First Autumn Nails of the Year

Today's nail art I want to share with you is actually a retake of last year. I just so enjoyed it that I wanted to do it again. I will be changing it again in a couple of days though as it hasn't held up well to the work I've been doing in the garden (even though I was wearing gloves) or the cooking I've done.

My nails look truly terrible in this, but the application was not helped by being up and down 6 times to see to my littlest who kept waking herself up with a nasty cough and tight chest. Hopefully you'll get the idea though.

To create the look I used a Barbara Daly (for Tesco) polish as my main colour, a Born Pretty Gold stamping polish and a stamping plate I bought cheap from ebay. On my first and last fingers I used Barry M mattifying top coat, and on the middle two, the Barry M Wet Set top coat. I wasn't careful enough on my ring finger and ended up 'dragging' the stamp, however by that point I was only glad to have got the top coat on! I gave up shortly after and got ready for bed and put little one in with me to settle down!

I have my next 2 or 3 ideas already lined up, I might even go and get on with one now, while she naps!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamped Holo Mani

I was hoping to be able to show off some nail art using one or more colours from the Barry M AW16 range, but Superdrug failed in a big way to deliver on this launch, and from looking at social media, it would appear my local wasn't the only one to let us down.

To console myself, I created this mani;

To create it I used the below line-up;

They are China Glaze - Cosmic Dust, Barry M Super Mani 7-in-1 (which I used as my base coat) and one of the new AW16 releases, the Barry M Wet Set Top Coat. The stamping plate was from Q-Girl (bought on eBay).

I have to say, I am not at all impressed with the China Glaze formula. It wasn't cheap and had I known how poorly it applies I'm not sure I would have bought it. I took a picture to show you the problem I had with it. This was whilst applying the second coat (the first was fully dry). It wasn't the only nail I had to redo either.

I am Very impressed (with a capital V!) with the new Wet Set Top Coat from Barry M though. It does what it says on the bottle. It's a quick dry top coat, and it certainly is that! I didn't time it, but in under 60 seconds it was dry and it was hard dried too. No smudging or texturing going on.

Whilst I love the overall effect of this mani, especially when I get the fully holo effect going on, I'm not sure it's a look I'll recreate all that often. I'm just not sure the trouble with application is worth it. I'm also writing this only a day after I applied it and its chipping all over the shop!

More Dots...

Sorry this has taken me a little while to post (those of you who follow me on facebook will know this is actually last week's nail art!), but last week was a busy (but productive) week! Head on over to my facebook page to find out why!

Without further ado then, here is the latest nail art!

This was taken immediately after I applied a quick-dry spray, which is why it looks soooo glossy!

And this was after it had dried a bit. You can see the colours of the dots a lot better here.

Here is the polish line-up! Please forgive the wrinkle in the background. I'm still getting my space properly set up.

It's an almost exclusive Barry M line-up as you can see (all purchased by me)... Speaking of Barry M, did you know he has some new colours launching THIS WEEK in Superdrug (21st) and NEXT WEEK in Boots (28th)?! I can't wait!!!

Waterfall Mani

This is a style that I've been wanting to try for a few weeks now but as I have such a long list of designs and colour combinations I want to try, I've only just gotten round to it!

To create this look I used these polishes

From left to right they are;

• Crush
• Plum
• Sugar Plum
• Starfish (which I used as the base)
• Fashion Icon

I did this mani on Saturday evening but I'm only getting to post about it now for various reasons. I have to say, I'm quite disappointed about how it has worn this time. My right thumb and forefinger were already chipped by midday on Sunday and I hadn't done anything! I'm hoping it's something to do with the way I applied it and nothing more, because I'm usually super-impressed with the staying power of Barry M polishes!

Dotty for Polka Dots

I have quite a collection of nail varnishes now so I usually start thinking about my nail art a few days before I start painting. For the last few days I've been thinking about my 'muted' pink and some cream. I quite enjoyed my polka dots last time so I thought I'd have another go.

I learned a couple of things along the way here too. First of all, my hands shake if I haven't eaten enough and trying to create polka dots or even an even polish is not too easy with shaky hands! The second thing I learned is that I can still create a nice clean finish with shaky hands with the fat flat brush in the Barry M Coconut Infusions collection. I was impressed!

Less talk and more pictures. Here we go;

This was created using;

Barry M Coconut Infusions 'Surfboard' (the pink)

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine 'Coconut' (the cream)

China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' (the holo on my accent finger)

Surfboard went on beautifully and smoothly. I used 2 coats. I love the formula of the coconut infusions collection and it self levels, which really helped when I was struggling with shaky hands! Coconut was a little on the streaky side and less forgiving . I used 3 coats.

This week I also tried (for the first time!) a speed drying spray by Tesco. It definitely helped dry everything quicker, and although my nails have still ended up with a visible 'texture' to them, it's definitely not as prominent as it usually is. I'll definitely be using it more often!

One Of My Favourites

I've had a busy few days this week spending time with my Mum and celebrating my youngest daughter's birthday. My nails have been through the ringer a bit with that... baking cakes, building sandcastles, opening presents... none of it particularly polish friendly! I do, however, have plenty of 'historic' nail art I can share with you. This is one is quite simple but I thought it was quite effective and enjoyed wearing it;

natural light

To create this look I used Barry M polishes. From the Coconut Infusions range I used 'Surfboard' (the pink) and 'Starfish' (the tan). From the Aquarium Range I used 'Caspian'. All are applied with 2 coats. I really love the formula of the Coconut Infusions range. They go on smoothly and are self levelling, providing complete coverage in 2 easy coats.

Something Other Than Nails

Today I just want to share with you another of my hobbies. I love to sew. My sister recently had a baby, and as a gift I made her a quilt/tummytime/play mat.

Here is the finished thing. It took me a lot longer than I would have liked because, not only because we had a bit of a heat wave and I took advantage of it, but because the metallic thread I was using for quilting kept coming unwound and splitting. I think I wasted as much as I used.

Here is a the finished thing anyway. I hope she likes it and gets lots of use from it!