Barry M - Candy Culture Collection Review + Swatches

It feels like forever since I last did a full review. I find that more and more I prefer using polishes in nail art and reviewing them that way, but now and again I can't resist an old-fashioned swatch post. And the latest Barry M Candy Culture Collection* was just too cute to be able to resist reviewing. It's been so cold and miserable lately that it's nice to have some lovely spring polishes to brighten things up a bit.  These gorgeous pastel shades are from the first ever Barry M scented range. I found that they all smelt strong enough that you knew they were scented, but not strong enough that it was overpowering. Barry M claim that these shades only require two coats and dry with a soft matte finish, read on to find out what I thought...

Barry M - Black Cats

Happy Halloween! Whilst I said yesterday it felt like Halloween was over, I got back into the spirit today. We bought soooo many sweets for trick or treaters because we live right near a school, and we didn't get a single one! I'm guessing the creepy ghouls we've got stuck to our windows were too much, who knows? Anyway, my final Halloween design is hopefully a bit less spooky, but still on theme: black cats! 

To the horror of my boyfriend (he definitely prefers dogs), cats are my favourite animal and would be my pet of choice, so it seemed fitting to paint them on my nails this halloween. This isn't the first time I've done black cat nails (see here), but it is the first time I've done them this way, and I love the combination of pastel and black. This was my last design in collaboration with Barry M, I hope you've enjoyed them! 

I used Barry M - Rose Hip* as my base, and then I used Barry M - Black Forest* and Barry M - Cotton*, finished with Barry M - Matte Topcoat*. 

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

Alice

Barry M - Pastel Halloween Bats

It's almost the weekend, and that means one thing... halloween party! I'm so excited. This is the first proper party we've hosted in the new house so I'm really looking forward to it, and I can't wait to put halloween decorations up tomorrow. As I mentioned in my last post, I've got quite a few halloween designs to post, so here's the second one I created for Barry M: pastel bats. 

These were a combination of different ideas I'd seen on Pinterest. I loved the idea of an ombre effect on the nails, and I'd seen a few mini bat designs, so I combined the two, and I really love how these turned out. 

Soft Scoop - Meebox April '17 Nail Art + Review

Hey everyone! Here's the second of the two Meebox reviews I promised you. This one is slightly more delayed than the last, especially as this was actually technically April's box, but nevertheless it still had some gorgeous polishes in that I wanted to showcase for you, albeit slightly later than I would have liked. April's Soft Scoop Box* included £42.98 worth of products, which is a bargain when the box is only £20 (or even less if you sign up for a few months). What I love about Meebox is that it pushes me to try out brands I wouldn't usually, or who I've never even heard of. This time it contained:

IZ Beauty - Baby Blue

Trust Fund - Do you Know Who Your Father Is 

Model's Own - Banana Split

Zoya - Matte Top Coat

Whats Up Nails Decals 

Whats Up Nails Confetti

I like to set myself the challenge of trying to use all the products from the box, but unfortunately I couldn't decide on a design that showcased the confetti, but otherwise all the products are included in the nail art. 

Vintage Orly Flowers

Hey everyone! Hope your Monday wasn't too bad, I've actually managed to be productive and relatively healthy today so it feels like a winner of a day (and there's only 20 minutes of it left UK time). I finally got around to doing some designs on Saturday and it was so nice to sit down and have the time to do a design I like once again. I decided to search for some inspiration on Pinterest and when I came across this design by La Paillette Frondeuse I knew instantly that I had to recreate it. I'm so pleased with how these turned out, I took them off pretty much instantly afterwards to do some other designs and I've been regretting it ever since. But as it's the first day of spring (even if the weather doesn't match) it seemed fitting to post some spring nails today.

Paint All The Nails Presents Pastel Geometric

Hey everyone! It's time for another Paint All The Nails link up, this month we decided to do 'pastel' as our theme, and then we realised that was probably a bit vague, so we went with 'pastel geometric' instead. I must admit, I'm not too happy with how I've done this prompt. I couldn't quite tear myself away from my new favourite colour, which is Gelish - Last Call* (full review soon), so I decided to just add my pastel geometric on top. But unfortunuately I don't think there's quite enough pastel for them to be considered pastel, if that's makes any sense. Emily, of Very Emily, persuaded me to post them nevertheless though, and I didn't want to back out of the challenge when I'd already created something, so here we are!  

Pastel Bunting Nail Art for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I've had such a busy week this week. I hadn't appreciated how easy life actually was as a student in terms of having time to see my friends, it's so difficult to balance everything around work and also not be completely exhausted. I also went to the gym for the first time in a year on monday now that I'm back home and I can commit to a membership, and it absolutely killed me. I've only just started walking properly again. I'm even more unfit than I thought!  Anyway, today's nail art is some cute and simple bunting that I created for Divine Caroline. I also created a tutorial if you want to check it out here. The colours I used for these are all from Mavala and Barry M. The base is Mavala - Lavander*, then I used Barry M - Sugar Apple, Miami and Cotton, and I used Mavala - Lemon Cream* and Pistachio* for the detailing.

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

Alice

Lilac Barry M Gradient

Hey everyone! It's been hectic around here for a few days. I did my last shift at my old job on Saturday and I've spent the past few days sorting out my stuff for my new job. I also spent the day at Ikea yesterday (on the hottest day of the year and my last day of freedom before starting full time work!) buying stuff so that I can live at my boyfriends without living out of a rucksack constantly. So it's been a busy few days. But today I have some nails for you that I created quite a while ago for nail art society at university, which shows how old these are considering we've not done nail art society for over 4 months and they were done well before that. These are just a simple gradient using Barry M products, they're not the best gradient I've ever done, but they're not worth hiding away forever either.

Pastel Tribal Nail Art for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I seem to almost be sorted for my holiday now, I just need to pack (yes, I've left it until the last minute!), do my nails and schedule some blog posts. Fingers crossed I can get it all done tomorrow. Today's blogpost is one I've been really excited to show you because it took me forever to do. I always get so carried away with tribal/aztec nail art, I just can't make it simple. So once again I put a lot of detail into these aztec nails that I created for Divine Caroline. If you're interested in knowing how I created these I also did a tutorial here. 

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

Alice

Happy Easter!

Hey everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely easter weekend, I still had to work Saturday but I got Sunday off so it's fine. I've had a really relaxing day, especially now I've finally finished my dissertation! I feel so relieved. Today's nails are some quick easter nails I created for Avon. I was going to do all the nails patterned but I ended up liking it on alternate nails, so I left them like that. I think skittle nails always work well for Easter as well, especially in pastel.

Orange Pastel Paisley with River Island

Hey everyone! Today I have something a little different to show you. I've come together with River Island to do some nails based on their new Spring/Summer pastel collections. It's been a while since I tried any paisley. I wish that I'd done the detailing in a lighter colour to keep with the pastel theme, but at the same time I like how they came out. My inspiration for these nails and information on how to create them is after the jump!

Simple Pink Polka Dots

Hey everyone! Today I've just got a really simple polka dot design for you all. It's nothing you haven't all seen a million times, but I think polka dots never fail to impress. I just wanted something quick and simple considering I don't have much free time at the moment, and I've been surprised at how much I've ended up loving these, I cant stop staring at my nails! They also make me look a shade darker than a ghost for once thanks to the lightness of the pink, so that's always a bonus.

Review Week, Day 1: Nicole by OPI - Roughles Collection

Hey everyone! Apologies for the big gap in-between posting, it's been a busy week this week and I also just wanted to focus on myself a bit as I've been feeling quite stressed recently. I intended to do a week of reviews from Monday-Friday but unfortunately didn't have the chance so I'm going to do my best to do it Wednesday - Sunday instead but if not it might overrun into next week. It's been a while since I posted a review, and when I was sorting through my files on my laptop last week I realised I have a lot of unpublished reviews which I thought I had posted, like these pictures from the Nicole by OPI Summer 2014 Roughles collection! I definitely swore quite loudly when I came across the folder and realised I'd never posted them, so now is the time.

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!