Barry M Textured Nail Effects Nail Paints

Hi! Today you get a look at my terrible stubby fingernails. I've been trying out these new Textured Nail Effects polishes by Barry M and I really like 'em!

 

These are pastel coloured polishes with a special gritty effect. The pink is called Kingsland Road, the yellow Station Road, the green Ridley Road and the blue is Atlantic Road.

They retail for £3.99 each but I picked them up at 2 for £6 from Superdrug (at the same time they were at 3 for 2 in Boots which would have saved me about 3p :P If you shop around you can usually find a deal on Barry M somewhere)

Now have a look at them and please ignore my poor ravaged cuticles. I've posted lots of photos to try and show the textured effects.

  

I don't know if you can see in the pictures but the yellow has a slight shimmer to it, the others are matte.

The effect is very easy to apply, you just paint it on like any polish and the grit gets more pronounced as it dries. Applying it really feels no different from a regular polish either. These photos all show 2 coats of polish over a base coat (they were all nearly opaque in 1 but the extra coat made the grit more defined as well as making it completely opaque). Oddly I found that, though the bottle specifies to use one, the effect is much more pronounced if you don't use a base coat so in the future I probably won't bother with one. I've heard some people say these are a nightmare to remove but I didn't have a problem at all, it's much easier than glitter!

The feeling of these on the nails is an acquired taste. At first I felt really creeped out touching them but then I got a bit obsessed with it! It doesn't feel too gritty, just sort of bumpy, and luckilly they didn't catch on my tights at all. These lasted about 4-5 days before the started chipping, which was pretty good considering you can't really use top coat on them. Oddly the different colours had different rates of chipping, the yellow was the first to go, then green, then blue and finally pink.

Anyway I really like these. I love the easter-egg colours and the gritty texture takes them away from being too pastel and ice-creamy. £3.99 is a good price for a polish but like I said shop around. If you like the effect but are interested in other colours then in the US Milani have just released some (see swatches here at Nouveau Cheap) or Nails Inc have a few but they are much more expensive (still might get the pretty grey one though). What do you think?

Barry M Croc Nail Effects Review

Most people seem to be 'over' crackle polishes, but not me! I love them, I'm still not over the novelty of watching the little fissures appear in my nails and they're brilliant for livening up a polish I've gotten bored of or hiding smudges/chips/tip wear and stuff. I was really excited when Barry M came out with the 'Croc Nail Effects' polish because it was a new kind of crackle! The idea of it basically is a crackle that looks like crocodile skin, so rounder with smaller gaps. I waited ages to get it because it was never available anywhere near me but recently I picked it up.

Unfortunately I'm a bit disappointed. 

When I applied it to the first nail I did it as I would any other crackle, over a completely dry base coat of colour (in this case Barry M Nail Effects Silver Foil). After a few minutes this was my result:

 

It just wasn't what I was hoping for, there's hardly any cracks and lots of lines that aren't making the round 'croc' shape it's supposed to.
Then I read the packaging and iscovered I was applying it wrong, with this it says you're meant to put it over slightly wet polish, so for my next few fingers I applied another coat of the silver, waited about a minute, then applied the croc effects. This was my result:

 

...Oh dear.

So then for the last nails I tried leaving the base coat for a few minutes, so it was basically dry but not completely:

 

So these are... about the same as the first one.

Maybe I'm just applying it badly somehow (if anyone has any tips please let me know) but as it is I can't recommend this to people, it's too messy and I just really don't like the effect. Big disappointment. But I'll try it again sometime and will update if I can make it work.

Candy Stripe nails

I finally found the lead for my camera! Yay!

And it's nearly Christmas, hooray!

Here's my current manicure. It's not perfect of course but as it was my first time properly using a striping brush I don't think it's terrible. That being said, this was my left hand, the right one is even messier!

I used Models Own Snow White as a base and then Inglot Nail Art polish in 34

I'll probably end up changing them up again before Christmas :P

KKCenterHK review - Nail Patches

After my last review for them the lovely people at KKCenterHK sent me another product to test out.

It's hard to talk about these things because I can't seem to find a definative name for them! Nail foils, wraps, patches, whatever these things are called I'd like to start the review by saying that I've never used them before. You'll see later in the review that I had real trouble with the application process but I cannot comment on whether this is down to the product (possible) or down to my lack of practice in applying them and general cack-handed-ness (probable).

The pack calls these both 'nail patches' and 'nail foils' but as KKcenterHK call these 'nail patches' that's how I'll refer to them in this review. They're basically a special sticker that covers your whole nail with a design, they're supposed to be superior to polish for several reasons:

1. They require no drying time.
2. They're not as messy and there's no chance of smudging.
3. They're long lasting, supposedly able to last up to 11 days without wearing or chipping.
4. They come in designs that would be hard or impossible to recreate through regular nail art.

The nail patches come in a tonne of different varieties though, including patterns, block colours, french tips and even special ones meant for your toes. I chose these patches which have a fantastic diagonal red and white stripe design that reminded me strongly of candy canes.

Again KKCenterHK sent these to me in a plain brown envelope. As these are just a little packet of stickers there was very little chance of anything happening to them during transit but it does worry me thinking of a more delicate product being shipped that way. 

The packaging is simple, a cardboard packet with instructions on the back and then a little plastic envelope inside that. The patches are stuck on a plastic backing.

 

The pack comes with 2 sets of 8 patches in varying sizes. This means you have some choice as to which patch to use on each nail (which is helpful as nails aren't a uniform size so yours may be slightly larger or smaller than average) and it also gives you a couple of spares in case of mistakes. 

The instructions printed on the back of the packaging are very straighforward.  To prepare for the foils first you manicure your nails and push your cuticles back a little, then you buff them. You peel the patch off the backing and trim it to fit your nail as closely as possible then press and smooth it over your nail and trim or file any any excess.

Sounds simple right? 

Wrong :(

Firstly I was very hesitant to trim the patches too much before applying them because I was worried I'd end up with something that wouldn't cover my whole nail. This meant I had to trim it to size a bit after putting it on the nail which was very difficult and meant the edges were quite raggedly. Then when it came to smoothing the patch out its tells you to 'rub all areas of the nail foil firmly with the 'Push N Press' cuticle pusher'. Umm don't have one of those! So I just did it by hand, pressing and stretching it over the nail as firmly and smoothly as I could. And finally filing away the excess of the patch at the nails edge was really difficult. The patches aren't hard or thick enough to really file away, the flop and flick irritatingly against the file.

Anyway I managed to get the patches on as best as I could and, sespite a few wrinkles, I thought they looked pretty good! 

The patches are beautifully shiny and the design on them is just perfect. From far away they look very effective and professional. I really liked the way my nails looked with them on.

But sadly they had an even bigger problem than the frustrating application. These are meant to have up to 11 days of wear time and maybe they do but I couldn't bear to keep them on that long. Due to the raggedy edges from having to just trim or file away the excess everytime I touched or held something I could feel the edges of the patch scraping against whatever it was. It was so so annoying! And while at first all of them had their edges firmly pressed against the nail plate, my thumbs and index fingers started peeling at the tips within just a few hours (presumably because those are the most used fingers). That made things even more annoying as the tips of the patches flipped and flapped around! I couldn't stand that so after just a day and a half I had to give up and peel them all off :(

This is my ring finger after a day: 

 

You can see the edge is smooth and flat against my nail.

But here is my index finger after the same length of time:

 

:/

When I wanted to take them off they came off really easily. I just picked at an edge and then peeled them away. The instructions say to wash them in soap and water first, which I did, but it didn't seem to make any difference. I don't know if the ease of removal is a good or bad thing really!

Again I must reiterate that I can't say if the problems were caused by me or the patches themselves.

These cost $5.20 for one pack. While I was disappointed by these, because of the problems I had, I might still try them again. The pattern was so cool and perfect I could never replicate it by hand. I certainly would never choose these for everyday wear like a normal polish, but I would try them again on a special occaision, like a party, or,  in the case of the candy-striped ones I tried, Christmas. If the problem is with the patches then I definately do not think they're worth the price, however if the problem lies in me they may be a bargain if they lasted the whole time tey are supposed to.

 

KKCenterHK currently have a sale for 15% off your entire order until the end of september.

*I was sent these for review purposes but all thoughts and opinions are my own*

Born Pretty Dotting Tools

After my previous review of the Laushine cracking polish the lovely people at Born Pretty offered to send me another item to review. As I'm getting more and more obsessed with my nails I chose this set of dotting tools to try my hand at some simple nail art.

Again my package arrived very quickly, in just about a week. The tools were packaged in a little plastic sleeve and then a bubble mailer, and they arrived safe and sound.

The set costs $4.74 and contains 5 double sided tools so there are 10 differe nt sizes all together. The sizes range from quite big (I'd guess about 3mm in diameter) to a tiny pinprick size. Some of the differences between the sizes are very small, some making dots that were identical to my (rather undiscerning) eye. The handles are made of some sort of sturdy resin and very pretty with the marbled pink and white swirl design (They also come in a multicoloured set). They're just about the perfect size in my opinion as the handles fit perfectly into my fist and I can hold them like a pen. 

I've never actually used a dotting tool before but it's so simple even a complete buffoon like me can do it. You just dip the 'ball' into your choice of polish, press it gently onto your nail and you're done! I did find that sometimes my little polish dots didn't come out perfectly uniform, but for the most part they looked neat. I've got quite shaky hands but I found the dots still came out quite evenly.  

Here I've used a different end of each tool on each nail to show all the different sizes:

I also found that you could use them to swirl polishes together for a very simple marbled effect. 

Here I put a blob of purple and gold polishes onto a purple base and then swirled it lightly using one of the smallest tools.

 

I used this technique on my Hot Lava mani as well. 

And here is a proper mani I did with them:

That's No 7 Bobby Socks (discontinued limited edition polish)  with Models Own Lemon Meringue dotted on top using the 3rd largest tool.

I really like these tools, I can see myself using them a lot as I love polka dots and they're really easy to use but very effective. I do think that some of the 'ball' sizes you get in the pack are very similar to each other but I guess there's only so big you could make a working dotting tool and as you get ten different sizes for under $5 I  think they're a real bargain. You still get a nice variety of sizes and as each is just slightly bigger or smaller than the others it means you could do some manis with each nail having just incrementally bigger dots than the last. I would definatley recommend them and would have been really pleased if I had bought them myself. 

So I'm really happy with the 2 products I've tried from Born Pretty. Like the polish I tried previously I think these tools are really high quality, especially for the price!  

I have a coupon code for my readers to get 10% off any Born Pretty purchase.

It expires on 31/12/2011 so there's still plenty of time to use it!  Also if enough people use it I will be able to do a giveaway sponsored by Born Pretty :)

*I recieved these in exchange for reviewing them however all opinions and thoughts are my own*

NOTD - Hot Lava

Stand back, it'll burn ya!  

These nails were Pixie A La Mode's idea and turned out to be one of the prettiest manicures I've ever done! It's meant to look like molten magma, I think it's quite effective! 

  

 

To do this I started with a base of 2 coats of Barry M Tangerine (which is a shimmery bright orange) then when that dried I added a large drop of Models Own 25 Karat Gold polish (shimmery gold) and a large drop of a shimmery bright red polish (it's a really old one from Icing with no name) and swirled them together using a tiny dotting tool. When that was all dry I added a coat of black crackle (I used Barry M Nail Effects). 

I think it looked gorgeous! Because the black crackle is matte on top of the shimmery red and golds it really looks like the drying surface of magma. Fantastic idea Pixie :D

Born Pretty nails

A while ago I was contacted by the lovely people at Born Pretty who asked me to choose a product from their website to review. I asked for a surprise as there was so much to choose from I couldn't decide.

So I was sent this Laushine cracking polish in L022 which is a very blue toned purple (or blurple, if you will :P). I know tonnes of people are bored of crackle polishes, but I love them so I was very happy.

Now call me a cynic but I didn't expect this no-name brand polish to be much good but I was very happily surprised! It gave me a nice even crackle effect that looked basically the same on each nail (sometimes I have problems where the nails will all look different because each nail will have a slightly lighter or heavier coat of crackle polish), it dried really quickly and the effect is quite chunky, which I prefer to some crackles that give you just little 'fault lines' of shattering. I actually liked the formula of this polish better than the china glaze and models own crackle polishes I've tried, and it was as good as the Barry M Nail Effects which I love. I was really impressed.

So I tried it out over a few different base coats to see how nicely it would contrast with various colours. 

 

Over (left to right):

Illamasqua Rare, Models Own 24 Karat, Color Club Screaming Tangerine, Nubar Marble Tower

 

And over Rimmel Black Pearl. It's less shattered here as I accidentally did a ridiculously thick coat :P

I really liked it over the gold polish and it was pretty over Screaming Tangerine but I wonder if you can guess what I went for for my full mani? :P

   

Ahh yes, Rare by Illamasqua. It's a fantastic colour, a real eye-searing neon yellow but it applies a bit patchy. To get it looking nice I have to use at least 3 coats and then it gets a bit thick looking. The crackle disguises that a little and also makes for the most 80s looking nails ever! :D

I've been wearing this for about 4 days now, without a top coat. It's hard for me to discuss wear in comparison with my usual manicures as I nearly always wear a top coat but for this I wanted to keep it matte because it looked so cool. But anyway at the moment I've had a tiny bit of tip wear of both polishes but no chipping so I'm very happy.

After trying this I am looking forward to actually ordering from Born Pretty. They have some other unusual coloured crackle polishes from the same brand as well as some bizarre looking glitter polishes, nail art pens and other equipment. They also sell some random cosmetics and false eyelashes. The prices are very fair, if I had paid for it this polish would have cost me $4.91 which I think is very fair. They also ship for free worldwide.

I was told it would take 2-3 weeks to arrive but actually took about 1 week, if not less! I can't say if thats true for actual orders but considering I was told 2-3 weeks, which is what I'd imagine most parcels from Singapore to the UK might take, I can assume it might be a similar delivery time.

They were also kind enough to give me a coupon code for all my followers to use :)

It expires on 31/12/2011 so you've got plenty of time to use it!

*I was sent this product for review but all my thoughts and opinions are my own*

NOTD

I absolutely love my nails at the moment. I decided to use my Barry M Nail Effects for the first time and absolutely love it! Now I want crackle varnish in every colour of the rainbow. I neeeed the China Glaze ones but am poor :(
Anyway here they are:

 

 

I used Sinful Colors Let's Meet which is a shimmery yellow with a tiny hint of pink to it's pearl, then the Nail Effects.

I Loooove watching the Nail Effects crack, it's so cool, I could watch it forever! It hypnotises me. 

I actually preferred it without the top coat because then the black shatter is matte which, against the contrasting shimmery glossy polish underneath, looks amazing. But I wanted it to last a long time so i put on a shiny top coat. It still looks great.

Here's a picture of it sans top coat:

 

I love this. The black crackle look both classy and grungy at the same time and looks a bit like leopard print from a distance. Not only that but it covers up any problems in the application of the base coat (if you look very closely you can see some air bubbles in the yellow) :P

But of course now I want to get rid of it to have a valentines mani! But as it's still perfect I won't.

What you wearing on your nails at the moment? What are your feelings on shatter/crackle polish?

Illamasqua Throb Manicure semi-tutorial

It's a semi tutorial because I am too rubbish to even have done this manicure very well, so I can't expect anyone to be able to follow my rubbish instructions! But still, I thought you might like to have a look :)

Here is the original:

  

Illamasqua actually made a tutorial of how they did this, you can see it here. I couldn't do it that way because I don't have any false nails.

And here is my take:

I don't have a cream or plain black nail polish (well I have a black one, but it's very old and has gone too gloopy to use. I must get some thinner!). Illamasqua used their new 'Load' and 'scorn' polishes for this cream and matte black look. So instead I used Models Own 'Snow White' and Eyeko Vampire polish, which is a lovely black with red shimmer. 

Please go under the cut to see the steps I took :)

Nails!

Lately i've been trying to keep my fingernails painted almost constantly, because having pretty nails has really helped me to stop biting my cuticles and the skin around my nails. I haven't stopped completely but i'm a lot better now, i used to have horrible wounds and the whole area around my nails were red and sore. Having pretty polish stops me biting so much because i don't want to chip my polish. So i think this month is going to be pretty nail heavy :)

Here are just a few pics of some manicures i've done recently including my first ever attempts at nail art (apart from french tips)

 

Candy Cane nails

 

My fist attempt at Marbling (little-finger-nail did not go well :P) supposed to be like a peppermint.

 

Models Own Disco Mix (LOVE this one)

 

GOSH holographic (SO so beautiful)