15th May, 2011
If you follow me on Facebook (if you don’t you’re missing out!) you may have seen one of these already since I was asking you for more colour combinations. As promised I did an entire series of these dotted manicures! I had so much fun doing these and the best thing is, they’re really easy to do, not to mention fast! You just need a dotting tool or something similar like an old ballpoint pen or a bobby pin.
Base Colour: China Glaze Electric Pinapple. Dots: Barry M Spring Green, American Apparel Army Jacket, Catrice Sir Yes Sir, American Apparel Malibu Green.
Base Colour: Essence You Belong To Me. Dots: Models Own Peach Puff, Barry M Pure Turquoise, China Glaze Below Deck, American Apparel Passport Blue.
Base Colour: Catrice Up In The Air. Dots: H&M Spring Nails in White, Beige, Brown and Blue.
This colour combination with metallic colours was suggested by Amy! Thank you so much Amy for this brilliant suggestion. It looks so amazing in person, it was very hard to capture since metallics are so reflective.
Base Colour: American Apparel Passport Blue. Dots: China Glaze Cheers To You, China Glaze Midnight Kiss, Gemey Gris City, Essence Nothing Else Metals.
Base Colour: Barry M Berry Ice Cream. Dots: Barry M Mushroom, Barry M Dusky Mauve, Barry M Bright Purple, Catrice Plum Play With Me.
Base Colour: Models Own Peach Puff. Dots: American Apparel Army Jacket, American Apparel MacArthur Park, Barry M Bright Purple, China Glaze Below Deck.
Which is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!
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28th March, 2011
Here’s a fun manicure I did a while ago. I found this gorgeous design at SuPa nails and thought I would try it out. It’s not as easy as it looks but I think it turned out okay.
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24th March, 2011
These are two manicures I did back when I had my nails cut square. For some reason I didn’t post these back then, I have no idea why because I love them! Especially the second one.
For this leopard print manicure I used:
For these pink stripes I used:
Even though I love the look of these and might eventually cut my nails square again, round or oval shaped nails feel more natural to me. I’ve always cut my nails that way, I guess I’m just more used to it. That being said square nails do lend themselves towards a lot of nail art, but so do oval nails (half moons!), they both have their pros and cons.
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6th February, 2011
For those of you who don’t like mint green, look away now! For those of you who adore mint green just like I do, stay with me and drool all over these images!
Here’s my humble collection of mint greens, I only have about 7 (or 5 if you only count the true mint greens) but I’m not going to stop buying them any time soon. They are simply amazing and I’ll never get bored of them! Mint green always does it for me, every single time.
Swatches in the same order as above.
My favourite is definitely Office by American Apparel, it has the colour of chocolate chip mint ice cream (which tastes disgusting but looks great). The two on the outside, I Sea You! and Malibu Green are more teal rather than actual mint green but still deserved a place in this line-up I think.
Still on my mint green wishlist are; China Glaze Re-Freshmint, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Models Own Jade Rock, Illamasqua Milf, Mac Peppermint Patti, Revlon Minted.… Yeah… Keep dreaming Emily! 
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26th January, 2011
I’ve been admiring Attackedastoria‘s nail art for a while now so when I saw her tutorial I just had to try this! She also has an awesome geeky tumblr so definitely check her out! She does really amazing things.
Also, I hereby dedicate these nebula nails to my friends Jonty and Jonti the awesome astronomers!
These are the colours I used for this, you will also need a sponge. From left to right: China Glaze Snow, China Glaze Fairy Dust, China Glaze First Class Ticket (base), China Glaze Rich & Famous, Essence Sun Downer, H&M Being on the A-list, 2B, Essence Choose Me, Barry M Pure Turquoise, Seche Vite.
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22nd December, 2010
#1: Matte black French with gold tips.
I’m in love with this manicure, it’s so much fun! I thought even though it’s not your typical Christmas manicure, it’s still quite festive! This would be amazing as a new years eve manicure.
I used Essence I Love My Jeans (denim wanted collection), Essence matte topcoat to dull out the black and added French tips with China Glaze Midnight Kiss.
#2: Pink Christmas bows.
This is my new favourite manicure! It’s so adorable!!!! I should have put this picture upside down cause the bows are the wrong way round but you get the idea! Inspired by Christmas gift wrappers. Also, I can’t believe how long my nails are! Loving it!
I used Catrice Just Married as a base, used a black nail art pen (Models Own nail art pen) to paint the bows and China Glaze Cheers To You for details.
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14th December, 2010
This is my purple/brown collection! My favourites are 10, 16, 17, 19 and 21. This nail wheel got slightly cluttered since I bought more purples after I painted it but you get the idea!
Here are all the bottles lined up in the same order as above. (Missing in this picture is 19, China Glaze – VIII)
Also see: Colour Series: Green (updated!!!)
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12th December, 2010
This post is about crackle polish, in particular the Effect Nails by Barry M. To be honest, I wasn’t much of a fan previous to this manicure. In combination with practically every colour of creme nail polish I find it looks sloppy but this time I tried painting it over a metallic. And oh my god, do I love this!
This is Barry M Nail Effects over China Glaze Midnight Kiss.
It kinda reminds me of crocodile prints or snake skin. I’m so glad I found this combination cause I was feeling a little disappointed with the crackle polish, it just wasn’t my thing. This however is really pretty, I look forward to trying this with other metallic polishes, I will, of course, share them once I do!
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4th December, 2010
As promised a post about the polishes I got in London. All of them are from Superdrug, the majority is from the brand Barry M, I also got a bottle by MUA and Beauty UK. As I said in my shoplog post, I’m quite disappointed I didn’t get more polishes cause I won’t get the opportunity to go back soon. 
It’s actually a good representation of the sort of colours I like and wear most often, pastels, mint greens, greiges and blues.
Barry M – Mushroom. This colour looks darker on your nails than it does in the bottle. It’s a real coffee brown, I was hoping it would be lighter and more towards the pastel side but it’s quite a nice colour.
Barry M – Berry Ice Cream. I really love this pastel, it’s quite similar to H&M Get a Rose 4 Me but it has more blue in it. And definitely goes on a lot better too. It’s a real winner this one though I must add that I don’t think it’ll go great with all skin tones. It definitely asks for a nice tan! (Which my hands are lacking at the present time )
Barry M – Bright Purple. My camera had a hard time picking up most of these colours, this one’s no exception, it looks much brighter and less patchy in person. It’s my mum’s favourite out of the bunch.
Barry M – Dusky Mauve. This one is an EXACT dupe of Chanel Paradoxal. I mentioned Chanel Paradoxal before in my post about MNY, MNY’s dupe lacks the purple shimmer that makes Paradoxal so unique. As you can see on my middle finger Barry M definitely has the shimmer. Lalalove this! I mean, €3,50 instead of a whopping €21,50? Bargain!
Barry M – Nail Effects. Ohlala! This is also known as crackle polish, you paint your nails and within a few seconds you see cracks appear out of nowhere! You either love this or hate it. I’m in the “not-sure-I-like-it”-camp. Eleni asked my thoughts on this in the comments a while ago, I told her I had to see it on myself first to make up my mind. I must say, I still don’t know if I like it. It’s instant nail art in a way, but it also has a sloppy factor, it looks sort of messy and mangled up. Definitely unique though, it’s a novelty so it’s a fun thing to own but I don’t think I’ll use this regularly.
Barry M – Racing Green. A shimmery dark teal green. Looks slightly more green in person than in this picture. Usually not a fan of shimmery colours but this is really fun and works great for the holidays.
Barry M – Spring Green. My camera didn’t pick up this colour at all, it made it look like lime green while it’s more of a bright grass green with a hint of blue. I definitely had to pull some strings in Photoshop to make this look more like it does in person but it’s still not quite there. Also there’s some VNL (visible nail line) which I’m not pleased about, hardly visible in person but the camera did pick it up.
Barry M – Mint Green. This is (as you can probably guess) a very popular colour, quite close to Chanel Jade. All of these Barry M colours are two coats but this one is more sheer and needed 3 though there’s still some slight VNL. I’m a huge fan of mint greens so this is no exception! Buying it in the store had me in doubt whether this would be similar to the mint green of Catrice but luckily it’s not, for more information about that scroll down to see them compared!
MUA – Shade 5. MUA, in full Make-Up Academy, is a £1 brand from Superdrug. Everything in their collection is just £1! I was curious to check this brand out as it’s so cheap, these polishes are only 5ml so it’s not the huge bargain it appears to be but it’s definitely cheap. It’s on the cheerer side, I think this is three coats, maybe four. Looks slightly less blue in person.
Barry M – Pure Turquoise. The name sums it up quite nicely, this is a bright turquoise. Blue nails make a big statement, I really love wearing bright colours like this. This is also slightly more blue in person I think.
Beauty UK – Blue Moon. This is also a really cheap brand from Superdrug at only £1,79 for 9ml. For the price I must say it does have quite good coverage, in two to three layers it’s completely opaque. Definitely should’ve picked up some more of these!
And now some comparisons! I’m always buying mint green and blue polishes so at some point you’re bound to bump against dupes. I have a few colours in my collection that are nearly exactly the same so I try to avoid buying the same colours as much as possible.
H&M Bella’s Choice – Barry M Pure Turquoise. Similar but not dupes! As you can see the H&M one is brighter and has more yellow.
Catrice Sold Out Forever – Barry M Mint Green. I was afraid these might be dupes but they’re definitely not! Barry M’s mint green is a lot brighter. I definitely prefer it I must say.
MUA Shade 5 – Catrice I Sea You. Also not dupes, Catrice is much darker. Phew!
Here are all four mint greens lined up, almost looks like an ombre manicure doesn’t it?
Anyway, which colour is your favourite out of my picks? Have you tried Barry M and if so are you a fan and what is your favourite colour from their collection?
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27th November, 2010
On Tuesday my boyfriend and I went to London for a day of Christmas shopping. I was hoping to find some nice dresses though unfortunately I didn’t end up finding any, but here’s what I did buy!
I will also be posting our pictures once they’re back from the lab so definitely check back soon!
Purse from Primark, £4.
Pyjama pants from Primark, £4.
The Fry Chronicles, Waterstone’s, £13.
Sleek Palette in Storm, Superdrug, £5,99.
Nailpolish! Barry M £2,95, Barry M Nail Effects £3,95, MUA £1 and Beauty UK £1,79, all from Superdrug.
Some quick swatches! Will do a more elaborate post on all of them soon! (All are 2 coats except the Nail Effects (crackle polish) which is one coat, the MUA and Beauty UK are three coats)
Does it seem like a lot of nail polish? I bought just six the first time around but after not finding any clothes decided to go back and get some more since it was basically all I had. The woman at the till in superdrug uttered a “wow” when I handed her 5 bottles. To be honest I’m sad I didn’t buy more cause I don’t get a chance to get my hands on any Barry M any time soon unless I pay gazillions on shipping and I’m not feeling up for that. I also feel like an utter pillock for completely forgetting about Models Own which I desperately wanted to get my hands on too, especially the “Car Key” collection. After some research I found out River Island stocks them too, it so happens that we just recently got our very own River Island in Antwerp so I must check it out!
Dries and I also both got a Doctor Who poster at Forbidden Planet, an amazing sci-fi/cult retailer. They have everything from Doctor Who to Star Trek to Fantasy and Sci-Fi books to graphic novels and boardgames, a real treat for any geek! Also the guy that helped us at the till was the friendliest person (or the only friendly person!) we encountered in London, I honestly felt like hugging him he was so nice to us.
Both posters were £3,99.
And here’s what Dries managed to find:
T-Shirt and shoes were both £4 at Primark. Trousers were £32 at Topman.
Shoes (same as pictures above) were £4 and fairisle jumper £14, both at Primark. Mustard trousers were £38 at Topman.
This gorgeous satchel bag was only £24,99 at River Island. He’d been looking for a nice satchel bag for months to replace his rucksack so we were both really glad when we found this one. It’s gorgeous! I wish I was a guy so I could wear this, honestly it’s so great. Even my dad loved it so much that I think he wants one as well.
Overall quite pleased with what we got, even though I wish I had found more. There’s always next time!
Posted by Emily - 4 Comments
