Barry M Black Croc Effect

I've had Barry M's original black croc in my collection since early last year and have yet to use it, I am trying to get through a lot of my untrieds this year. 

Like a shatter you apply this over another colour 1-2 minutes after applying your chosen colour so it is touch dry but not completely dry or it won't work (unlike shatters which can be used over a completely dry polish to change your look). 

I made it like the lid of the croc effect so my base colour is Barry M gold Foil, one smooth coat is all it takes for full opacity and it applies evenly and not streaky. 

Apply the Croc effect and wait for the effect to take place, it does take a bit longer roughly 10 minutes I think for the whole thing to be done but the effect is pretty cool. 

Enjoy! x

Ask a British Blogger: What are your most wanted polishes?

For the second question for the Ask a British Blogger it is about what are our most wanted nail polishes? We all have them!

Disclaimer: All pictures do not belong to me, they were acquired through google to show the colours. 

So to begin with my MOST wanted nail polish would have to be: Nerd Lacquer 'All of Time and Space' I've wanted this for a very long time, one day I will be about during a restock lol

LA Splash: Golden Seahorse. I have loved this since I saw it swatched last year but unfortunately not one available in the UK and eBay never seems to come up either. 

Lastly OPI La Boheme: a polish that just makes me drool from swatches lol I adore this, it's beautiful, vampy and I need it :P

Avon Gleaming Emerald Mosaic Top Coat

This is the first shatter top coat I've tried, I was never interested in these shatters, I didn't like the look. They always looked thick and chalky to me, blacks the most so I passed on this phase. 

Until I saw the Avon ones in the book and really liked the look of these ones, especially as there nice and sparkly. Admittedly this looks nothing like how I swatched on my wheel lol as I went a bit heavy handed which created a larger shatter where as on the wheel I used thinner strokes which created nice smaller shatter but it is still very nice that I went and ordered another 2 in the next book :)

This one that I have is called Gleaming Emerald and it really is a beautiful glittery emerald shatter. It works really fast as well, I applied it and the effect begins in seconds, it's a lot faster to the croc effect that I used last year which takes longer. 

I used Barry M Silver foil underneath, only one coat needed. 

Pictures below:

O.P.I Stranger Tides

Today I am wearing Stranger Tides by O.P.I, I was lucky to get it as part of a birthday gift with the Pirates of the Carribean mini set, which has been on y wishlist yay it's mine. 

I just adore this lovely sage green. This is 2 coats which covers well and applied well.

I added these cute star rhinestones to the corners that were also part of my birthday gifts. 

Enjoy! x

Barry M - Atlantic Road

 Another of Barry M Textures for you today, this one is Atlantic Road which is very similar to Blueberry Ice Cream (which happens to be one of my favourite blues and polishes in my collection) so I had to have this one the most. 

Like Ridley Road this took 2 even coats for opacity and the effect starts to appear very quickly. This is worn without a top coat and lasts for quite a few days which is good. 

I love these so much, I am hoping Barry M will bring out another range of these Textures maybe in some darker colours. :3 

Enjoy! x

Google Friend Connect

As I'm sure most of you are aware Google reader plans to shut down on July 1st so Google friend connect will be no more either. I also have a Bloglovin account which is linked on the right side so if you have a bloglovin account you can follow me over on that. I have imported all my blogs over who are also on Bloglovin. 

If you don't have one you can sign up here http://www.bloglovin.com/ then when you have an account, click on account on the top right hand corner, scroll down to settings, click, scroll to the bottom of settings and import all your blogs :)

I am also on HelloCotten in case you already have an account for that. 

Sorry for the lack of nail post but I wanted to get this out there :)

Bye!

Ask a British Blogger - My Nail Care Routine

                                          

So we have started this new feature on the British Nail Bloggers page I belong to, where we will answer questions on nails/blogging once a fortnight and the first one is about our nail care routines :)

Sorry that I have no pictures to go with this but I'll name everything I use :)

I am not really that great with my nail care but I try to use some stuff to keep them strong other wise they will break within days. 

I always do my care routine on Sunday nights. 

1. 4 way buffing block. I buff and shine my nails once a week and file them using a glass file when needed. 

2. Cuticle oil and lots of it! I use this during the week when I change my polish midweek and basically whenever I have time otherwise very dry cuticles. The oil I am using right now is O.P.I Avoplex cuticle oil. Otherwise when I am running low on money I have a stock of this cheap cuticle oil pens from eBay that are named O.P.I but there not. 

3. My base and top coat I use which is also the best and only nail strengthener I've known to work for me (and I've gone through a lot) is O.P.I Nail Envy original, pricey yes but worth it so my nails don't break every week. I rarely get breaks unless I stray from taking care of them which I try not to ;)

4. Acetone free nail polish remover, I only use acetone free but probably as I've always had my mum tell me to never use acetone remover for my whole life. 

5. HAND CREAM, currently I own 20 tubes of hand cream of various sizes all the way from a mammoth 295ml tube to a mini 30ml tube or various brands. I love my hand cream as you can tell. My favourite brand is L'Occitane which I have a couple box sets of, I always get them mostly the Limited Edition scents but I do adore their Verbena the most. Glycerin Avon hand cream is also another nice moisturizer  what I love about both these brands is that their not sticky and slimey which is not a nice feel to have. 

That is my routine, not much and cuticle remover is missed off, I'm so bad at actually taking care of my cuticles for all I do for my nails. 

Barry M Dragon Fruit

Another new Barry M that I received for my birthday, this is one of the new Hi Def Gels called Dragon Fruit. 

This one took 2 coats for opacity and it also has a fine shimmer running through which I couldn't catch in my photos. It is such a beautiful colour. 

PS. As promised in my last post that I'd update about the removel of Barry M's texture polish, it is actually very easy, to me it was no different than removing any normal polish. Much easier than glitters. 

Enjoy! x

Barry M Ridley Road

Here I have a polish I have been super excited to try, and lucky me I got 3 of the 4 textures Barry M's for my birthday and had to use one right away. Of course ;)

I used Ridley Road because I love greens. Ridley is a very light mint green, it reminds me of foam for some reason lol despite it's light colour it does cover in 2 even coats which is good. 

The texture polishes create a bumpy concrete type effect which appears shortly after applying. It has a weird grainy effect when you apply but they are no harder to apply than any other polish.

I really love the effect and am glad I also have Atlantic Road and Kingsley Road to test as well. 

As for how easy removal is, I don't know yet as I'm still wearing this but I will update that in my next post :)

Enjoy! x

Barry M Racing Green

A quick post and probably not my best but I wanted to do something nice for the Oz the Great and Powerful release that was obviously going to be green, how could it not be and gold as the titles show. 

I used Barry M Racing Green, a gorgeous deep dark colour that applies nicely and is opaque in 2 good coats. I used a thin nail art brush to just draw some curly squiggles around with Barry M Gold Foil, it was really easy to work with as it draws in quite opaque. 

Pictures below:

Enjoy! x

China Glaze Good Witch? + Tokidoki Donutella

This Friday one of my most anticipated movies of the year is finally being released and I can't wait. To celebrate I had to use one of my China Glaze Wizard of Oz collection I've had for months but yet to use. The beautiful bubbly pink of Good Witch?

Good Witch? is a very sheer pink frost, it took 4 even coats to get full opacity but it's a beautiful delicate pink to wear. I added a layer of Tokidoki 'Donutella' to give Good Witch? a spunky edge, it really suits it. Donutella is a magenta bar glitter with spalshes of holographic bar glitter in there too. 

Enjoy! x