Claire's Accessories Jazz

Before I start this post, I'd like to make a quick statement - I do NOT shop in Claire's Accessories on a regular basis. Two reasons really, one is that I'm not really their target market (I'm over 12) and secondly because I'm fairly sure I'd get sequin and neon induced blindness if I went in there too much. 

However.......if they continue to put out polishes like this I'm going to be nipping in weekly, because WOW! This is Jazz, a lilac base filled with the most amazing glitter, including massive blue circle glitter, yellow and pink neon hexes and specks of blue and purple. Words fail me:) Well played Claire's, well played.

 Nommy!

Barry M Silk collection

Oh. My. Flipping. Goodness! How amazing are these? I so wasn't keen when I saw them featured on other blogs - my first thought was '****, the 80's are back!'.

But then...............

This was like wearing a sugared almond on my nails and I LOVED it! LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!

  Would you just look at the shimmer? Oh dear lord, this made me drooooooooool. And (whisper it) this may be a contender for my wedding day - my something borrowed! Eeeep!

Fluffy Prickly Pear Sandwich

Happy Friday peeps - it's the weekend whoop whoop! Hope you've got some fun plans? I'm off house-hunting - yep, fiancee and I are jamming all the possible stress inducing things we can think of into 2014; a wedding in August and now a house-move. Still, house-hunting is exciting, methinks. Although I'm worried I'll fall for lots of houses that I can't really afford and have a bit of a paddy!

To sooth my house-hunting nerves I shall be rocking my current favourite polish - it's busted its way into the top 10, dun dun dun. And it cost me £3. Bliss. The name of this new love - Fluffy, by Claire's. A white matt glitter polish in a clear base; large, meduim and small hexes with bars thrown in for good measure. 

I've used it here over Prickly Pear by Barry M - the stunning lilac with the white over the top creates a subtle yet pretty effect, well, I think so anyway.

 (ps - please excuse the dreadful pictures - I have a new camera and we're not getting on - it seems to want to take pictures that resemble those awful soft-focus 80's glamour shots, and I'm refusing to play game, but losing......:( There's no bottle shot of Fluffy as it was just too.....well, crap!)

I almost feel like there should be some naff jazz playing whilst you look at these blurred pictures....or maybe jazz flute......anyway, I'm sure you'll agree that Fluffy is awesome (and I'm so glad that Claire's have started naming their polishes properly). I loved it so much that after this I tried it with a different combo - this time in a jelly sandwich! This will make me smile all weekend, I'm never taking it off! 

Sadly, my camera decided that, no, it would NOT capture the stunning neon pink of the Barry M Summer Special Edition jelly, nor would it focus on anything I wanted. &*%$£"£U!!!

This is 2 layers of pink polish, with 1 of Fluffy, then pink again, then more Fluffy for luck:) So I shall enjoy my Fluffy sandwich this weekend, hope you have a great time too xxx

Pastel chevrons

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what an awesome morning. A lazy get up, Marmite on toast and coffee in the garden, kitty cuddles, happiness:)

I not sure about you guys, but I have a definite summer/winter mindset when it comes to nail polish; I want bright, bright, bright or summery pastels in the sunshine, and darker, deeper polish in winter. This mani is a definite summer baby - glossy, lovely pastels:) Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

This isn't an original idea, but I can't remember where I saw it - doh! Anyhoo, this is my take on it, using my trusty Barry M pastels (Strawberry Ice Cream, Berry Ice Cream, Mint Green and Peach Melba) plus my favourite pastel ever, Adora-Bleu by Bourjois:) 

I used striping tape for the mani which resulted in a teeny mishap; the tape was blue and left a small stain on the lilac nail-grrrrrr! But I do love this; it's summer, but with an edge!

Nail Pop Dazzle with Adora-bleu bow

Bonjour peeps:)

Hope you are all well? I've had a bit of time in the sunshine today so I'm feeling a bit happier after a looooooooooong week.....oh crap, not even a full week, a mere three day lol!

Anyhoo, I've been struggling a bit for inspiration recently, and on Sunday this reached a crisis point; nothing, I repeat NOTHING, I could think of worked, I must have tried 6 different manicures. So, I gave up and Googled 'nail art' - and found some great ideas, including this one at One Nail To Rule Them All - which I decided to recreate:)

Now, I'm being 100% honest here, this is  a direct copy. Although I've used different polishes, I've pretty much used the same colour scheme. I simply could not think of anything better, Alice at One Nail To Rule Them All is a total genius and trying to better her was not going to be possible!

Please excuse the lobster hands - the purple is a tough colour to get right! I used Accessorize Electric Purple as a base and then layered Nail Pop Dazzle over it, a great clear polish filled with pale blue and lilac glitter. I used Bourjois Adora-Bleu (still a flipping amazing name!) to draw the bow and then added white dots, and outlined using my new Barry M Black Nail Pen:)

Love this manicure - bravo to Alice at One Nail to Rule Them All! 

Barry M Confetti Special Effects - Sour Apple swatch

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUL!

Ooooh I was sooooooo naughty today; I was feeling a bit delicate after the lethal combination of late night wine consumption + early morning rising to look after small children. Gaaaah! and they're not even MY children lol. Cute enough though. But still..........crying at 7.15 is painful. So when I walked past Superdrug, well, I headed on in........................et voila!

 And the best part? It was buy 2, get a Limited Edition polish for free! Which of course meant it was ok to buy four Barry M Confetti polishes:) 

The Confetti polishes are just gorgeous. I've seen various swatches form various bloggers and was beginning to get a tad stressed that I did not have them myself. There are 5 in all, but the Marshmallow (pink and white glitter) just didn't do anything for me, so I went with four. Very virtuous:) The Limited Edition polishes are also great, jelly like and very sheer, perfect for jelly sanwiches.............more of them to come later I feel.

Annnnnnnyhoooooo, onto my first foray into the world of Confetti! I went for Sour Apple,  a combination of blue and yellow bars of glitter. I decided to layer them over Barry M Berry Ice-Cream, a stunning lilac polish (so stunning, I've almost finished it!).

Sour Apple applies easily, this is one thick coat, but from what I've seen you could layer it up to be pretty much opaque. However, although I'd intended to do that, when I saw this I couldn't bear to change it; it looked like a Zap ice-cream/lolly (anyone else know what I mean?). I love, love, love this range, I'm so excited about the rest of my haul:) 

Silver glitter with pastel leopard spots

Evening peeps, hope you've had a good Monday?

I've been looking through my polish today for those polishes that I think I've somehow overlooked. You know the ones; you needed it sooooooo bad, dreamt about it, finally got, and then....you swatched it quickly and filed it away. Sad face.

So, I now have several polishes lined up to be reused/re-imagined. One of these is Silver Multi Glitter by the ever brilliant Barry M. I've had this for months and I did do a quick swatch but it just didn't really 'get me' once it was on my nails. 

However a quick bit of leopard printing.....

Ta dah!

I love the fact that it's silver but shot through with very fine red glitter, giving it a really 3D look. I really like how the contrast between the shimmery silver glitter makes the leopard prints look like they're floating above it somehow. In short, I know love this polish:)

The spots are Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, Barry M Berry Ice Cream and Bourjois Adora-bleu - more on this polish later..........

Swatch - Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Big Money

I'm going to make an odd confession - I fell in love with the shape of the bottle before the colour of the polish:) This was another Edinburgh find and was staring at me as I walked in the shop. 

I love the combination of gold and lilac, it's so subtle yet so striking. It's incredibly dense - this is three coats, and there's no VNL (always important to moi!) so I'm happy. The gold glitter is very fine so the lilac hexes mix and intersperse well, meaning you don't get clumps of purple. 

Oddly, this is a subtle polish - the lilac needs to be seen up close really, but gives a pinky glow to the polish from afar, very pretty. Enjoy the rest of your week peeps x x x

Swatch-Revlon Girly

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - Edinburgh haul, holla! So, after spending 6 hours (!) in a car up to Edinburgh on Saturday I decided I deserved a little polish treat. Or 6. Oops:) Swatches of all my newest purchases will follow in the next few days, starting with the guest of honour in today' post, Revlon Girly.

I've been craving this polish for soooo long, but I didn't think there were releasing it over here, so imagine my surprise when I stumbled across it! It's a creamy pinky lilac polish filled with a veritable cornucopia of glitter; large and small hexes of purple, peach and pink:) Girly indeed. 

It's a very sheer polish, so I made a bit of a sandwich with Barry M Berry Ice-cream, thus there's no VNL, yay! It also meant it looked a bit more subtle than it might otherwise have been.

I'm so in love with this polish, I can't believe it's my first glitter polish with a coloured base - shocking! Enjoy the rest of your week peeps, back soon x x x