Experimenting with nail effects

Lately i've been trying out quite a few different nail effect polishes. Normally I really don't like the look they give but I wanted a cool nail to go with my halloween costume (because I get super excited for halloween) so I decided to experiment with some different combo's and I thought that you might like to see the results.

1 coat of Bourjois 'Python top coat' over 2 coats of Essie 'Sand Tropez'

First up was Bourjois 'Python top coat' over 2 coats of Essie 'Sand Tropez'. I didn't really like how this one turned out, I thought it might look like blood on plain nails but it really didn't. Oh well, thats what experimentation is for, right?

 1 coat of Bourjois 'Python top coat' over 2 coats of Nails Inc 'Black Taxi'

Then I tried that same Bourjois polish over Nails Inch 'Black Taxi'. The problem with this was that the red python effect polish was too sheer to be seen as an actual colour over black and turned out looking kind of like glossy, lumpy dirt. I thought this could be cool for a halloween look but just wasn't the kind of thing that I was going for really.

1 coat of Barry M 'Black Croc Effect' over 2 coats of Ciate 'Dangerous Affair'

My favourite of the 3 combos I tried was the Barry M 'Black Croc Effect' with the deep red Ciate 'Dangerous Affair' polish underneath. I think this managed to look menacing enough to be a part of a halloween polish without looking so weird that i'd feel odd wearing it for a day afterward or whatever. Plus red and black will probably be the colour scheme of my costume and this will go nicely.

So what do you think? Do you style your nails especially for halloween?

Barry M 'Pink Sapphire Glitter'

Today I want o show you one of Barry M's new glitter polishes. I was at the Barry M stand in Topshop Oxford Circus and my eyes went directly to this polish. It has a clear base with silver and pink hegaxonal glitter with silver bar glitters. It's really quite striking and fun looking in the bottle and that translates well to the nail.

1 coat of 'Pink Sapphire Glitter' over 2 coats of Barry M 'Raspberry'

When I tried this nail polish out I wore it with Barry M "Raspberry' underneath so I still used a pink colour but it was a bit darker and more sophisticated and the glitter didn't look childish or anything. Application was really nice, there's a lot of glitter in the polish so it isn't hard to get a nice amount on the nail and it isn't hard to get it to stay where you place it because the polish isn't too thick and doesn't drag.

1 coat of 'Pink Sapphire Glitter' over 2 coats of Barry M 'Raspberry'

I really liked the way it looked over a deeper pink colour and I think it would look nice over burgundy and deep red colours also. I personally wouldn't wear it over a light or bright pink colour because that would look a bit too girly and sweet for my personal style but if that's the kind of look you like then i'm sure it would look really pretty.

1 coat of 'Pink Sapphire Glitter' over 2 coats of Barry M 'Raspberry'

I'm very impressed with Barry M at the moment, especially with some of their newer polishes. What do you think of Barry M polishes?

Essie 'Shine of the Times'

I'm pretty late jumping on this bandwagon. Essie 'Shine of the times' (love the name by the way) came out with their holiday luxeffects collection last year. It's made up of small glitter flakes that are multichromatic....and it's so pretty! I really think that this polish is something quite special.

1 coat of 'Shine of the Times' over 2 coats of Barry M 'Black'

The colour shift in this is really quite incredible, when I first got it I just stared at the bottle for a while because I was so mesmerised by all of the colours in it. On the nail (or at least in the photos that I took) the main colour shift I saw was from reds and oranges to greens and yellows but that's just because I applied it on top of black. When I tried it by itself on top of a bare nail you could see way more colours though.

1 coat of 'Shine of the Times' over 2 coats of Barry M 'Black'

In the photos shown I have one coat of 'Shine of the Times' over 2 coats of Barry M 'Black' and I have to say I really do like the result. The red and orange in 'Shine of the Times' really does make the black look more burgundy, and I don't know if it's just because i'm feeling all autumnal but the green to red colour shift is making me think of the leaves changing colour and falling from the trees.

1 coat of 'Shine of the Times' over 2 coats of Barry M 'Black'

All in all I really love this polish and the versatility that it offers. When worn on it's own, the flakes are fairly dense so it offers quite nice nail coverage, I have worn it without any base colour with 2 coats and I thought it looked pretty. I really want to try layering this over a blue or a pink to try and make those aspects of the multichrome more prominent because they're there, they're just very subtle.

Close up of 'Shine of the Times' on the nail

'Shine of the Times' in the bottle

I really love this polish, I think it's the perfect way to make your nails that little bit more interesting!

Playing with magnets

Until now i'd resisted the urge to buy a magnetic nail polish. I've never really been too much of a fan of nail effects, I don't like shatter nail polishes except for the silver one the I picked up by mistake not realising it was shatter, I didn't expect magnetic polish to be anything but a trend that would soon be gone. That being said, when I saw that Barry M had started doing magnetic nail polishes I decided to have a little bit of a play, and I must say i'm pleasantly surprised. It's very simple to do so immediately I prefer it over water marbling which I found really fussy and quite time consuming.

2 coats of Barry M number 347 and seche vite fast dry topcoat

I got two of the magnetic polishes and the one i'm going to talk about is number 347 'Magnetic Multi Sparkle' which is a gunmetal silver colour with plenty of multi-coloured sparkle in it. This colour is beautiful, I have to say even if I do get bored of wearing this as a magnetic polish I will wear it on its own because its really lovely.

2 coats of Barry M number 347 and seche vite fast dry topcoat

When magnetised this polish has a striped pattern in a darker grey colour. It was really very simple to get the effect and I think it looks pretty cool, I don't think i'll be doing it too often but it was fun to try and maybe I will use it to jazz up a plainer outfit sometime. The polish itself went on pretty well, wasn't too sheer or streaky, you have to apply one coat, let it dry and then magnetise the second coat as soon as you've painted it on.

The finished effect after magnetisation and top coat

The magnet is contained within the top of a squared off lid which means that its easy to tell this apart from other Barry M nail paint which have a smaller top and that the magnet is of a nice large size which makes the magnetising process simpler and less fiddly. One of the main criticisms I had heard of magnetic polishes is that the magnets that came with some of them were too small and it made it hard to get a uniform effect over a nail and made it quite difficult to work with.

In the process of magnetising the nail polish on my thumb

Like I said earlier, I was pleasantly surprised with how this magnetic polish turned out, it was simple to do, didn't sacrifice the quality of the polish and looked very cool. I think I might see what other magnetic polishes Barry M has, I know that there are some where  you get a sort of firework effect which I think would be great for bonfire night which is rapidly approaching.

Barry M 'Mint Green'

This summer I was quite obsessed with 2 colours: mint green and coral. Naturally I went about finding the perfect nail polishes in both of these colours. I looked at the usual suspects to find a green, Essie's 'Mint Candy Apple' which I really do love but was a little lighter than what I was looking for, Nails Inc 'Haymarket' which I also thought was really beautiful but was quite blue based and Revlon 'Minted' which is a beautiful colour that just happens to not really suit my skin tone. 

2 coats of Barry M 'Mint Green'

The search ended when I stumbled upon the Barry M display in Superdrug when I was in Edinburgh. The polishes were 2 for £5 which felt like a bargain and I felt this colour calling my name. It is a true bright minty green and it doesn't look weird on my hands, a success I think! I was also happy that this polish was cheap and readily available, even when it isn't on offer I believe that it's only £2.99 which still makes it the cheapest mint green colour that i've tried. I've previously been a bit of a snob when it comes to Barry M polishes because they were so cheap but I heard some buzz so I decided to check some out.

'Mint Green' in natural light

The formula on this one wasn't perfect; it was a little thick, not unbearable, I just had to be careful with application because I messed up the first nail I did and had to go back and do that one again. I didn't have any problems with streaking though which was good. I used 2 coats in the photos above which was enough to make it opaque and make the colour pop. Considering this is a pastel shade it is really bright which I loved when I wore this colour in the summer, its so eye catching!

This polish lasted for a decent amount of time before chipping, 3 days before I saw a chip which is pretty standard for me. I was impressed  with this polish considering the low price point, I think there are more expensive polishes that have the same quality. I would repurchase it for sure and I think I'll definitely check out some of their darker colours for autumn, I think 'Cappuccino' will be my next purchase.

Barry M nail paint in colour 304 'Mint Green'

Have you tried any of Barry M's nail paints? What did you think of them?

top 10 nail polish picks for autumn - part 2!

My top 10 nail polish picks for autumn!

I already talked about how much I love autumn and autumn colours in part 1 so I won't bore you too much by going on again. Theres some really great nail polish options out there that fit the season and some great collections have been released for autumn and winter (I can't wait to pick up a few colours from the Jessica 'Spicy Dream' collection!) So without further ado, lets dive into the second half of my favourite polishes for autumn!

(left-right) Chanel 'Rouge noir', Deborah Lippmann 'Ruby red slippers', Barry M 'Navy', OPI 'Designer de-better', Deborah Lippmann 'Diamonds and pearls'

2 coats of Chanel 'Rouge noir'

'Rouge noir' was very raved about a few years back, but the hype seems to have died down in the wake of other polishes such as 'Peridot' and 'Paradoxal'. Oh well, I don't care if its hyped about or not, I still love the colour. Its an extremely blackened red creme that in some lighting comes off as flat black. I love this for when I want to have a fairly neutral (odd calling this colour a neutral, but it does seem to go with everything), dark and moody polish. I don't wear flat black nail polish as it can seem a bit harsh against my pale complexion, especially in the winter months, so this polish is a nice alternative.

3 coats of Deborah Lippmann 'Ruby red slippers'

I got this polish rather a long time ago back at the start of spring and just haven't had a chance to wear it throughout spring and summer. Alas, autumn is upon us and I can now don my 'Ruby red slippers'. This is a black jelly base with red hexagonal chunky glitter and small red shimmer particles running throughout. I think i'll wear this one a lot more closer to christmas time actually but it certainly won't go unworn throughout autumn. The sheerness of the black base is a bit of a bummer if i'm honest but the colours pretty, so I will spend the time, it just probably won't be worn as much as shades the require 1-2 coats.

2 coats of Barry M 'Navy'

I wasn't expecting to like this colour half as much as I actually do, I bought it because I thought it looked like a pretty close dupe for Chanel 'Blue Satin' and thought it would be great if I could find a much cheaper alternative. The truth is I like this polish better than the Chanel one, which i'm surprised by. I find Barry M nail paints to be a bit of a hit or miss but with this one the quality is definitely there. Compared to the Chanel this one is a little less blackened; 'Blue satin' can read as black in dim lighting but this is definitely a metallic navy, which is what I was looking for. I feel it's just the right balance of being dark and rich in colour without being too blackened. I may do a separate comparison post on these two as there's much more to say.

2 coats of OPI 'Designer de-better'

When I first thought of including this polish I wasn't sure whether to include this or the oh so hyped about Orly 'Rage' but I included this one because I like the formula better. 'Designer de-better' is a pretty old OPI shade that came out with the Muppets collection. Its a metallic rose gold shade with tonnes of micro-shimmer. I don't know why but shades like these just seem to suit my skin-tone better in the cooler months, plus I generally prefer metallics and shimmery polishes once summer closes in because they make up for the lack of sun and make me happy.

1 coat of Deborah Lippmann 'Diamonds and pearls' over 2 coats of Essie 'Sand tropez'

This isn't really an autumn colour as much as I wear it all the time so i'm sure that it will be on my nails alot during autumn. In the summer time when i'm a tad less pale I can wear 'Sand tropez' on its own but in the autumn and winter I need something to give it a bit of a lift so that its not completely nude and doesn't make my hands look dead. 'Diamonds and pearls' is a light, shimmery warm-toned polish that is very sheer and best worn over another colour. I think this will look good as a jazzier neutral when the weather starts to close in; plus the shimmer will make me happy when the sun goes away.

So there you have it, my top 10 nail polish picks for autumn 2012, i'm excited for the leaves to start falling so I can jump in a big pile of crunchy leafy goodness :D

Recent additions to my nail polish collection

(Left-Right) Barry M 'Strawberry Ice Cream', Barry M 'Navy', Barry M 'Peach Melba', Barry M 'Mint Green', Essie 'Cute as a Button', Essie 'Fiji', Essie 'Dive Bar', Essie 'Fear & Desire', Deborah Lippmann 'Across the Universe'

This post is now severely out of date and I have posted on a rather large portion of the polishes mentioned but I thought i should post it anyway just in case anyone was interested in seeing the other polishes that I had been buying and had not yet posted on.

Over the summer I was away from home for quite a while (7 weeks to be exact!) and I was missing the majority of my trusty nail polish stash so I couldn't resist making a few additions to my collection and thought that you might like to have a little look at the polishes that I chose. It may seem like a lot but like I said, I was away for quite a while and some of them were on offer.

Deborah Lippmann 'Across the Universe' which I got from House of Fraser for £16

I've looked for this one for a while now, I saw some swatches online which got me very interested and I finally found it last week. I used it as soon as I got it home and I really like it, its very unique. I've done an individual post on it already so check that out.

Barry M 'Mint Green' which I bought from Superdrug, 2 for £5

I have very few green nail varnishes but this one just attracted my eye straight away and I was hooked, my two favourite colours this spring were mint and coral and it was on offer so I thought, why not? In Superdrug it was 2 Barry M nail paints for £5 and I think Boots may have a similar offer on at the moment.

Barry M 'Strawberry Ice Cream' which I bought from Superdrug, 2 for £5

i really don't have too many light pink colours like this and i thought it would be a very nice, kinda effortless colour for me. I've applied it once and I have to say I didn't love the formula but I was tired so perhaps I was just painting badly. I hope so because I love colours like this I just never really pick them up.

Barry M 'Navy' which I bought from Superdrug, 2 for £5

I thought this one would be great for autumn and winter, as you can probably tell from my past posts I love blues and this is a wintry alternative to my favourite summer turquoises and teals. I also have a sneaky suspicion that this may be a pretty good dupe for Chanel 'Blue Satin' which I also own - i'll keep you updated with a comparison post when I get around to using this.

Barry M 'Peach Melba' which I bought from Superdrug, 2 for £5

I put this on my nails the very first day that I got it. I really love this colour for summer and it reminds me of Essie's 'Tart Deco' which I also really love. Its a pretty light, peachy pink. I've used it and application wasn't perfect but it wasn't terrible and I really love the colour.

Essie 'Fiji' which I bought from Boots for £7.99

I've already done a post from this one and I like it, not sure I love it though. It's a nice neutral that's pretty and versatile for summer. I imagine that it would look amazing with a tan but alas my fair skin will probably never know the joy of looking sun-kissed. I

do think i'll end up wearing it a lot though, because it will go with everything.

Essie 'Cute as a Button' which I bought from Boots for £7.99

This is that polish that i've picked up many times, always loved, but never quite got around to buying because I have so many similar shades but I finally got around to buying it when I was away. I love the colour and I love the name. Sadly, it hasn't been worn yet just because of the amount of corally pinks I have but i'm sure i'll get around to wearing it soon.

Essie 'Fear and Desire' which I bought from Boots for £7.99

This polish is lovely and bright, it was perfect for the (unusually) hot UK summer. i wrote about this quite a few posts back, its perfect for us pale girls - its about as bright as I can go without my hands looking dirty. I think that Chanel's 'Holiday' is still my favourite summer orange though.

Essie "Dive Bar' which I bought from Boots for £7.99

I almost can't believe I didn't already have this colour, it screams me in autumn and winter. its a lovely, moody, blackened shimmery teal that I think will be perfect for cold winter days, the shimmer stops it from looking dull. This one has a lot of depth, I really like it.

So a bit of everything really, there were a few shades I didn't really need (although, the eternal question springs to mind - who ever really needs a nail polish?) but i've been working hard so I thought why not treat myself. there have been quite a few additions since this, mainly because of the new Selfridges beauty hall, so i'm sure i'll be doing another one of these posts in the not too distant future.