Showing posts with label Nails. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nails. Show all posts

Monday, 3 November 2014

Sally Hansen Diamond Nails Black Tie Swatches


I found this in a pound shop and I am so glad I did. Just look at it! This is a stunning polish, a shimmery black with a blue/pink duochrome on it. The effect is more pronounced in real life, but sadly my camera and the great British weather aren't playing nice together.



I honestly can't stop staring at my nails. I need to keep an eye out for more like thus in pound shops. Have you guys got any bargains lately?

Monday, 8 September 2014

Barry M Rhossili Swatch


The last of my gorgeous Barry M swatches! Well, until I cave and buy some of the new Autumn/Winter Gelly shades, This is Rhossili from the Summer Mattes collection, a lovely purple-leaning pink shade. You know, I used to hate pink nail varnish... I have about six now. I think. This is lovely though, opaque in one coat (though I use two) with the satiny-matte finish of all the Barry M Matte collection and lasts a couple days before it starts chipping on me, 

Two coats, photographed in natural light.

Barry M Matte polishes cost £3.99 and are available from Barry M online, Boots (currently BOGOHP), Superdrug (currently 3 for 2) or most major supermarket chains.

Monday, 25 August 2014

Barry M Malibu & Damson Swatches


More of the summer Barry M shades, even though summer appears to have gone walkies. My blue polish stash appears to be expanding, with more and more gorgeous shades being released. I just had to have these two once I saw them, I am still really loving the brights.

Anyway, this is Malibu from the Matte collection and Damson from the Gelly collection. Both polishes were happily opaque in two coats, both could possibly get away as a single coat but I like two for better overall coverage. They take a couple of days to chip on me, but I work in a lab with chemicals and take absolutely zero care to not-chip my nails during the day prying open bottles and so on and so forth. So really, they might well last a fair amount of time on you! I've been wearing Malibu a fair bit lately, it's a gorgeous bright polish.

This is Malibu on all the nails except the ring finger (ahem, excuse that edge, this was a day or so after painting and I have to pry things open with my nails in the lab)

Barry M Malibu Swatch


This is Damson on all nails except the ring finger.

Barry M Damson Swatch


I do adore Barry M polishes, and the offers on them get me every time! The Gelly and Matte polishes both retail for £3.99 (and as I said, there's more often than not some kind of offer on them at Boots or Superdrug) and can be purchased from Barry M online or instore at Boots, Superdrug and most major supermarket chains.

Monday, 18 August 2014

Barry M Key Lime and Waikiki Swatches



More Barry M swatches! I did go a bit mad buying the lovely summer Gelly's and Mattes. I like brights these days, what can I say? This is a pair of greens, well, that one greeny-yellow matte that by all rights I should totally loathe (the colour looks so ugly in the bottle!) but I actually really love.

Barry M Key Lime

This is Key Lime on all nails but the ring finger (which has Waikiki), two coats, no topcoat.
I've wrongly labelled it as Kiwi, but ignore that, this IS Key Lime. Apparently I've had a massive brain fart.

Barry M Waikiki

This is Waikiki, again two coats, no topcoat, on all nails but the ring finger. Which is Key Lime.

I do love Barry M, don't you?
All polishes can be bought from Barry M on line, Boots or Superdrug for £3.99

Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Barry M Cancun and Kiwi Swatches

Barry M Cancun Kiwi Swatch

So I recently went on a bit of a Barry M buying binge, I blame awesome bloggers like Brit Nails and Polly Polish (to name just two) for this entirely. I know the net is saturated with swatches of the new Barry M Summer ranges but they really are gorgeous and you can never have too many right?

This is Cancun and Kiwi, the two more turquoise/teal ish shades from the Matte and Gelly collections. They are both (as with most Barry M) gorgeous two coaters, you could probably get away with one on both but I prefer two for full coverage. My nails take a hell of a beating so my wear time is less than most people, but they wear alright, especially at £3.99 a bottle. Cancun is the Matte, Kiwi is the Gelly.

Barry M Cancun Kiwi Swatch

Barry M Cancun Kiwi Swatch


Barry M polishes are available from Superdrug, Boots, most supermarkets and Barry M online. These Special Effects cost £3.99 each, but are regularly 3 for 2 (how I got these) or Buy One Get One Half Price.

Monday, 19 May 2014

Revlon Gold & Jess Hot Date

I bought these polishes back in January in Poundland. I've actually had the swatches sitting on my laptop in my "swatches to post" folder for far too long. Both of these polishes are gorgeous duochromes.

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Gold Swatch

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Gold Swatch

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Gold Swatch

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Gold Swatch

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Gold is a stunning gold-green duochrome, swatched here with three coats alone on the pinkie and index finger and two coats over black on middle and ring. I probably could have just done one coat over black and two alone, but I wanted to make sure there was 100% no nail line visible. The duochrome in this is pretty strong and it dried in a reasonable time. 

The RRP for Chroma Chameleon shades is £6.49 in Boots, but if you see them in Poundland then grab one, because they're gorgeous and a total bargain.

Jess Hot Date Swatch

Jess Hot Date Swatch

Jess Hot Date Swatch

Jess Hot Date Swatch

Jess Hot Date is a purple-bronze duochrome with a hint of green. As soon as I saw this I knew I had a snatch it up, I mean look at it! It's just a gorgeous on the nails as it is in the bottle, which given this was 97p and a brand I've never seen outside of the pound shop I wasn't expecting. I will admit it utterly stinks though, I work in a lab and I'm used to strong smelling solvents and I thought this was bad. Not a nail polish you want to use on a train or in a small enclosed area. The polish is shown as three coats alone on index and pinkie and two coats over black on the ring and middle fingers. It's so pretty and cheap I'll forgive it the smell, as long as I'm in a ventilated room.

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Barry M Aquarium Collection Swatches

Barry M Aquarium Collection Swatches

So these polishes were released just last week, and being a sucker for anything Barry M or duochrome I rushed straight out to buy them. I actually got the whole collection, I think this is the first full nail collection I've ever bought!

The official description of these from Barry M is
The new Aquarium collection from Barry M includes 4 mirror two-tone Nail Paints that allow your nails to glisten from every angle. For the ultimate under the sea effect try wearing them under one of the 2 large particle glitter topcoats.
The collection can be split into two halves, warm and cool tones, with pinks and golds in the warm and blues and greens in the cool. The duochromes are all subtle ones, named for seas and oceans, and whilst they look fairly sheer when you first apply are opaque in two coats. As with many chrome type polishes, you do see the brushstrokes in these - though some are worse than others. The glitters do drag a bit and sometimes you need to push the flakes around to get a nice finish. As per usual with Barry M these dry pretty fast and wear well (on me anyway). The shard glitter is a massive pain in the arse to remove without using a special base, I like PVA glue personally. The foil method would probably also work, but it's not one I've used.

Barry M Mediterranean, Caspian, Treasure Chest

Barry M Mediterranean, Caspian, Treasure Chest

Barry M Mediterranean, Caspian, Treasure Chest
 Barry M Mediterranean, Caspian, Treasure Chest Swatch

Mediterranean: (index and pinkie fingers) A pink to orange duochrome with subtle sparkles in it. This polish applied the smoothest and gave the strongest duochrome effect. Mediterranean is my favourite from the collection.

Caspian: (middle and ring) this is a very subtle tan/gold to pink duochrome, which didn't want to photograph at all and is hard to spot in real life. The bottle looks like a work of art though.

Treasure Chest: (glitter) Gold, silver and rose gold shard glitter. Does need some slight placement on application, and a top coat to smooth the roughness from the shards. It looks like you dipped your hand in precious metal shavings though, gorgeous.


Barry M Arabian, Pacific, Mermaid Swatches

Barry M Arabian, Pacific, Mermaid Swatches

Barry M Arabian, Pacific, Mermaid Swatches

Barry M Arabian, Pacific, Mermaid Swatches

Arabian: (index and pinkie) Golden green to darker green duochrome, this is the stronger of the two cool-toned duochromes. It does show brush streaks a bit more than the others.

Pacific: (middle and ring) Blue to dark teal duochrome, very very subtle (as in, it was really hard to spot out of the bottle), but a gorgeous blue none-the-less.

Mermaid: (glitter) blue, green and gold shard glitter. As with Treasure Chest this needed some pushing around to sit well, and a top coat to smooth the roughness of the glitter. But it is beautiful and very reminiscent of fish scales (or broken glass bottles).

Overall I do like this collection, though I wish the duochromes were stronger and more dramatic (shifting between two shades of blue or green is very reminiscent of the ocean, but very hard to spot) and I'm still deciding where I stand on shard glitter, beautiful though it is. Mediterranean is my stand out favourite.

Each polish in this collection costs £3.99 and they are available online at BarryM.com and in Superdrug where it's currently 2 polishes for £6. Boots release is pending.

Monday, 17 March 2014

Green Picks











Monday, 10 March 2014

Barry M Silk Swatches: Pearl & Truffle

Barry M Silk Truffle and Pearl

You may be tired of swatches of this collection already, but I figured I'd throw in my two as I purchased these recently (a few weeks ago anyway) as part of an offer in Superdrug.

Barry M Silk Truffle and Pearl

Barry M Silk Truffle and Pearl

Barry M Silk Truffle and Pearl

This collection really is gorgeous, they have a beautiful semi-matte satin finish. Although these are a lot thinner than usual Barry M Nail Paints, these pictures show three coats of polish.

Barry M Silk Truffle and Pearl

Barry M Silk Truffle and Pearl

I added a topcoat as well to show what that looks like. Apologies for the dents, this was before I got my fast-drying topcoat. The polishes wear well, at least for me there was no chipping for the three days I wore these before I changed colours again!

Barry M Silk nail paint has an RRP of £3.99 and the range is available at Boots, Superdrug, BarryM.com and several leading supermarkets. And for extra savings currently Boots has their store-wide 3 for 2 event and Superdrug is currently running a buy one get the second 1/2 price on Barry M.

Monday, 3 March 2014

No 7 Twinkle Glitter

No 7 Twinkle Glitter Swatch

I picked this polish up in the January sales for £3 from my local Boots [can you tell I'm really behind?]. It caught my eye straight away, I mean, look at those flakies! So pretty. It's a gorgeous topcoat which glows blue/silver/white when the light catches it, a bit like ice or snowflakes. Bit of a pain to remove, but otherwise gorgeous.

I mean look at it in the bottle!

No 7 Twinkle Glitter Swatch
It's pretty in the shade, but when the light hits it...

No 7 Twinkle Glitter Swatch
This is two coats, as the flakies are a bit sparse and can be a pain to get in the right places on the nail. Worth it.