Gelish Forever Fabulous Collection - Review + Swatches Part 2

Before I start, I just wanted to say that I am aware that this blogpost is very very delayed, but I do have a genuine reason. Just before Christmas I was in a car crash and I've had really bad whiplash ever since, which has meant that I can't paint my nails for more than an hour or two at a time before I'm in too much pain to carry on. So it's been a very slow process trying to get these swatched! Sorry if this is a bit too delayed, but I hope you like my swatches anyway. 

This is the second part of my review of the Gelish - Forever Fabulous collection*, the first part can be found here. The second half of the collection is full of colours that I would definitely associate with Marilyn Munroe, read on for all my thoughts. 

Barry M - Coconut Infusion Full Collection review + swatches

Hey everyone! Today I have the brand new Barry M - Coconut Infusion Collection* to show you. These have just been released, and contain a completely new formula to regular Barry M nail polish. As described by Barry M their 'unique blend of coconut water and coconut oil gently hydrates and nourishes nails while delivering a beautifully smooth, gel-like glossy manicure'. How many times have we heard these claims? I certainly thought these would just be another 'fad' nail polish. I really couldn't have been more wrong. I'm not exaggerating when I say these are the best formula of nail polish I've ever experienced. Barry M have completely outdone themselves, baring in mind that their gelly polishes were already some of my favourites, if not my favourite. The application of all of these polishes was silky smooth, two coats for every polish and they dry really fast. As in, faster than the speedy dry polishes. I would describe these as a combination of the gelly polishes and the speedy polishes with all the best qualities. I can't attest for the hydrating qualities, I'm not really sure how you'd test that, but they definitely deliver a 'smooth, gel-like glossy manicure'. 

One thing I did notice about the collection is that quite a few of the polishes are largely similar to other Barry M polishes, I imagine this was so that favourite colours could be reinvented with this new formula, but I wanted to compare and contrast them with their similar counterparts so you can see what to expect. So with each colour is an individual comparison of similar shades. As a warning this will be a super long post, but it's definitely worth the read as this collection should be top of your wishlist.

Barry M Autumn Glitter Leaves

Hey everyone! It's been so long since I created these nails that I'd completely forgotten I did them. I did them last Autumn, but Autumn had finished by the time I got around to thinking about posting them and it was too late. So instead I thought I'd save them for this year, and luckily I remembered before it was too late this year. I created these for Barry M using their Autumn 2014 Gelly collection, and a full tutorial is after the jump.

Barry M Sunset Cotton Bud Stamping

Hey everyone! I have some more nail art using the Barry M Sunset collection for you today. You can see the first lot here, and my review here. I'm sure it's clear by now that I really like doing this cotton bud stamping design. It's just so easy to do and it looks really effective, I might even do some more this weekend. I apologise if you're bored of seeing them but they probably wont be going away anytime soon.

Dark Romance Roses

Hey everyone! Today I'm showing you the second roses design that I promised in this post when I mentioned that I hadn't created roses in a while but ended up creating a couple of designs at once.  It's also my first nail art post using the newest Barry M - Sunset Collection*, which I reviewed here. I don't want to claim these to be 'realistic' but they're probably as realistic as I'm going to get as I don't tend to try to make roses look real, ever. With these I really did just mix pinks together until I thought it looked okay and they ended up looking a lot like petals (or at least I think so), I just wish I'd added more detail to the leaves!

Review Week, Day 2: Kiko Daring Game Nail Polish

Hey everyone! Today's review is another that I was shocked to find I hadn't posted. I know I'm ditzy but losing 5 full reviews among my many (I thought previously quite well organised) folders on my laptop is a new one for me! These are two of the Poker nail polish shades from the Kiko 2014 Daring Game collection. You've seen a few of the make up bits here and there in my monthly favourites (which I'll hopefully be bringing back this month for anyone wondering) but I've neglected the nail polishes entirely, which is odd for me, what with me having a nail art blog ... I'm such a fool sometimes. I was really impressed with these polishes, they're not expensive but the packaging is great (for everything in the Daring Game collection, not just the polishes) and they're really great quality.

Tutorial: Autumn Birds for Barry M

Hey everyone! I hope you've all had a good week! I'm hoping next week will be a bit better for me. You may or may not have noticed but I decided to take a few days break from blogging, it's not been too long but things were getting a bit on top of me so I thought a few days break might do me good, I haven't even turned my laptop on for 3 days, which for me is a very weird occurrence. Now I feel ready to get back in to blogging, I'm going to try and post a lot more as I have a huge backlog of posts to show you. 

Today's post is another tutorial I created for Barry M, my last design was this toadstool design and you all seemed to love it, so hopefully you like this one just as much! I absolutely love birds, and I knew I wanted to incorporate them into a tutorial at some point, I still get requests to do a tutorial for my Rob Ryan bird nails, but for now this shall have to do! Tutorial steps will be after the jump

Barry M - Autumn/Winter 2014 'Tribal' Gellies Collection Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! Today I have a long-overdue review of the six gorgeous new gellies from Barry M for Autumn 2014. I've heard this described as the 'Tribal' collection and an email from Barry M said the same thing, I don't know if that's an official term for the collection but I think it suits it. It also suits just being an autumn collection, as the colours are so perfectly autumnal. I've already done quite a bit of nail art with these which will be coming up soon, and I'm sure I'll be doing plenty more designs! 

Review Week, Day 1: OPI - Brazil Collection 2014 Swatches

Hey everyone! I realised the other day that I didn't post a single review in August, which is a first in a very long time. However, it wasn't because I didn't have anything to post, I just kind of ... forgot. I did all the reviews and the pictures have been left unedited in folders on my computer and I completely forgot that I hadn't posted them. So this week, it's time to edit them, finally, and bring them to the blog, there's a lot of exciting stuff to see so I'm going to be doing a review week. I am working full time (as in 7 days a week) at the moment so I might end up missing a day, but I'll just post two reviews the next day if that's the case. I'll be posting twice tomorrow because I've got my monthly favourites to show you as well.

Today's I have three polishes from the OPI - Brazil collection to show you: Live, Love, Carnaval* (which I showed you in my monthly favourites here), Red Hot Rio* and OPI Scores a Goal!*. This is a slightly older OPI collection, as it was released a few months ago, but it contains some really gorgeous shades that are definitely worth having a look at if you havent already (although, have you been living under a rock not to have seen them?).

Barry M Summer 2014 Gelly Nail Polish Collection - Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! Today I have the absolutely gorgeous new Barry M Summer Gelly collection to show you. When I first saw this collection I thought it seemed a bit mismatched, and I wasn't entirely sure if the colours worked together, but now I've seen them in person I definitely think they all work well together. There are a lot of really unique and gorgeous colours that definitely deserve a chance. The collection includes my new favourite off-white polish, as you'll see below, so that alone is enough to make the collection my favourite! 

Review Week, Day Five: Nicole by OPI Gumdrops Collection Swatches

Hey everyone! It's been a day full of swatching and editing for me, just so I could have the reviews done for this weekend before I came home, although with the weather I didn't really want to leave to come home in the first place, so it may have taken longer than usual as I delayed and delayed and delayed, and I didn't end up getting home until late. Anyway, for the fifth day of review week I have the gorgeous Nicole by OPI Gumdrops collection. I know for those of you outside the UK this is a relatively old collection, but in the UK these were only released in Superdrug in November and I was lucky enough to be sent them to review, and I thought this week would be the perfect chance to showcase them. These retail for £8 each and I'd definitely recommend picking some up! I've shown a couple with topcoat for you to see how they're transformed, I intended to show all with topcoat but I just couldn't get my camera to focus properly for most of the day and I gave up in the end, but hopefully you still enjoy!

Review Week, Day Two: Barry M Silk Collection Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! So for day 2 of review week I have the amazing new Barry M silk collection. I'm so excited to be able to review this because it's such a unique collection. When I saw images of the bottles I assumed it was just another shimmer collection, but these polishes dry matte, and that truly makes them unique. 

Tutorial Tuesday: Christmas Pudding

Hey everyone! Today's Tutorial Tuesday happens to be on a Wednesday, as you may notice. I was working on a super exciting project last night (which you shall see in January) and completely forgot to write the post, I'm sorry! Nevertheless, you shall still get a tutorial, and this weeks tutorial is for these Christmas puddings. Many of you requested that I start doing Christmas tutorials, and now it's finally December I don't feel like I'm betraying my scrooge-ness too much by doing so. I have quite a few Christmas tutorials for you this year, so I might start posting more than one a week, would that be okay? Anyway, the rest of the post, including the steps, will be after the jump.

New Video Tutorial: Boston Terrier Dog Nails

Hey everyone! Today I have a brand new youtube tutorial for you all, it's been more than 3 months since my last one so it was definitely time! When I posted my Boston Terrier nails I got a few requests for a tutorial, and although I originally intended to a picture tutorial, I thought it would perhaps be easier to understand if I did a video tutorial. I didn't have long to do these nails at all, which is why they look very rushed, but I'm sure if you're taking time you can do a better job than me!

If you're wondering what I have on my nails, my post for those nails is here. I have an unfortunate habit of picking polish off, which is why they're chipped, I promise you the wraps stay for ages!

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Alice

Barry M Autumn/Winter 2013 Classic Matte Nail Polish Collection

Hey everyone! Today I have one of Barry M's exciting new collections to show you, the Classic Matte collection. I'll be posting the Royal Glitter collection and the other new polishes within the next week. They are due for release on the 25th September in Superdrug and October 2nd in Boots. I'm really impressed with this whole collection, and with what I've seen of the other collections. Barry M has really pulled it out of the bag this time!

I'll put the rest of the post after the jump otherwise it may end up being too long

Essie - Then and Now: Review, Nail Art +GIVEAWAY

Hey everyone! Today I have an exciting new colour by Essie to show you called 'Then and Now'*. I hope I didn't confuse you too much with the title, I know some of you were probably expecting one of my comparison posts between my old work and new work,  but alas, today is just some new work, which hopefully you shall enjoy just as much! Essie have teamed up with Then and Now to create this gorgeous grey/brown shade. You can buy it here on their website but I will also be giving away a bottle to one lucky reader, you can enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

For these nails I started off with 2 extremely easy coats of Essie - Then and Now* and I used Nicole by OPI - Spring Break* and Nicole by OPI - Selena* for the roses, along with Rimmel - Misty Jade* for the leaves, all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Giveaway image

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The rules of the giveaway are under the 'Terms and Conditions' part of the widget, please make sure to read all the rules before entering but for those who are reading for those all important words, it is open internationally.

What do you think? Do you like the colour/nail art? 

Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Brown Hearts

Hey everyone! Today's post was just an experiment I did ages ago with some nail art pens, and not a very successful one, so I've been debating whether or not to post it. However, I'm having a few issues with some of my other posts and until they're resolved this is all I have, so enjoy. 

This is on a base of Models Own - Nude Beige, and I used Supreme nail art pens for the design, topped off with a coat of Seche Vite

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Butter LONDON Glitter Swatches

Hey everyone! Today I have a selection of glitters from ButterLONDON to show you, as I mentioned yesterday in this post. This was my first time trying ButterLONDON and I must say that I'm really really impressed. As always the rest of the swatches will be after the jump

Models Own Artstix Duo Nail Polish Review + Nail Art

Hey everyone! I apologise for my hiatus due to my broken laptop, but I now have a wonderful new one so I should have quite a few posts coming up for you. This post was meant to be up last week but obviously I haven't been able to, so you can enjoy it now instead. Today I have two Models Own Artstix Duos to show you, Pink Stuff* and Nude Jack* which were released on the 17th April so are now available in boots and online for £6, which considering their polishes are usually £5 each is a really good deal for 2 colours! 

The rest of the photos will be after the jump to avoid spamming you! 

Collection 2000 'Twilight' review and nail art

Hey everyone! So unless you didn't get my hint the other day and you didn't see my tumblr post yesterday then you should know that today I'm reviewing Collection 2000's Hot Looks "Twilight" collection. All pictures are taken in natural light. Hope you like it, pictures after the jump!