Disapointing NOTD: Barry M & Model's Own

I love painting my nails and I'm a sucker for any type of nail gimmick but here are my nail polish disapointments.

So whilst I was browsing the Barry M stand in Superdrug, I couldn't help but be lured in by the Sequin Nail Effects in colour SNP1 and in all honesty, I wish I'd never bothered:

The first top coat wasn't too bad, but didn't give the effect I had in mind (white nails with rainbow sparkles please). I also was not best pleased with the sand like texture but battled on and applied a second coat to see if it got any better:

It looks like a pixie threw up on my nails

The second coat made my nails look worse, not better! The rainbow sparkles clumped together and the white sandy texture was rough and uneven.

I'm not quite sure what went wrong with this nail varnish; was it the sandy texture? or the clumpy sequins? or the white base coat?

There's far too much going on with this polish; perhaps had it been a rainbow sequin topcoat, it would have worked much better.

I'm probably going to throw this sequin nail effect polish out and I most definitely wouldn't recommend buying the range. 

My second nail disappointment comes in the form of Model's Own Neon Ice in Toxic Apple:

Now, there's nothing wrong with this varnish per say... It applied like a dream and gave off a great neon glow after just two coats. I suppose this is a personal dislike; the nails really stood out so much that I got a headache looking at them.

My headache got so bad that I had to do something to tone the neon down:

Do I match the car or does the car match me?

I managed to turn the overly neon into a cool bit of nail art which looked so much better and got me loads of compliments.

Model's Own promised neon colour, and they delivered... it just wasn't for me. I might be swayed into buying a different neon colour but this Toxic Apple will be banished to the nail art drawer.

NOTD: Barry M Gelly in Greenberry

My NOTD

I went to the dentist earlier in the week and decided I deserved a treat for being so brave.

Enter Barry M's Gelly nail paint in Greenberry;

These photos were taken in natural sunlight and while the Gelly looks more blue in the pictures, it is actually more green in the flesh.

The colours in the S/S13 Gelly range are GreenBerry (pictured above), Lychee (beige), Papaya (orange) and Dragonfruit (pink). 

The application process was quite tricky with the Gelly nail varnish. The first coat I applied was streaky and see through and the second coat dragged and become blotchy. The third coat, however, looked perfect not only because it was evenly spread and smooth on the nail.

My mother commented that the finish looked similar to the Shellac nails which is a great result from a £3.99 nail varnish.

Chipping occurred after roughly 3 days on the tips of the nails and the thick varnish got dented slightly (see my index finger in the first picture). 

I've recently purchased the Lychee colour as well so keep an eye on my instagram and twitter for pictures! 

Have you purchased any of the Gelly range? What did you think?

Barry M textures: Kingsland Road

Textured nails!

I recently bought Barry M's new Textured nail varnishes in Atlantic Road (Blue TNP1) and Kingsland Road (Pink TNP3). They are currently on offer in Superdrug, 2 for £6 and can be mixed and matched with the new Gelly shades. I'm not too keen on the Gellies however, and wanted to road test (see what I done there ;) ).

Here are my nails after being painted with 3 coats so it's really opaque. It's a beautiful pastel pink colour; perfect for the SS13 which is all about pastels! The texture itself is a soft rough feeling, it's quite a nice feeling actually and it looks really interesting. I got complimented on it by my fiance's family.

However....

This is a photo of my nails after 4 days wear. I can't really describe what's happened but textured bits have actually collected dirt and no matter how much I wash my hands, it won't come clean. My nails look so grubby. I suppose if the paint was a different colour, the dirt wouldn't be so prominent. My mother so kindly point out that the texture looked like I'd painted my nails and then gone to bed without letting it dry properly which isn't the look I was going for...

I have yet to try the blue Atlantic Road colour and I hope the same thing doesn't happen as I really like the idea of this varnish but I can't go round looking like I haven't washed my hands!

Have you tried the Barry M textures? If so, did the same thing happen to you?

A Beauty Blogger Superdrug Haul!

I only went in for new Deodrant ;) 

Barry M texture in 305 Atlantic  Road (blue) Multibuy discount, £3

Barry M texture in 304 Kingsland Road (pink) Multibuy discount, £3

MUA The Artiste Collect Mutliuse Palette, £6

MUA Eyebrow Pencil, £1

MUA Eyeliner, £1

MUA Pro Base Eye Primer, £2.50

Sure Long Lasting Protection, £1.32

MUA Undress your skin, £3

MUA Pro Base in Porcelain, £3.50

Total= £24.32

(average of £2.70 for each item)  

Hopefully I'll be making a post soon about some of the items I bought :)

MUA constellations; Stars in your nails.

 I recently purchased Nail Constellation by MUA in the Scorpio colour scheme. There are five different colour options in the Constellation range; Scorpio, Pisces, Leo, Gemini and Libra. You might have noticed that there's only five out of the twelve constellations so I'm hoping that MUA will expand the range. I went for the Scorpio set because of the colour of the beads; green, gold and pink.

 

Before I paint my nails, I use 'OPI Nail Envy' nail strengthener. I love this product for a number of reasons; it strengthens my nails, protects them from staining and dries really quickly. To compliment the gold and pink, I paint my nails in 'Barry M's Nail Paint' in colour 334, Teal. In the pictures below, I am wearing two coats of the nail polish for a fantastic deep colour. To protect my nails from chipping, I use 'Rimmel Pro Super Wear', a top coat, which gives a really amazing high shine and protects from chips for roughly ten days.

On my ring finger, once my second coat of nail paint had been applied, I sprinkled the MUA constellations onto the wet nail until it was completely covered. I would advise doing the constellations over a small tray as they do go absolutely everywhere otherwise. Once I was sure that my nail had dried and the constellations had stuck, I gave a quick once over with the Rimmel top coat.

I'm really pleased with the result of the nail constellations. It gives my nails a really high end look but on a budget. I would definitely recommend.

Have you used the MUA nail constellations? What did you think? 

Are you fur real?

MUA Fur-Effect Nails in colour 'Fluffy Bobbin' is available at Superdrug for £2