Recent Barry M Purchases: Swatches Included

It seems like forever since I last shared a nail post. My job has really taken its toll on my nails which is why I’ve moved towards more makeup and vintage posts. But seeing as my nails weren’t too bad last week I thought I would snap a few photos of my recent Barry M purchases.

The Gelly Paints are my absolute favourite polishes so I picked up Acai Smoothie which is from last year’s Spring/Summer release. This is a really gorgeous dusky mauve colour unlike anything in my collection. The formula applies perfectly, as with all the Gelly paints. This is two coats and no top coat.

 

I’ve been looking at swatches of the new Frosted Cupcakes collection since it was released and couldn’t resist grabbing one for myself. I chose Strawberries and Cream which is a soft blush pink. This is packed with crystal flakies but unfortunately getting them to show up was a little tricky. These photos definitely don’t do the sparkle any justice. I’m wearing two coats here with no top coat.

 

I’m constantly impressed with Barry M’s polishes and these two are no exception. Which of these is your favourite?

Ra ❤

Make Up Gallery: Matt Top Coat

Today I have a new and exclusive Make Up Gallery polish to share with you all! Their Matt Top Coat is the latest addition to their products and one that I am very excited about!

Let’s talk about the packaging first. As you can see, the bottle has a very stylish matt finish, which I think makes it look really lovely and much more expensive than it’s £1 price tag! The brush is a large flat style like the rest of Make Up Gallery’s polishes so application is quick and easy.

To show off this beautiful top coat I’ve gone for a nail art using three of my favourite things: purple, polka dots and flowers! I used the gorgeous Parma Violet as the base with Winter White for polka dots, which I did using Make Up Gallery’s marble dotting tool. After applying the top coat I added little flowers (not from Make Up Gallery) for a more interesting design.

The matt top coat applies smoothly and dries rather quickly. This turns matt before it is fully dry so be careful not to smudge your design!

Matt nails are always chic, especially as we go in to autumn, and what better than a good quality top coat at a such a low price! You can get this for yourself in Poundland very soon!

Keep up to date with everything from Make Up Gallery by following them on their social media!

Instagram – Twitter – Facebook – Products

Ra ❤

*This polish was sent to me by Make Up Gallery for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.

 

Born Pretty Store: Fimo Canes

Fimo canes are perfect for adding dimension to your nail art. They come in lots of wonderful designs and it’s a great way to be sure that each image is exactly the same.

Born Pretty Store has gorgeous fimo canes!

You get 10 canes in a pack and the designs you get are completely random so you will hopefully get a nice mix. As you can see, I got some lovely ones!

I read a few reviews about how best to cut these and although a lot of people said a sharp kitchen knife would work, I found that was definitely not the case! I couldn’t get thin slices with a kitchen knife but a craft knife worked perfectly!

Once I had cut a pot full of fimo pieces I got creative and came up with two pretty looks!

This first one is a simple summer mani! I decided to keep things bright and went with a bold orange polish. I then added white blocks on two nails with some little polka dots. After adding a top coat I carefully placed on my flowers to neaten up the edge of the white section.

 

For my second design I’ve gone for all purple! Once I’d added two coats of colour to each nail I painted thin stripes with a nail art brush. I then used the cute purple cat pieces!

 

You can find these here: Fimo Canes!

Would you add fimo to your collection?

Born Pretty Store has everything you could need for gorgeous nail art. And you can use my discount code RARW10 for 10% off your Born Pretty Store order!

Ra ❤

*These fimo canes were sent to me by Born Pretty Store for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.

 

I ❤ Makeup: Nail Geek

Makeup Revolution have fast become one of the most talked about beauty brands with their incredible products and amazing prices. And their sister brand, I ❤ Makeup, is just as popular!

If you are a regular reader then you will know what a fan I am of their nail polish so when I was contacted recently about trying out their newly released Nail Geek collection I was so excited!

There are 45 fabulous new shades that you can buy individually for £1.99 or in collections of 5 for just £7.95!

As you can see the bottles are different to the original Makeup Revolution polishes. For me, the new square shape looks a lot better! The brush has also been updated and is now flat and wide which makes painting your nails much easier and quicker.

Makeup Revolution has really impressed me with this new collection! After trying out a few of the polishes it seems the new formula is really wonderful. The polish goes on smoothly and dries quickly to a glossy finish. From the polishes I have tried out the darker colours need only 1 or 2 coats for opaque and streak free colour but the lighter shades do need to be layered. I will, of course, let you know if this is not the case as I post swatches.

There are so many gorgeous new shades and I can’t wait to share them all with you. Check back soon as I will be posting swatches of the full Nail Geek polish collection!

Ra ❤

Halloween Patchwork Nails

Today I’m sharing my second Halloween nail art of the year!

Orange, green and purple are some of my favourite colours for Halloween so I’ve used all three to create a fun patchwork design!

To create this spooky stitched look I used Barry M’s Bright Purple, Matte Waikiki and Satsuma Gelly Paint. I then used Barry M’s black nail art pen to add detail and finished with a glossy top coat.

This is a pretty easy Halloween nail art! And it looks great in other colours too! :)

Ra ❤

Gradient Nails For A/W!

Gradient art is one of the simplest ways to jazz up your nails and today I have a pretty purple version to show you using Makeup Revolution polishes!

Purple is my favourite colour so I’ve gone for three shades.

I used Lilac Love, Adore and Gravity Pulls You Thru. I added Rimmel’s matte topcoat to finish.

I think these colours look wonderful together and so perfect for A/W! What do you think?

Ra ❤

Purple Gradient Nail Art!

I was going to share another set of Makeup Revolution swatches with you today but thought I would show you a cute nail art using their polishes instead!

For this nail design I have used polishes Adore and Lilac Love along with their top/base coat.

I painted my nails in two coats of Lilac Love and my ring finger with Adore. Once dry I sponged Adore onto the bottom half of the lilac nails. I then applied the top coat and carefully stuck on silver rhinestones.

What do you think of this fun and sparkly manicure? Is it a nail look you would wear? I’d love to see photos if you do give this a go! :)

Ra ❤

Summer Beaded Nail Art

I’ve used Barry M Gelly Paints in Prickly Pear and Guava with purple nail beads for decoration.

The purple and blue look fabulous together, don’t you think?

I think Guava is a really striking shade so to keep the focus on that I only did the beads on two nails. This design is great for a subtle manicure or something bolder which is why I like it so much!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Ra ❤

Makeup Revolution: Nail Polish Swatches Part 3

After I swatched my recent purchases, Makeup Revolution very kindly sent me their entire nail polish collection as a gift (how amazing are they?!). So today I am sharing part 3 of my Makeup Revolution nail polish swatches so you can see how each of their shades look.

I’ve tried to split the collection into colours as best I can so that each post will have about 5 polishes. Seeing as purple is my favourite colour and is very popular right now I thought I would start there. As with my last swatches each photo is of 3 coats of polish.

Lilac Love is the purple counter-part to Call Me Naïve! This is softest lilac polish I’ve ever seen. It’s very pale and looks almost white in some lights.

Adore is everything I want from a purple nail polish. It’s the perfect shade for me! Very similar to Sinful Colors’ Verbena which is one of the polishes I love the most.

Gravity Pulls You Thru is a nice deep plum. This is such a pretty purple and will look great towards autumn.

Heaven’s Above is a little different in terms of formula. This is more of a tinted jelly polish and I absolutely adore it. It’s not exactly a purple, it’s more of a bold red berry colour. I think it’s very classy!

Take Me is a striking metallic polish. This is a vampy shade with a lovely amount of shimmer running through it.

You can find my review of Makeup Revolution’s nail polishes Here.

And I will be posting the another set of swatches very soon! :)

Ra ❤

Little Owls ♥

Today I’m sharing a cute owl nail design. :)

I chose to use our teal purple.

I’m actually quite proud of these. I think they look adorable! And they were quite easy to do! I used the side of the polish brush for the wings and a hair grip for everything else. It’s all made up of dots! I love how well the feather detail turned out. All I did was make a dot in the lighter colour then added a dot of the base colour over the top to get the half moon shape. So easy!

What do you think of my owl nails?

Polishes used: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Watermelon, Plum and Prickly Pear. Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Lemon Sugar and Avon SpeedDry+  in Don’t Be Jaded.

Ra ♥