Nail Art

Barry M have brought out three new ‘Chameleon’ shades – these are polishes which apply in one colour, then, when you add a clear polish or topcoat, they change to be a different colour. This makes for quick and easy nail art, or a quick way to polish up an old-looking manicure. Yesterday I showed you Barry M Chameleon Blue, and I also have Chameleon Lilac to show you when I can!

Also, I swear, my nails did not look this tatty in person! It was only when I’d uploaded the photos that I realised how tatty my polishing was. Whoops. Sorry about that.

Where the darker purple shows, is where I added Barry M All-in-One Basecoat Topcoat & Nail Hardener – including a complete coat on my pinkie finger.

Here, like yesterday, I played around with Barry M Limited Edition Silver Glitter, which had the same effect but with added sparkle. Silver Glitter is still available on the Boots Website, and is apparently due to reappear in Boots sometime in the next 2 weeks!

 Chameleon Pink is a gorgeous salmon-rose coloured shimmer, with almost a chromey-finish to it. It’s gorgeous on it’s own, even without the colour-changing effect! The polish becomes a gorgeous jelly-ish purple when you add either a clear polish or topcoat – here I used Barry M’s ‘All-In-One Basecoat Topcoat & Nail Hardener’. As with Chameleon Blue, the colours on the cap are very accurate to the colour on the nail, both the original pink and the topcoat-induced purple.

Application:

Again, this polish was a little on the thick side. For this reason I’d suggest you apply thin coats to avoid bubbling and long dry-times. The photos all show 2 coats (force of habit), but the polish was opaque in one coat. The polish wasn’t too brushstroke-y so no need to worry about applying in straight lines! Once you have the topcoat/clear polish on, the colour appears darker the thicker you apply the topcoat. So, if you find it looks streaky or too pale, add another coat of topcoat. DO wear a basecoat!!! I have moderate staining on my nails after this one, partly because mine are chipped and peeling and my basecoat is old, gloopy and in need of replacement – I reckon a slick of normal basecoat will save your nails from staining.

What do you think? Will you be trying out the Chameleon polishes? They retail at £3.99 in Superdrug, and will be stocked in Boots next Wednesday (13th June!).

x

Disclaimer: Barry M kindly sent me this polish as a ‘get-well-soon’ gift, but all opinions expressed are my own.

Barry M have brought out three new ‘Chameleon’ shades – polishes which apply in one colour, and change to another colour when you add top coat. Much like the discontinued No.7 Miracle Plum I showed you last week, these polishes are unique to the current market and I absolutely blooming love them!

Barry M kindly sent me Chameleon Blue and Chameleon Pink as I was in hospital yesterday and just about recovering now – this is apparent in the bubbles you will see on my nails!! I’m fairly sure it’s user-error and not the polish’s fault – see the below photo of my thumb to prove that this polish can be applied nicely!

See? Perfecto 😛

The polish how it appears when first applied.

Add a layer of topcoat/clear polish and away you go! The red bits are the bits which are covered with topcoat, including the whole of my middle finger.

Here I layered Barry M Limited Edition Silver Glitter over the tips of my nails – just to check whether it would have the same effect on the colour. Looks like sprinkles, no? 🙂 For those of you who missed out on Silver Glitter – it’s still available on Boots Website, and apparently will be back in Boots in roughly 2 weeks!

 Chameleon Blue is initially a gorgeous slate-blue-silver shimmer. Once you add a layer of topcoat or clear nail polish (here I used Barry M’s ‘All-In-One Basecoat Topcoat & Nail Hardener’), it becomes a gorgeous pinky-burgundy-red. What I love about this effect is it gives it a jelly-like appearance. Also, the thicker the coat of clear polish, the more rich the red becomes – see the difference between each of my nails for reference! This can leave it a little streaky – if that happens, add another layer of clear polish.

Application:

Chameleon Blue itself is quite a thick polish – not one to apply when recovering from general anaesthetic, haha! The formula is very similar to that of Barry M Denim, thick but buttery, and is opaque in one coat. The photos all show 2 coats as I was trying to cover up my accidental bubbles 😉 Seriously though, do apply thinly to avoid bubbles. Happily, the polish didn’t show too many brushstrokes, so unless you streak it right from one corner of the nail to the other, you don’t need to worry too much about applying it neatly.

I really really love this colour both alone and with clear topcoat, and I can’t wait to try out the others in the collection. My three top tips for this one are:

• Apply the polish as thinly as you can to avoid bubbles.
• If the burgundy/red looks streaky, apply a second coat of clear polish!
• EDIT: Wear a basecoat!! I have a bit of staining after taking this one off. Beware!

I was really pleased to see that the colours on the cap matched the colours of the polish almost exactly – all too often I’ve been taken in by packaging claims so I’m glad this was accurate. I noticed that the polish applies a shade lighter than the bottle colour, which shows a lot more purple, so if you’re wondering whether this suits you, definitely check against the lid colour not the polish colour in the bottle!

What do you think? Will you be trying out the Chameleon polishes? They retail at £3.99 in Superdrug, and will be stocked in Boots next Wednesday (13th June!).

x

Disclaimer: Barry M kindly sent me this polish as a ‘get-well-soon’ gift, but all opinions expressed are my own.

 

So as we all know, it’s our good ole Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this weekend. I love celebrating being British, and I have a lot of respect for much of the Royal family. I decided to attempt Union Jack nails… they look a LOT worse in the photos than they seem to in real life, I suppose because you tend not to scrutinise real life nails like photographs allow you to! My brother thought I had nail wraps on, which is good enough for me!

If you look at my nails out of focus then they don’t look so bad 😉 This is the illusion real life has given my nail art 🙂

I used:

• Barry M Navy
• Barry M Matt White
• Boots 17 Knockout Red
• Rimmel Pro Superwear Ultra Shine Topcoat
• Nail Art Brush set

Now I am not blessed with ambidexterity. I struggled using my dominant (right) hand for this so, if you want to see how my right hand turned out, well, prepare yourself for a nail fail!

I didn’t even bother to clean up – sadly I am walking round with my right hand still looking like this. Ah well.

What nails are you sporting for the Jubilee?

x

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

The third Barry M Magnetic polish is this – a lovely gunmetal and black shimmer with a fishnet-style magnet. The pictures don’t do this justice. And sorry for the messiness of my nails this time!

This is just stunning on the nails! The pattern is fantastic, I can’t decide whether I prefer this pattern or that of Barry M Magnetic Blue. I think I’ll have to try this pattern on the blue… seems like the perfect combination! Anyways, Dark Silver applies a silvery-gunmetal grey, then the magnet pulls the black particles through to create this wicked 3D effect.

Application:

The photos show 2 coats. The polish does dry fairly quickly so be sure to get your magnet over it fast! If you aren’t familiar with how to magnetise your polish, Barry M have given us a great Magnetic nail paint tutorial. Basically, as soon as you’ve painted the 2nd coat, hover the magnet over your nail using the curved lip on the edge of the magnet as a guide to how much space you leave between magnet and nail. I think I’m getting the hang of magnetising now… I think!

And if you aren’t a fan of the magnetic look, Dark Silver does also look gorgeous as a normal polish:

A lovely gunmetal shimmer!

What do you think? The Magnetic nail paints are currently on sale in Boots, Superdrug and Barry M’s website, and retail for £4.99. Which one is your favourite?

x

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

This is one of those shades that is notoriously difficult to capture on camera – fabulous in person, but the camera just doesn’t like it! Sherbet Fizz, I believe, is a re-release from Ciaté, as part of their ‘Forget-Me-Nots‘ collection. It’s so perfect for summer! A lovely glacé cherry-red pinky coral colour (I totally can’t make my mind up what it is!) and ever so pretty.

 Sherbet Fizz is a gorgeous cherry pink red jelly packed with shimmer. It is very sheer, which is both an advantage (it can be used for layering) and a disadvantage (it takes a lot to build up to opacity). Nevertheless I love it, it makes me think of delicious puddings with cherries on top 🙂

Application:

The photos show 4 coats. And I could still see the free edge of my nail, though I’m sure this is partly due to the staining on my nails. I don’t know whether this polish would ever be opaque, it seems to have that ‘I’m going to make your free edge glow’ property about it, lol! In most lights the free edge wasn’t visible apart from outdoors in natural daylight. Which incidentally made the polish look a lot more orange than it is, too. The polish dried quickly which is always a bonus with sheer polishes. The application was an absolute breeze, like with Ciaté Angel Wings, the long brush and flat bristles of perfect thickness and width make it an amazing polish to work with. I think it’s probably my favourite nail polish brush of all time.

Overall, I really really love the colour. I think it will look fab layered over various different pinks and reds, maybe even orange, over the summer! Also for those of you with short nails and little free-edge, the opacity won’t be a problem. What do you think? Sherbet Fizz retails at £9.

I had a moment of inspiration and decided to do a flowery accent nail:

(It didn’t look this tatty in person – promise!) I used:

• Ciaté Sherbet Fizz as the base
• 2 coats of Barry M Matt White
• Marks and Spencer Blue for the dots
• Rio Nail Art Pen in Red for the petally bits
• Rio Nail Art Pen in Black for the stripe

Hope you like it. I’m aiming to do much more nail art in the near future!

x

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me by Ciaté as a gift, but not for review purposes.