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.

Gelish Hello Pretty! Collection Floral Outline Nail Art

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I did any nail art using gel polishes, the last time I wore any was when I was on holiday back in June. However, recently I was sent the Gelish Hello Pretty! collection* and I couldn't resist doing a bit of nail art using them. I was going to do individual reviews of each colour, but I normally use PVA as my base and my PVA has gone gloopy and is taking about 45 minutes to dry each time. I tried it first with Manga Round With Me* and then realised it wasn't going to be possible to do each colour until I buy some more PVA, so instead I thought I'd create some fun nail art with the colours, as they work so well together as a collection. I wore these for a week and I was really sad to take them off. I wanted to do something similar to the floral outline I did in these nails, but I make the bigger flowers a bit smaller and I loved how they turned out. 

Mint Half Moons for Avon

Hey everyone! Today was my graduation day, I've had such a nice day seeing friends and family but I'm absolutely exhausted now. Those gowns are heavy! I've had my photo taken too many times to count and it will be nice to have some photographic memories of the day. My dad's a photographer so I didnt pay the (extortionate) fee to have my photo 'professionally' taken. That does mean no picture with a scroll, and I forgot to throw my hat in the air for a photo, so I guess I'm missing out on the stereotypical graduation photos but I still had a lovely time. However, I unfortunately didn't have time to do my nails, so I went with them plain, I felt like a fraud. So today's nails are some from last week that I created for Avon. I've never properly done half moons before so I gave them a go and I was pretty proud of how they turned out considering I completely freehanded them! 

OPI Hawaii Collection Swirls Nail Art

Hey everyone! I promised you a review of the OPI Hawaii collection* a couple of weeks ago but I just haven't had time to edit the pictures with revision, so in the mean time I've got some nail art using my favourite three polishes from the collection. It's nothing complicated but I like the abstract look it creates. All I used for these was OPI - That's Hularious*, OPI - Is Mai Tai Crooked?*, OPI - Do You Take Lei Away?* and a striping brush, they only took me 5 minutes and I liked the end result. I think maybe if I was to try them again I'd add white, but who knows!

Happy Clouds

Hey everyone! A very very quick post from me today because I'm off to bed, but enjoy these cute little smiley clouds I created for Avon using Avon - Sea Breeze. They're cute and so so simple to create if you're looking for something quick and effective. Sorry for the rushed post, I have a couple of exciting things coming up this week if all goes to plan, including a mani swap, so be on the look out for those!

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

Alice

Baby it's cold outside

Hey everyone! This morning I found ice on my car, which means it's definitely officially winter, and therefore time for winter/festive nail art. I feel like I cant really get in the festive spirit until I've bought all my christmas presents and as I've only bought my boyfriend's I can't really say I've done enough to be able to relax and enjoy the build up to Christmas. I'm setting myself a goal to have finished all my shopping by the end of next week but we'll see how that goes! Today's nail art design is this cute snowmen design I created for Avon. They were super simple to create, even though they might not look it for some people, and they only took about 20 minutes to do. Snowmen are such a go-to winter design but I've actually never done them before so it was quite fun to do something different!

Tribal Nail Art for Avon + Tutorial

Hey everyone! Just a quick post tonight, I have no reason behind it except that I've spent my whole evening listening to 1989 and that's enough of an excuse for me, I absolutely love this album, can't wait to torment my friends by repeatedly playing it for the next few months! Anyway, tonight's nails are some tribal nails I created for Avon last month, they were meant to be a simple look but I ended up getting a bit carried away and they're definitely not simple anymore. I also created a tutorial for these so hopefully you can follow it, I got a bit distracted between steps so there's a bit of a jump.

Picture Polish 2014 Collaborations: Forget Me Not, Sizzle, Fools Gold and Unicorn - Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! As promised I have four of the new Picture Polish collaborations for you today, including two from my friends Sammy (The Nailasaurus), and Allie (Brit Nails). These are my first ever Picture Polishes and I'm really really impressed, I can definitely see why it has such a good reputation as a company. All of these polishes are good quality, dry quickly and look great, what more could you want?

Review Week, Day 5: Carabella Lacquer Limited Edition Polishes

Hey everyone! I'm making it my mission to post 3 times tonight, even though it's nearly 1am, I am determined that review week will be over and done with by the time I go to bed, but if not then tomorrow morning will see the last of the posts. I bet you're all glad to see the back of it with the amount I've been moaning! I promise I'll be much less moany next week. Anyway, Day 5 is a couple of polishes from Carabella Lacquer. I won these in a giveaway Lucy from Lucy's Stash held in February. The polishes were created especially for the giveaway so I was extremely thrilled to have won them, and they're absolutely gorgeous. The colours are really unique and brilliant quality. I hadn't heard of Carabella Lacquer before trying these but if they're anything to by then this brand is definitely one to check out. You can see her etsy store here.

Review Week, Day 2: Deborah Lippmann Spring Reveries 2014 Collection Swatches

Hey everyone! I'm back to day 2 of review week, this time with some Deborah Lippmann polishes. You may have seen my previous reviews here, and here, which included some of the Spring Reveries collection, and now I'm back to show you the rest of the collection. I have loved the polishes I've tried so far, and these are no different. We all know my love of pastels so this collection is just perfect for me!

Graffiti Nails - Swatches Part 1

Hey everyone! Since my announcement about the launch of Graffiti Nails I've been incredibly excited to show you my first swatches of them, and today I have part 1 of 3 to show you with the first 5 polishes. Don't forget that you can buy these now on the Graffiti Nails website if you're in the UK. We do have plans to go international but for now we're UK only I'm afraid. You can keep up to date with any news on our Facebook. Today I'm showing you Fairy Wings, Pistachio, Tuscany, Very Nude and Silver Pearl. 

Can't Let Go of Summer

Hey everyone! So summer is officially over, but I couldn't resist one last summery design. These were my original design for the beauty and the beach competition, of all my failed designs this was my favourite but looking back on it now it's probably the worst and it's a good job I didn't choose it. Even still, it would make great a simple and easy design for summer, if it wasn't over!

The base for these was Essence - That's What I Mint, sponged with Barry M - Blueberry, then with MASH - White, then with Butter London - Cuppa. I'm not sure about the colours used for the details, but it was topped off with Seche Vite

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

Alice

Heart shaped studs review

Hey everyone! I totally forgot to post last night, I spent most of my night doing nails, not just my own, and didn't have the energy to post when I finally remembered at 1am. So here I am today, which means you'll probably get 3 posts in a row this week. (Surely that's a bonus?)

So today's post is a review of some awesome 6mm heart shaped studs that I recieved from KKcentreHK. I decided to create a valentines design with them (duh) but I probably should have chosen a different colour for the flowers because they're not very clear as you can see! 

I actually really liked these studs, they're not very practical as they dont lay completely flat, but for the many of you who wear bows and studs and whatever else on your nails I really dont think that will be in an issue. I'd love it if they were miniscule but even at the size they are I cant wait to use them again. 

They come in a small packet with around 40-50 studs inside. But that's actually a lot considering that you can easily reuse these multiple times. The base for these nails was OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape, and I used OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the 'white' and Essie - Beyond Cozy for the glitter.

I know a lot of you come here for nail inspiration, so for those of you who anxiously waiting the arrival of your 6mm heart studs that you just realised you wanted, here is an alternative design for valentines day:

The studs sell here for $5, which I think is actually really good value for money. especially when you can use my code 'ONTRTA' to get 10% off!

What do you think? Will you be buying these studs? And which manicure do you prefer? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Tomorrow is also the last day to enter my GIVEAWAY so dont forget!

This product was sent to me for review but any opinions included are entirely my own and were not affected in any way by anyone else

Day 26: Inspired by a pattern

I had a billion ideas for this but I chose this one because it was different to my usual style, hope you like it!

All done with dotting tools of different sizes on a background of China Glaze - Refresh Mint

Alice

Day 20: Watermarble

So as I mentioned yesterday, I'm doing day 19 and day 20 in the wrong order. Mainly because I was dreading the watermarble and just wanted to get it out of the way and secondly because I'm now not going to be at home for a month. I've brought all my nail varnishes with me (yes, all 300+ of them D:) because I'm a crazy lady but I wanted to be sure I could do them with the materials I have at home + my sisters help (which just meant she stood there and watched basically, but still).

So here you go, watermarble nails. I HATE WATERMARBLING. I was surprised I even managed to get a pattern this time, normally it just sinks to the bottom, although they're still awful. I also made them matte, to give them a little bit of awesomeness, if not much. Though I do quite like the thumb, I smudged the corner which is why there's some random dots there but the whole frenchie effect is pretty cool, a total accident but nevertheless still cool.

You only get one photo because I'm so ashamed. If it wasn't part of a challenge I wouldn't even post them, so consider yourselves (un)lucky to get one ;)
Alice

Day 13: Animal Print

Hello! So today was animal print in the challenge and (again) I wanted to be as original as possible, so I googled around a bit (trusty google, eh?) and saw lots of pictures of pretty frogs (okay, not that pretty because they're frogs but interesting) and decided upon a simple design because I knew I didn't have much time. Hope you like it!

I used:

• China Glaze - Refresh Mint
• A mix of Barry M Black and Barry M Mushroom 
• Topped off with Seche Vite

Alice