Swatched! Barry M Gelly: Prickly Pear

I've been wanting to pick up Prickly Pear for a long time since lilac nails are my one true love, but given that fact, it also means I have a fair few lilacs already. But after a lot of um-ing and ah-ing, I gave in and picked it up. 

I think I put about four coats of this on my nails. The first coat is scarily sheer, however it does build up and I put a fourth coat on as, to be honest, I'd lost count and three coats is my mandatory number so I layered another one on to make sure my OCD was satisfied! 

This is quite a different lilac to say, Essie's lilacism. It has a almost pale blue tinge to it that you can see in certain lights. 

Swatched! Barry M: Matt White

I'd always been confused about Matt White, as in whether it was Matt in texture or whether it was just not shimmery or glittery. But after finally picking it up, I can safely say my curiosity has been satisfied and it's just a non shimmery white!

This took about 4 coats to get properly opaque on my ridged nails, but I think that's pretty standard for a white polish and could probably take three on less ridged nails. 

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! Andrea Fullerton: Gemstone Overcoat

Hello there! 

Bit of a random post today as today's swatch is actually a "gemstone overcoat". I guess you could technically call it a glitter topcoat but it's more like a flakie topcoat. The flakes are iridescent, shining various colours depending on how the light hits it. 

ive actually had this polish or a year or two, but not many people have posted about this and I think it's a really underrated topcoat. It's not as obvious as a standard glitter topcoat and almost makes your nails look like marble or some kind of stone. I've Swatched it over Sinful Colours, Be Happy but this polish really outdoes itself when over a black base. The iridescence really comes to life! 

I've only ever seen Andrea Fullerton products in superdrug, and I can't remember how much this is, but I highly recommend it if you want something more subtle than a standard glitter polish. 

Swatched! Bourjois: Meli Melon

Everyone's heard about turquoise block and blue no blues from the Bourjois 1 Seconde Gel polish collection, the uniquely bright turquoise and blue offerings that were great for the summer. However I haven't seen many posts Bout their peachy orangey offering, Meli Melon. 

I purchased this when I picked up turquoise block and blue no blues as Bourjois had a 3 for 2 deal on and I do love a peachy orange. I also picked up a Barry m Gelly in Papaya (if memory serves me right!) and it wasn't till I got home tht I realised they were pretty much the exact same colour, with one of them being a smiiiidge darker. So if you have One than there's no point having the other, but I guess it's always good to have a full collection right? ;) 

Meli melon isn't as bright as it's blue or turquoise counterpart, but it's a lovely peachy colour for summer if you found turquoise block and blue no blues a tad too scary to wear. 

Swatched! OPI: Did You Ear About Van Gogh?

Another swatchy swatch for you today and it's OPI's Did You Ear About Van Gogh, which is a neutral beigey colour, but not quite greige. 

This was ever so slightly streaky on the first coat, however I do have quite ridgey nails. But it did even out once I put on two to three coats in total. 

This is a nice change to the bright neons I've been wearing lately and covered up my standing quite well :p 

Swatched! Barry M Limited Edition Green

Barry m have decided to promo some limited edition colours for summer, and I picked up the super bright lime green colour. 

I was super excited to pick this up as I thought it would be like the Gelly keylime polish and be opaque in two or three coats. However this ended up being more of a jelly (in the traditional sense) and I ended up outrun on 5 or 6 coats to get it opaque :o however a topcoat of Seche Vite has helped things dry a bit quicker so hopefully I shan't be walking Around daintily for the next few hours. 

As for the colour, it's a super neon green colour that is great for summer and the extra coats can be easily dealt with if you have a good fast drying topcoat. 

Swatched! Models Own Hed Kandi: Beach Party

I love a good orange, on my lips and on my nails. Think it's because I dislike red as a colour and i find it a bit too hard to pull off as a lip or nail colour and I personally think orange is easier to pull off and modern take on the classic red. 

Beach party is a gloriously neon orange that I just can't stop staring at. This is with 4 coats as 3 was still a smidge patchy however I do have overly ridged nails and I didn't use a white base coat either so I'm sure three or even two coats would be plenty enough if I used a ridge filler and a white base coat. 

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 :) 

Swatched! Barry M Confetti topcoats

PIf you're itching to get your hands on the new Barry m confetti topcoats then I suggest you go to superdrug fairly soon as they have a 3 for 2 offer on right now! 

Sadly I couldn't find the green confetti topcoat (Sour Apple I think?) but I managed to pick up the other 3. 

I layered two coats if each over the Barry m Gelly polishes that I'd Swatched in my previous post (yes, in lazy lol)

Marshmallow is a pink and white glitter topcoat which is very pretty and quite a subtle colour. 

Dolly mixture is a mix if orange, yellow white and blue glitter, which is very representative of the name. It's such a cute topcoat and I think its very like Liquorice in that it could go with many colours.  

Liquorice will probably be the most famous and sought after polish due to the release if the loreal and marvelling attempts at the infamous Sticks an Stones indie polish. Black and white glitter seems so simple yet different for a litter topcoat doesn't it?! Due to sticks an stones being a mix if circle and bar glitter (if I remember correctly) I may layer Liquorice with L'Oreals topcoat to hopefully give a similar effect. 

I have totally bought into the recent glitter topcoat trend and I hope to complete the collection and grab Sour Apple soon. However I don't think I'll be picking up any if the Barry m sequin polishes as I think it's the textured polishes with glitter in them which I think would be a nightmare to try and smooth over. 

Anyways I highly recommend these topcoats to add a bit of extra colour to a plain base without to much effort! 

I now realise I have the blue one to pick up (bubblegum). My bank balance is crying already lol. 

Swatched! L'Oreal: Boudoir Rose

Boots are currently doing 3 for 2 on L'Oreal cosmetics and since I'd spotted the infamous black and white confetti topcoat and picked up two, I figured three was just a tad excessive so I decided to go for Boudoir Rose for my third choice. 

Boudoir Rose is a nice pinky, mauvey nude colour, perfect for weddings or important meetings where a bright colour isn't quite appropriate.  

The polish applies opaque in two coats but I used three coats as always. I quite liked the brush in this, it's is quite long and wide, so you can easily cover your nail quite well in one swipe. To be honest i think the price is a bit steep, £4.99 for 5ml, especially for a colour choice tht you can dupe elsewhere for cheaper. But I think the confetti topcoat is a well worth pick up if you spy it! 

Swatched! Sinful Colours: Be Happy

Hey guys! Exams are finally over and although they went pretty poopy, I'm just glad they're done! 

Today I've got a sinful colours swatch for you. I've went a bit crazy over these as for £2 you get really decent polishes! 

Be Happy is a really nice almost dusty turquoise/mint green colour, a bit darker than Mint Candy Apple. It's a nice interesting colour and is a bit different to the average mint nail polish. 

I got this opaque in three coats but two coats could easily be done. 

I really like this colour as it's different to your average mint, almost a Cath Kidston kind of colour, vintage and retro :) 

Swatched! Models Own: Fuzzy Peach

Two posts in one day?! What a treat! R maybe I'm just procrastinating haha!

This is models own peach fuzz, which is almooooost a cult colour and I can see why, I love a good orangey peachy coral and this is a good 'un! It's not too bright like an orange but it's bit more brighter than a peach. It's opaque in two coats but I added a third to be sure, as always.

I can see this vein a favourite over spring and summer, it's just had that happy inducing aura about it :)

Swatched! Collection: Milkshake

Sorry for the lack of posting guys, been a bit bogged down with studying and the sort D: hope you's are surviving okay if you's are studying too!

Today, I have Collection/Collection 2000's Milkshake to show you.

I don't have many nudey, beigey "safe" colours and I thought this would be a nice one to pick up. It's a nice pinkey beige cream that is opaque in two coats but I used three to be definitely sure of it's opacity.

I can't say much on wear time as if been a bit daffy with nails colours recently and I've been changing it every two days, ever had one of those restless phases?

It's a really nice colour to have, especially for prom/wedding season if you're unsure of what colour to wear with your outfit. It dries fairly quickly as it's part f the 60 second range!

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! Models Own: Scented Collection

Remember those scented polishes when you were younger?! I distinctly remember having a cherry scented one from Claire's Accessories and I loved sniffing it whenever I could. So yeah I was the creepy kid in school LOL. Models own have released yet another cool collection of 5 scented pastel polishes and j of corse had to get them on pre-order ;)

They're 5 pastels, of which I do not need any more of but I couldn't pass up the scented novelty of them! However the pastels are suitable for the lead up to spring/summer. There is a pink (strawberry), lilac (grape), blue (blueberry muffin), green (apple) and yellow (banana). It took me a good 3 coats to get the colours opaque but some still had a bit of pull and patching on the 4th coat for the yellow and green at which point I have up and just left it lol. So it can be a bit annoying to apply these, but a coat if Seche Vite made it no bother to wait for them to dry/semi dry.

As regards for the scent, they smell like those smelly gel pens from when I was in secondary school which I'm sure are still available in whs smiths nowadays :p I'm planning on doing some fruit inspired nail art (predictable I know lol) but I'm awayb from my nail stuff this weekend so we shall see what the wear is like by Monday :)

one coat

two coats

three coats (opaque on the pink, lilac and blue, but patchy on the green and yellow)

four coats

Before top coat

With Seche Vite

Swatches! Barry M: Grey and Black Multi Glitter

As you may be able to tell, I've been feeling ether uninspired lately. That, mixed with short nails (thanks to a random nail break) and a lack of nail art tools at Mr Lacquerised's flat means I just don't know what to do with myself and than random collection of polishes I've built up here. I was even a bit meh on what to swatch and even let Mr L choose some polishes. But I declined them all and ended up choosing these two which I feel conveys dreariness at life and uni and nails right now :p I think it's the looming exam period that is also putting me into a funk lol.

So, moving on, I'm pretty sure everyone has at least one grey in their collection, it just seems like a basic colour to have like black and/or red. Barry m's grey is a dark grey, more suited to autumn or winter But since the weathers been a tad bipolar lately (snow in march?!), it might as well be winter! Black Multi glitter is a nice take on the standard black, with tiny holographic glitter particles which would be SO good for galaxy nails (it's on my to do list, I just don't have any sponges at hand). However it's dries to a rather gritty and matte finish and a thick top coat is needed. I only used Sally hansens mega shine topcoat, but Seche Vite may be a better choice! Both are with 2 coats, which is a reason why I love Barry m so much, that and the great price tag!!

First pic is without flash and second is with, however neither show up the holo well :(

Swatched! Essie: Orange, It's Obvious

I'm using the (very basic) Blogger app for iPhone to post this so hopefully this post ends up okay. It'd be really helpful to have a decent iPhone app for blogger/blogspot!

Anyways, I've got an Essie polish today, in Orange, It's Obvious. As you may or may not know, I don't generally like a bright red polish, or bright red in general to be honest, but I am partial to a bright orange!
This goes for nails and lips as well. Not sure why, but orange doesn't seem as in your face than red to me, which is ironic since you'd expect orange to be the more offensive one lol.

Orange, It's Obvious is opaque in 2 coats but I used 3 as I could still see a wee bit if my nail line. I then used a coat of Seche Vite. It's quite a dark orange and leans towards the red side of things rather than yellow, which could be nice for those use to red but not orange. This one has Essie's new, wider brush which I'm still iffy about as its good for my larger nails but not so much for my ring an pinky nail, which require quite a bit of clean up afterwards.

The blogger app only lets you's post photos after text, an you can't integrate the 2 which I'm not sure if I like :(