hold for next time and do this theme instead which is Blue Denim. Apologies that most of these photos were taken with flash. I've barely seen daylight for a couple of days due to travelling and uni. The colours look pretty true still so it's still an accurate representation....

I haven't featured anything from Barry M on this blog for a while but i was mooching around the Boots in St Pancras yesterday afternoon and thought i'd treat myself to a couple of new polishes. I've been hankering after blues lately for some reason so i went for...

Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in GNP5 - Blueberry

and

Nail Paint in 325 - Denim

I think the root of these choices lies firmly with the fact that i'm currently lusting over the forthcoming Nails Inc textured Denim polish. The Barry M version doesn't have a texture but the effect is still very pleasing and does look a lot like denim! And i've heard good things about the Gelly polishes so was keen to give them a go!

So i only used the Denim polish as an accent nail but i actually think it's my favourite out of the two!! It looks quite a bit glossier in these photos than it appears in real life as i put a coat of Seche Vite over the top of it for it to match the Gelly polish. The real finish of the polish isn't quite matte but isn't overly shiny either. It has VERY tiny particles of glitter in it but these do not really translate as glitter once its dried on the nails. I don't really know how to explain it. It gives the effect of texture without there actually being any. Not gonna lie, i'm still gonna pounce on the Nails Inc Denim polish when it comes out, but i think this is a great substitute if you can't justify the pricetag. 

Managed to quickly snap a single daylight photo on my iphone before the light died this afternoon at Uni. The Gelly polish DOES give a very glossy finish. As i said before, i used Seche Vite as a topcoat and this amplified it slightly but the polish on its own is still lovely and glossy. I'm not sure how long it will last on my nails though. I've never been too impressed with the longevity of Barry M polishes in the past, BUT i suspect that was more to do with my old job. I've had this on all day today and it hasn't budged yet! 

Do you rate Barry M for affordable nails?? Which of their polishes are your favourites?? Which effect polish do i need to try next??

Monday Manicure #1

Good morning my beauties!!

I've been brainstorming in the last week as to how i can change up my blog a bit and incorperate more posts that i felt my blog has been lacking lately. I hit on the fact that nail polish is something that doesn't get enough attention at the moment and, as i've recently been painting my nails more and more frequently (usually on the train up to University on a Sunday afternoon), i decided that i would dedicate Mondays to my nails! So i'm getting the ball rolling today with this little beauty....

Look Beauty Nail Pop:

Dorothy

Because red glitter nails are for LIFE, not just for Christmas! I enjoyed glitter nails so much over the festive period that i have carried it over into 2013.

Look Beauty currently have 50% off ALL their beauty products in Superdrug and online. I've only ever tried their lipsticks before (read my review of Toffee Cup HERE) so i decided i just HAD to purchase a couple of their nail polishes. I picked up this one and another, which will no doubt be coming up very soon in another Monday Mani post. 

(In natural light)

This is 2 coats of Dorothy followed by Seche Vite topcoat (that's another post, i love it!)

(With Flash - Check out the pathetic, short middle nail that broke yesterday. Grrrrrrr)

This polish is visually stunning! These photos really don't do it justice. The glitters are quite fine, but not too much so and really catch the light perfectly. 2 coats provides decent opacity but i think i'd maybe go for 3 in future. It really is a dead ringer for the Ruby Slippers Dorothy wears in the Wizard of Oz! Wonder if i click my fingers 3 times i'll be transported to another realm haha...

Longevity-wise, this polish holds its own. I've had it on since Saturday night and it's just starting to come away from the tips. No chipping as yet. To be fair i haven't done anything very strenuous though. I like the size of the brush and the formula is easy enough to work with. I'm a messy self- manicurist and i  only had minimal tidying up to do after applying this. 

Look Beauty Nail Pops are currently on sale at £2.50 each (usual price is £5) and are available in a wide range of colours from selected Superdrug stores and from lookbeauty.co.uk 

I think i may have to make another trip because i'm hooked!!

What shades have you picked up in the sale?? Do you go mad for glitter polish??