Barry M Gelly Hi Shine - Chai

Hi guys! I hope you have all been well! Are you looking forward to the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring? Someone told me that when Daffodils start blooming in London it's a sign that Spring is almost upon us - and I can't wait (and a pleasant surprise to see so many daffodils blooming all over London as they're my favourite flowers!). Today I have a simple swatch of a colour that caught my eye in Superdrug by Barry M called Chai; a beautiful mid toned grey with blue undertones. I applied 2 easy coats with a fast drying topcoat (HK Girl Glisten & Glow). A perfect match for today's dreary grey sky. What are you all up to this weekend?

Tropical Gradient X

Hey everyone! I hope you had a really nice weekend! My boyfriend and  I celebrated our 6 year anniversary together at a beautiful one chef's hat restaurant! I was so spoilt with a gorgeous Micheal Kors handbag and i'm so in love with it! Anyway! Today I am showing you some nail art I did a few weeks ago. I did a simple gradient using all colours by Kester Black; Dragonfruit, Bougainvillea, Parrot and Laguna followed by 1 coat of G&G. Once dried I used my white Barry M Nail Art Pen to draw the lines. I stuffed up the pointer finger by doing the lines too thick but all in all I was really happy with these nails - they looked so striking in real life! What do you think of this nail art? Thanks for reading!

Artsy Wednesday - Easter Nails!

Hi guys! Today's AW theme is Easter! I chose to do texture chicks! They're super cute and super easy to do and perfect for the easter holidays! Is anyone else having 10 days off? Woop! I used 2 coats of Barry M - Station Road and used acrylic paint for the shells, nose and eyes, followed by 1 coat of Glisten & Glow (my new fave top coat!)

Check out the other Artsy Wednesday participants in this week's theme here!

Michelle - Lab Muffin 
Maria - Marias Nail Art and Polish Blog
Ameerah - Valiantly Varnished
Haylee - Makeup and Masala
Rosemarie - Every Little Polish
Anna - Makeup'n More by Anna

Geometric Crackle Nails

Hey guys! I have a quick NOTD to show you. I absolutely loved these crackle nails I did. It is really simple. I did 1 coat of OPI - Funny Bunny and used my white Barry M Nail Art Pen to randomly draw lines over my nails. I finished it off with 1 coat of SV. What do you think of these nails?

Europe Nail Polish Haul!

Hi guys!! I'm back! I had such an amazing time in Europe, the most memorable time which I will never forget and sadly I'm back to reality! I, surprisingly, didn't go too crazy when buying nail polishes overseas! I only bought polishes that really stood out to me (which is a good way to buy when you have so many colours). Here's my haul!

Catrice; Purple Reign and Mermaid My Day, Gabrielle Salvete (Both liquid sands); Raspberry & Clementina

Barry M - Ruby Glitter, Art Deco - 18 Chrome, Models Own - Grape Juice (scented), Misslyn - Velvet Diamond (#12), Essence - The Boy Next Door

Barry M - White & Black Nail Art Pen, Models Own - Mermaid Tears (the bottle had a nasty break - somewhere between London and Brisbane in my suitcase - so I transferred to a new bottle).

I had to....when in London of course, you visit the nail polish bottle store - WOOP!!

I had such an amazing time looking at all the nail polish and make up Europe had to offer and the cheapest place on my entire trip to buy nail polish was . . . . Prague! Do you like my haul??

 

Barry M - Textured Nail Effect 2013 Collection

Enter my 500 follower giveaway here to win 7 nail polishes!

Hey guys! A few weeks ago I showed you one of Barry M's textured polishes here. Today I have the other 3 in the collection to show you. I did a little skittle manicure with them all. Ridley Road is the gorgeous bright pastel mint green colour, Kingsland Road is the baby pink colour and Atlantic Road is the baby blue colour. I applied 2 coats and it took about 30 minutes to dry fully. I also applied some cute little 3d bow stickers my sister bought me from Japan. These nails were very striking and I enjoyed wearing them as opposed to the first time I wore Station Road (pastel yellow).

Will you be picking any of these up?? I hope you like this post! Thanks for reading.

Barry M - Textured Polishes 2013 Collection

Enter my current $50AUD gift voucher giveaway here!

Hello everyone!! Today I have a textured colour from Barry M's new collection to show you called Station Road. In the bottle it is a beautiful bright yellow with gorgeous yellow glitter in it. When it is applied onto the nail it dries into a very textured almost sand-like finish. It's all about textures this year! I saw beautiful swatches over at One Nail To Rule Them All and immediately had to buy all four colours but when I applied it and waited for it to dry (which mind you took at least an hour!) I wasn't very wowed by it. It just didn't look that great. I'm not hesitant to try the other 3 colours :-( I used 3 coats here and no top coat. 

Close up it looks a bit like grated cheese or creamed corn. . . lol. Have you made a recent purchase you regret? Thanks for reading!!

Barry M + Jemma Kidd Make Up Review

Hey guys! Today I received my order from ASOS and I snagged some pretty cool and cheap pieces of make up from their mid season sale, woop! I bought 3 eye shadow glide on pencils and 1 blush :-)

First up is JK Jemma Kidd In Vogue Perfect Blush - Colour 03 Fifth Avenue for $13.56

This blush is so pretty! Comes with 4 different colours to make the perfect glow on your cheeks! I haven't really used a blush before so I wanted to try one that had a nice peachy/pink look to it. It is very subtle but is easily buildable!

 

 

Shade, outside - Truest colour to palette

 

It is really hard to see the swatches on my hand but in order from left to right and with respect to the blush palette: Top left pink colour, Middle peach shimmer colour, Top right dark peach colour, Bottom right light nude colour.

Secondly, 3 Barry M Eyeshadow Pencils - $7.63 each, colours bought are: Bronze, White Gold and Gun Metal

These are awesome! Super easy glide on pencils with huge colour transfer! Bonus, they are waterproof and do not smudge easily... woo!

 

I did a bit of a trial on my eyes. Firstly in the inner corner is the White gold, then on my upper lid is the Bronze, I used a little bit of bronze between the White Gold on the bottom lash line and then lined the rest of my lower lash line with the Gun metal shadow. Really actually liked this look!

What do you think of these items? Have you got any of them in your stash?

Enter my giveaway here to win a $30AUD Beautybay.com giftvoucher here :-)

Thanks for reading!

Artsy Wednesday - Stripes!

Today's artsy wednesday theme is stripes so I went with a silver and gold combination. I used 1 coat of Barry M's Silver and Gold Foil effects and then used silver and gold striping tape purchased on ebay for less than 20 cents! It was very very simple to do and i'm glad because I tried THREE other striped manicures before this one but i was impatient and didn't want to wait for my polish to fully dry so I gave up and then decided on this one and I think it looks MUCH better than my previous designs! Check these photos out :-)

 ALSO! I am hosting my 100 follower giveaway and have some awesome polishes up for grabs so don't forget to enter here!

Make sure to check out these other girls partaking in the Artsy Wednesday!

Michelle - Lab Muffin
Alanna - Pretty Purple Polish
Holly - Hooked!
Maria - Maria's Nail Art
Tif - Polished Genius
Lyndsey - Nails by Ms. Lizard
Sofie - Swaafie
Catrine - Unnaked Nails 

 Jessica - Beauty Gnome

Thanks for reading. Love Mel.

Barry M & Essie Luxeffects Combo

Today's look started with Barry M's Silver Foil polish followed by Essie's Luxeffects Shine of the Times! If you saw in my earlier post I did a double gold combo and it was so pretty and this one is no exception!! Barry M's polish was a really nice formula it's just a shame about the thin brush! Essie's Shine of the Times is a thick polish and formula but I don't care because it makes any manicure absolutely gorgeous!!

Check out these photos!

Don't Forget to enter my giveaway!!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave your opinions :-) Love Mel!

Brush Types - A General Overview

Hello there! Today I will be showing you a post on the different types of nail polish brushes I own. Now, I am aware that I don't have ALL the popular brands (my first China Glaze polishes are on their way!) BUT, I do have a typical sample collection to show you! Enjoy :)

The real stand outs for me personally are brushes that are thick, E.g BK, KIKO, OPI and Estee Lauder. These brushes are the easiest for me to work with as I naturally have long nails and find it great at applying colour evenly.

The hardest brushes for me to use are Revlon and Bloom. They leave my nails looking streaky and can't cover the nail quickly enough before the polish begins to dry.

All in all, I generally don't have too much trouble with application. It really depends on how i'm feeling that day and if i have a steady hand.

What's your opinion? Anyone else having similar issues and success??

Thanks for reading!

Love Mel.