My Birthday Nails! Feat. Essie and Models Own

It was my birthday fairly recently and although I wasn't doing much for it (I actually had another friends birthday party the same day lol), I wanted some glittery nails as a mini celebration. 

I had recently purchased the Models Own ASOS exclusive polish, Party Pieces which is a fantastic glitter polish so I thought I'd do a glitter gradient with Essie's Orange It's Obvious as a base. As lurid and loud as the mani was, I loved it! 

This was obviously a pain to remove and a pain to to wait to dry, even with Seche Vite on top. But it was worth it ;) 

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! Maybelline Superstay: Rose Poudre

Another swatchy swatch for you today! Sorry for the lack of actual nail art posts these days, anytime I try to do something, it ended up a mess an I get a bit annoyed and then just do a plain colour :/ 

I recently purchased 3 of the maybelline superstay polishes (good old 3 for 2) and today I've Swatched rose Poudre. It's a lovely creme pinky dusky beigey nude/neutral which is a welcome break from the bright blues and turquoises I've been sporting lately thanks to Bourjois and Barry M. 

In certain light it can seem a tad purple ish too. It took me 4 coats to achieve an opaque finish however it didn't take much longer to dry than a three coster with Seche Vite slathered on top. 

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.