Nail Art: Ombre Stripes

Long time no see! Again! :p

Today I tried something pretty complicated for me since I haven't done any nail art that's needed so much work...and even then, I still made some mistakes :p

I've been liking Ombres these days, so I did a blue and purple ombre using models own Hypergel polishes and a slight layer of gold glitter polish from the ciate Christmas advent calander. I then laid some striping tape in diagonals and then quickly put on some Barry m black polish. 

I liked using the black as it quietens down the brightness of the ombre but still has an element of interest to it. 

Swatched! Models Own: BlooBloo

This is kind of a sucky swatch as I've layered a Barry m confetti topcoat over it but I hope you can get the gist of BlooBloo. It's a lovely pastel colour that could almost pass as a winter pastel

Swatched! Barry M Gelly: Blueberry

Barry M blueberry is a standard pastel blue polish, nothing too special in all honesty. Unlike the lilac version, this was opaque in two coats, however I still did my three coats for y peace of mind XD 

Having got quite a collection of Gellys now, I do recommend them for their range of colours as some aren't duped in the normal Barry m collection (keylime, for example. The normal Barry m lime colour is a sheer jelly) and they are pretty opaque in two coats.  However they aren't as shiny as they are with a coat of Seche Vite on too, but I think very few topcoats/gel polishes can compare to Seche Vite! 

Swatched! Essie: Aruba Blue

Aruba blue is a much loved colour due to it's subtle metallic finish an it's navy base

After purple, blue is my second favourite colour, not just for nails but in general life too. I think because it's quite a calming colour (ever notice hospitals and it's staff are blue at some point?)

This is three coats with Seche Vite. 

Swatched! Maybelline: Surreal & Berry Stain

I know I've been a bad blogger recently. Well, worse than usual. Think I'm just enjoying the laziness of summer before the chaos that will be my final year in university (AAAHH!). Maybe I do more nail art stuff during term time to procrastinate from uni work? Who knows.

But I think I'll take a look through my WAH nails book and have a go at each design or take a look at some 31 Day Nail Challenge lists to get some inspiration. So hopefully things will get better soon! 

I also have some Boots hauls to do. Most of it has been skin care as I've broken out really badly as of late so I've been waiting a while to see if the stuff I bought actually works (here's hoping!) 

Today I have the other two maybelline polishes that I bought in a 3 for 2 deal. 

Surreal is a lovely blurple that you don't often see done by polish brands. It leans quite blue in the photo but is a bit more purple in real life. If you're a hoarder/collector like myself, this is one to look out for as I haven't seen many colours quite like it. This is three coats with Seche Vite. 

Berry stain is a nice summer evening shade that could also transition into autumn. Unlike Surreal you coil probably get a dupe of this elsewhere but is good for an autumn polish that isn't as campy as a deep berry shade for example. And unlike the name suggests, this didn't actually stain my nails! This is three coats with Seche Vite. 

Swatched! Barry M Gelly: Blue Grape

Who doesn't like at least one colour from the Barry M Gelly line? So far I mostly have the more summery colours and two of the more darker colours (the purple and the dark green) so I purchased the Blue Grape one which is a lovely royal blue colour. 

I painted these last night so I didn't realise till now that you could still see the nail line :o however you can only see the nail line in certain lights i think 

anyways, this is two coats which is pretty good coverage as I usually use three coats. I really do adore this colour as it's such a bold royal blue and looks like I'd just grabbed a bic pen and inked my nails :) 

Swatches! Models Own : Feeling Blue

Hello hello! Are you guys enjoying the snow in the UK?! Gadz, what's wrong with the weather these days?!

Today I've swatched models own feeling blue which is a lovely bright mid-blue colour, sort of almost a bright pastel? Some people are a bit scared of blue due to the "dead body" look but I love a bit of blue polish! It's different enough to make your nails stand out without having to go for a neon or an orange or something.

Feeling blue is opaque in two coats and dries fairly quickly too! Photos are with no topcoat (feeling lazy!)

Swatched! Barry M Textured Polishes

Hey guys! I have a swatch post today of the much tualked about textured polishes from Barry M. The photos are a bit off because I got an iphone recently and I've still to get used to how it focuses etc. But you can kind of still see how the texture is like concrete :) I also have instagram too if you fancy a look (gunthercentralperk).

Being a Barry M fan I obviously had to get my hands on these, although it is slightly disappointing that here is only pastel colours as I have a billion of them. But it is suitable for the upcoming spring :) All are 3 coats and no topcoat.

Atlantic Road (Blue) and Ridley Road (Green)

Kingsland Road (pink) and Station Road (yellow)

All but the yellow are pure creme colours, whereas I'm sure the yellow has some kind of shimmer to it, although it doens't show well in contrast with the texture. These wore pretty well, very little chipping despite me being at the computer a lot during the 2 days I wore these. Although I did notice they picked up dirt pretty easily due to the texture, I'm a bit of a face toucher when I'm bored in lectures, and I did notice a slight foundation-type tinge to them...ew lol.

These are a nice step forward into the textured polish trend and a lot less hassle than the caviar or fuzzy nail trend as there you're not physically making th epolihs 3D yourself, so they're good if you're lazy but want to dup your feet into the nail art trend :) They're fairly easy to remover, easier than an actual glitter polish, but a smidge mroe effort than a standard polish due to the gritty bits.

Simple Hime Gyaru nails

Hello people! Long time no post eh? :(

Uni's been a bit of a drag, and it's going to get even more saddening as I have at least 4 hand ins/deadlines/tests in March -_- 

So I haven't really been in the mood to do much nail art, but I have been doing a bit of shopping (Boots hauls coming soon!), so I will hopefully start doing swatch type posts soon too :)

So for this design, I used Essie's Lapiz Of Luxury, which I've been eyeing up for a while. It's a lovely dusty mid-blue, that's opaque in 2 coats (but I used my usual 3 coats), perfect for spring/summer. I know it's not that time of year yet, but I do love a bit of pastel ;)

I then got some 3D gems/pearls and randomly stuck on a few clusters in the corner of each nail, then topcoated with a good slather of Seche Vite. I finally succumbed to the hype and grabbed a bottle last time I was in Boots, and I have to say it's pretty darn good. It was dry by the time I (carefully) put away all my nail things, and everything's stayed on despite me getting my nails caught in my hair a good few times lol.

Sorry aboutt he state of my nails, the cold weather's been drying my cuticles and the complete riot of my room means I can't find my Lemony Flutter D:

Hopefully I'll get them back to good condition soon!

The Day I Sucked At Tribal...

Hello nail friends!

Finally have a semi complicated design to post today!I spent the weekend catching up on notes and only had a 9-10 lecture today, which meant I had time to do my nails properly :) And do the washing and tidy and cook dinner for Mr Laquerised and his flatmate (homemade burgers with wedges to be exact!)

So, after stressing about getting all that done (I got back late after surprisingly), I sat down and done a 3 colour ombre, with 3 polishes from Julie G's first collection for Jessie's Girl ( not sure hwat her 2nd collection is called!). If you're not familiar with Julie G, she's a lovely beauty youtuber who's also quite good with nail designs too, so go check her out when you have a chance :) The 3 colours I used from the collection where Girls Night Out (lovely mid toned creme blue), Fashion Friday (blue-ish toned creme mid-purple) and Cupcake Frosting (a bright creme barbie-ish pink). I used these colours, to sponge an ombre/gradient on top of a base of white. The polishes where sheer at first but 3 coatings later, and it was all good :)

I then attempted a tribal design. Which was NOT good. Despite being a fan of the aztec trend, my mind drew a complete blank on as to what to draw...hence why they're in no way good XD Plus I managed to sponge off a few patches of white (impatient Carol is impatient) so the sponging didn't get as opaque as it should've :( And then I got to my left hand...I let out a deep sigh and knew that I had to face the inevitable end of it being an utter vomit inducing mess thanks to not being ambidextrous :p

I kind of wished I just left it at the ombre, but I like the idea of having a black print over an ombre...maybe a 2nd go is needed after this :/

When Uni Gets In The Way :(

Aloha lovely people, it's been a long while :(

I've been kept busy with uni related things, so I haven't done many designs, and if I have, it's been easy peasy (i.e. pointless) designs. But I've missed writing (albeit bad) posts, so I've compiled my lame attempts in one post so as not to pain your eyes hehe.

To be truthful, my timetable is fairly empty compared to other subjects, although I'm usually always in at 9, I'm rarely in past 12, never mind till 5 (which I thought would happen like every day lol). But I usually spend the rest of my day re-writing my lecture notes and googling extra notes. And I also have to start doing research for an extended essay/mini dissertation I have to do next term. So by the time I've finished doing ntoes, it's time for dinner, and then I'm usually too tired to do anything super intensive. Feels odd being so busy :p

So, with all this time spent writing notes of some form, I've been mostly sporting plain colours, and have only really done 2 designs since my last proper design post :(

I did however, purchase some of the Barry M Gelly range, since I had some extra money in my account, and I got a 20% discount email from Barry M, so I thought why not?! :P I only purchased a few, most of which I can't remember the name of...but I purchased the orange, purple, teal and the dark blue. I've tried the purple and the dark blue, and they are pretty shiney, I didn't even bother with topcoat! So if you've a lazy kinda gal/guy (you never know! :p ), then the Gelly's can be opaque in 1 to 2 coats, and don't necessarily need top coat either, perfect :)

Anyways, one of the designs I did, was an anorexic drip design (I have a habit of making my drips rather bootilicious XD)

I used the dark blue Barry M Gelly, with the Models Own white nail art pen, which helped achieve the skinnier drips as I usually use a brush to do them. I quitw like the effect actually, should've used a pen in the first place hehe!

The next design that I'm also currently sporting is a half assed Halloween-esque design, with glow in the dark polish over Barry M Spring Green, and suing white and black polish to make random googly eyes :)

I'm not sure if this even looks remotely Halloween appropriate, but I think it's the shade of green (and the fact it's October) that makes me think of Halloween? I'm hoping I should have enough time to do some Halloween themed nails like last year, since I ditched out on the Olympics thing, but we shall see what uni has in store :P

Hopefully I'll get back to posting better designs soon, I miss doing my nails :(

Wakka Wakka Wakka 2

Hello lovely bloggers, hope you're enjoying/tolerating the Olympics! :p I've just been watching things like swimming, diving and gymnstics, i.e things over relatively quick or with amazing ability :p

Today's design is another Pacman design, but fairly simple compared to my first one :) I've had a bit of the cold/stomach flu/cough this week so didn't want to end up smearing my design and ruining many minutes of concentration :P

BLUE: Barry M - Cyan Blue
OTHER COLOURS: Ebay - Unbranded

I used good old faithful Barry M for the base, then used some cheapy ebay nail polish pens to do all the other details. I sadly couldn#t find a turquoise/light blue for one of the ghosts, so subbed in a cherry thing :)

The pink one looks rather cock-eyed or like it's had a stroke...oopsies... XD On my other hand i just had the same blue base, with stries in the co-ordinating colours of pacman/ghost, since i didn't feel up to doing my left hand (darn my lack of un-ambidexterity!)

Blue And Gold Ying Yang

So...still raining here...Some summer, eh?

Moving away from the dull weather chat, I decided to go back to the good old Ying Yang design, but this time in mint blue and gold for a nice and different touch.

MINT BLUE: 17 - Mint Choc Chip
GOLD: Barry M - Gold Foil

I've recently noticed there tends to be more interpretations of "mint" than any other colour...they're either blue or green and then there's the various tones as well...I've yet to find one that matched MY idea of mint...maybe I should just franken one :p

Onto my news, I found out I got into Honours Pharmacology for uni :D My grades weren'tt he best to get into Honours, so I was convinced I'd get offered a Designated/3 year degree in Human Bio. So I'm happy, yet confused, that I got offered Honours :D Hopefully I'll be okay with the work load, after doing part time study for the past 2 years :o

Blue Triangular Type Things...

Hola peeps, the sunny climate of last week has now passed, and I am currently bundled up on the sofa contemplating putting the fire on :( And sadly enough, those 7 days were most likely the closest Scotland will get to a Summer...gutted.

The idea for this "design" came from...well...I like triangles and I've been on a blue kick...that's it really...I haven't done a geometrical pattern for a long while, (or at all, not too sure...) so thought I'd give it a jab.

Blue: Barry M - Pure Turquoise
Dark Blue: Ebay unbranded

Apologies for the minging-ness of it, I had the base colour on for a day or 2 before doing the pattern and I'd been at the beach. Also, my fast dry topcoat has gotten to the gloopy unusable stage...boo!

This really did not turn out how I'd have liked, I wanted the lines to be more crisp and the gaps between more equal, but I realised too late that using just the pen end wasn't going to bode well :/

Ah well, you win some, you lose some, will do better next time :)

Bits and Bobs

Sorry for not many updates recently, been a bit bogged down with uni deadlines and general life decisions... Been pondering if I actually enjoy being at uni and only decided to go back because I felt I had to and not because I wanted to...meh.

Anyhoos, this is a bit of a spammy post, just some photos of some designs that I did offhand, testing out some methods/new polishes that I felt didn't warrant a whole post on their own...

China Glaze: Electric Pineapple, Papaya Punch
Mattified with GOSH matt effect.

Swirly accent nail

China Glaze: First Mate
Barry M: Gold Foil

On another note, I've (semi) decided to start selling false nail sets with premade designs to raise a bit of cash and to sort of have a job :p It's gonna take a while because I need the time and money to start it up, but going to start with just 20 at first in case it doesn't kick off as well as I'm hoping :p It's a bit scary venturing off on my own business venture, like, in case I get in trouble with the law or something hehe. But hopefully things go okay and I dont get put in jail or something XD

Sloppy Clouds

Just a quick post today, got an exam on Thursday -_-

After my atrocity of peach and black yesterday, I began doing this cloudy sky/sun design. Barry M's Blue Moon is a gorgeous pale blue, however, with the word pale comes sheer, and with sheer comes a pain in the behind to use :p This is actually 2 coats of white and then 3 (or 4) coats of Blue Moon, so 5 or 6 coats of polish! :o I decided to leave this overnight to dry as it was late and I would've stabbed myself in the eye if I messed it up with the clouds.

Blue: Barry M, Blue Moon
White: Ultra Pro, White
Yellow: Revlon, Sunshine Sparkle

Sunshine Sparkle is also sheer but this only required 2 coats of yellow over 2 white, so not as bad to handle. I was going to do one finger grey clouds with rain (since the weather in the UK pretty much IS rain), however, that effed up also. However, I did a thick layer of topcoat on top of the blue before the clouds, so none of the blue came off when I took off the grey clouds :)

Anyways, that most likely makes no sense, I'm a bit brain fried right now -_-

Hopefully my next post is better, sorry guys!

Glitter Stripes

I have to say, I love this blue glitter from Barry M. It's so dense so it only takes 3 coats for it to be opaque...

But I didn't want the in yo' face glittery-ness that it has on it's own so I decided to lay some striping tape on the blue, and paint over with black, so there'd be lines of blue glitter left amongst the black :)

Also, this post means I am FINALLY up to date with my designs and I shall be able to give you better posts about each design such as inspiration and colours of the polishes :) but nothing can be said for the quality of the photos...sorry :( I wish I had a proper camera :/

Glitter overload

I'd heard about the glorious density of the Barry M glitters, so decided to get a lovely blue one when I bought a tonne (suppose you could call it a haul....) a week or so ago. And it did not disappoint....it was more or less opaque in just 2 coats, but added a third to make sure there was no bare spots. I was amazed at how dense it was, and completely fell in love with it. However I did take a step back and realise it wasn't going to be so fantastic when I had uni late on in the day, so decided to tone it down a tad with some matte topcoat. Still loved it nonetheless ;)

Oh, I apologise for not cleaning up properly. I was too excited XD

Out of rubbish comes a gem!

I remember doing my nails quite late one night and I had a 9am start the next day. It had been a rather poopy day, and already had a headache before the nail polish/acetone fumes even reached me so I wasn't in the best of moods to do my nails. But my previous nails had been chipping, and I have a habit of peeling my nail polish once it chips...it's already destroyed, so I see no harm in making it worse :p And I've gotten to the point where I cannot stand my bare nails. And they're now pretty stained ¬_¬

So looking at my stash of gems and polish I ended up doing this...flower?...ish thing. I hadn't had a previous idea of what to do, so I was basically winging this idea. And I did not like it. I liked the base colour (Collecion 2000, Parma Violets, if I believe so) Dunno, it didn't seem interesting enough...a bit plain. Maybe I've been brainwashed by my previous designs...but I wasn't in any particular mood for a plain and simple design, ironic considering my mood :P

So i was sitting pondering what design looks rather fancy yet simple, and the infamous drips came into mind, and form there came layering and matte effect! I grabbed a light and dark colour and a white and began my design, and here's what came out of it...

Once I finished I realised there wasn't an accent nail, so I grabbed a blue and silver glitter polish and attacked my ring finger. I love a bit of matte polish, and I ended up really liking these nails :)

Peacock feathers

I'd been thinking about doing real feather nails, but I hadn't got round to buying feathers at this point (a post I'll be saving for later ;) ) so I decided to do some peacock nails. It's a pretty easy look to do, and you could probably get away without having any proper nail art brushes, it's basically some stripes with some blobs of varying colours hehe.