Monday's Manicure: Diamond Glitter v Disco Disco

Currently listening to: False Alarms by Josh Groban

Hello ladies,

At the weekend I showed you a manicure featuring Barry M Diamond Glitter, a polish which I only acquired last week.  After seeing so many beautiful glitter gradient manicures online, I came to the conclusion that the glitter I'd been using, Essence Disco Disco, was too heavy for such a manicure and I realised that I really rather wanted Diamond Glitter in my collection.

I rushed to Boots the morning after this realisation and hesitated for only a minute in front of Diamond Glitter, wondering if it really was so different from Disco Disco that it was worth buying.  As you can see from the pictures, the two polishes are very different, noticeably so in the bottle and on the nail.

 

Diamond Glitter on the left, Disco Disco on the right.

 I'm so glad I decided to add Diamond Glitter to my collection.  Now I can a delicate touch of glitter to any manicure I please.

What do you think of these glitters girls?  How many glitter toppers do you have in your collection?

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Sparkles: Spring Coloured Diamond Nails

Currently watching: One Tree Hill 

Good morning girls,

Recently when tidying my polishes I picked up three colours which I thought would look really pretty together. 

 

Sometimes I find colour combinations I love but which I don't know how to showcase well and this was one of those times so I decided to simply paint each nail with one of the chosen shades.

From left to right: Essie Bikini So Teeny, Barry M Berry Ice Cream and Nail Pop It's Mint.

I then sponged Barry M Diamond Glitter on the tips for added sparkle.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Holo Floral Stamping

Currently listening to: False Alarms by Josh Groban

Good morning ladies,

Trying out Color Club Angel Kiss at the weekend made me hungry for another holographic manicure so this time I chose Cloud Nine, a beautiful purple shade, as my base.

I then stamped a Bundle Monster floral pattern using BM 224 and Barry M Bright Purple.

 I think it's a great combination and I know I'll be teaming these polishes together again.

Of course I didn't manage to capture this polish at its best but that's okay, there will be plenty of opportunities to photograph it in direct sunlight in the next few months I'm sure.

 I have to finish by saying how impressed I am with the quality of these polishes.  Application is an absolute dream and there's no need for a special base coat.

What do you think girls?  Which is your favourite brand for holographic polishes?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Angel Kiss

Currently watching: Homeland Season 1 

Good morning lovely ladies,

Apologies for the mini blogging break; I stuck with my Fairy Godmother manicure for a while and didn't actually paint my nails until the weekend.  I've just realised now how well that manicure lasted as I don't think I had any tip wear or chips when I removed it and that was after a week.  Wow.

 

Anyway, moving on to my weekend manicure.  The sun was out on Saturday so I thought it was the ideal time for a holographic polish.

 I decided to go for the green holo in the Color Club 2012 Halo Hues collection, Angel Kiss.  When I was swithering between buying the whole collection and just buying a couple of colours, this green shade was definitely one which I thought I could do without.  Oh how wrong I was.

 I haven't managed to capture the full holographic effect as I didn't take any pictures in direct sunlight but this is such a pretty shade and I can see it being really versatile; a great polish for all seasons.  It's also really flattering and not at all difficult to wear.

What do you think girls?  Are there any polishes you've bought which you've been pleasantly surprised by?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Fairy Godmother

Currently watching: Grey's Anatomy

Good morning girls,

Here's a colour I haven't used for a while:

 

 This is Soft Grey by Beauty UK.

This is yet another of those polishes which has been in my collection for ages but rarely gets used.  I don't know why, perhaps because I find it difficult to think of corresponding colours for stamping.

 Anyway, despite how infrequently I wear Soft Grey, it only ever seems to come out when my nails are at their shortest, which they currently are thanks to my weekend filing session.

 Application of this polish was really easy and I only needed two coats.  I then added Sparkle Touch by Miss Sporty on my accent nail and used it for the tips only on my other nails.  The final look made me think of the fairy godmother in Cinderella.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Moody Stripes

Currently listening to: Without You by Glee

Good morning lovely ladies,

Today I have a manicure to show you which ended up looking nothing at all like the original idea I had in mind.  Here's why...

I started with two coats of Lilac by Marks and Spencer (bottle image below) which is a lilac polish packed full of golden shimmer.  I've had it for ages but only worn it once before when I did a half-moon manicure featuring it and a purple creme.  I have fond memories of that manicure so I was excited to use this polish again.

 The issue I had with this polish this time around was that when worn alone, the golden shimmer really takes over from the lilac colour and appears quite dark.

 I struggled to think of a way to lift the colour so I ended up hiding almost all of it by painting vertical stripes down the length of each nail using Technic purple and silver stripers.

 I still wasn't happy with it, especially as I did this last Sunday evening and didn't feel it was particularly work-appropriate but in the end I threw all caution to the wind and add Essence silver glitter to the silver stripes. 

I ended up wearing this for four days despite never really liking it that much.  Next time I will layer Lilac over a purple creme to see if that lifts the colour.  Fingers crossed.

Bye for now,

Laura

Friday's Fingers: Lilac Stars

Currently listening to: Happy in my Heartache by Josh Groban

Good morning dear readers,

I don't know if you're aware that purple is my favourite colour so although I've already shown you a purple manicure this week, I have another one to show you today.  Hope you don't mind.

 

 

I picked Eyeko Lilac Polish for this manicure, which I haven't used for a while.  I was given this polish as a gift almost three years ago when Eyeko polishes used to be £3.50.  I checked on their website and was surprised to see that the brand doesn't appear to sell nail polish anymore.

 To add some sparkle, I painted vertical stripes along each nail using the Essence silver striper.  I wish I had this in more colours.

 I then randomly stamped stars using Easy Paris shade 48 and Bundle Monster plate BM05.

What do you think girls?  Do you still have Eyeko polishes in your collection?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Spring Pastels

Currently listening to: Sincera by Josh Groban

Good morning ladies,

Today I'd like to show you a pastel manicure I did at the weekend when the sun came out and spring finally arrived in the UK.

 

I started by painting each nail a different pastel shade.  From left to right we have Essence Absolutely Blue, Nails Inc Spitalfields, Barry M Prickly Pear, Essence Free Hugs and Nail Pop It's Mint.

 I particularly loved how well the pink, purple and yellow shades went together.

 I then stamped two accent nails using Born Pretty Store image plate m59.

What do you think girls?  Are you a fan of pastels for spring?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Disco Pear

Currently listening to: Without You by Glee

Good morning dear readers,

Today I'd like to show you the manicure I was sporting over the long Easter weekend:

My base is Barry M Prickly Pear, which I absolutely love.  I wore this for five days in a row and thought I'd taken the bottle with me when I visited my parents for Easter but I forgot and of course it chipped...

 Luckily I was able to cover up most of the damaged by adding glitter tips with Essence Disco Disco.  What a lifesaver ;-)

What do you think girls?  Do you change your manicure when you're away on holiday?

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Neon Pink Floral NOTD

Currently listening to: False Alarms by Josh Groban

Good morning girls!

Today I have a very bright floral manicure to show you:

I started with a base of neon pink by Yes Love (shade 17) and then applied a layer of fairy dust, also known as Kiko Sparkle Touch, shade 228.

 I then stamped a full nail floral pattern using Easy Paris shade 48 and Bundle Monster plate BM 321.  I smeared one of my nails when I applied my top coat but it wasn't at all noticeable in real life.  I've been wearing this manicure for four days now and I still can't stop admiring it.  Because the pattern is so big and bold it kind of makes me think of nail wraps :-)

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Pomegranate Flowers

Currently watching: The Big Reunion

Good morning lovely ladies,

I liked my spring flower manicure so much that I decided to create another version with different colours:

 

Barry M Pomegranate, Essence silver glitter striper and a pale pink jelly from Color Club (name unknown).

I started with two coats of the Color Club shade then painted vertical silver stripes of glitter and stamped two clusters of flowers on each nail using Barry M Pomegranate and Bundle Monster plate BM311.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura