Nail Art- Pink and Green Circles

Nail art- trying out these baby pink and blue 3D circles on top of a white base.

I've had these for a while and decided to finally try them out. The look didn't last that long as to be expected, only a couple or maybe 3 days. I got loads of compliments on them on a night out.

What I used:

OPI natural nail base coat

2 coats of 'matt white' white nail polish from Barry M

When the second coat was still tacky, I applied the circles (from a brand called 'Rock'? I'm not sure where I got these exactly) one by one onto the nail with tweezers. If they weren't sticking because the nail was too dry, I just dipped the circles into a bit of the basecoat and used that as an adhesive to stick it down.

When dry, I applied another layer of the basecoat (you could use the topcoat, yes) to seal everything in and reduce the likelihood of the circles chipping off.

Would you try this out? Let me know in the comments below.

Nail Art: Nail Rock Tribal Gold Aztec Pack

Nail Rock Designer Nail Wraps

I've had these for ages and never had the appropriate time to try them out, so decided to use them last weekend for the England Latitude Festival I attended from Thursday-Monday last week (which was amazing by the way). However the nail wraps didn't really make it, as I should've expected.

Nail wraps are basically stickers you stick onto the nails. No basecoat, no topcoat.

As you can see, I didn't initially manage to fully stick on completely all the stickers. I had to use a basecoat under the parts of the sticker that hadn't stuck properly.

I noticed them peeling on day one, and by the end of day 2 I got so annoyed with the flakiness that I had to take them all off and spend the rest of the festival with plain nails.

I noticed that there was no negative effect on my nails of the stickers though, which was good.

The one nail I managed to get perfect was really good though, and it lasted so long and didn't peel at all.

These definitely could last for ages, maybe even the 10 days that it claims on the packet. But they're not the easiest to apply. I think it takes practice to get it perfect, but they are really sticky and it comes with an acetone wipe to dry the nails out before you stick the sticker on too.

If you've tried these do you have any tips? If not, would you try these out? Let me know in the comments below.

Current Nails: Essie Fear & Desire

Currently I am wearing...

This bright satsuma neon orange colour by Essie called 'Fear & Desire'.

I love Essie nail polishes, as I find that a lot of their colours are unlike anything you can find elsewhere. Also although with this 'new formula' I don't notice much of a difference in appearance or general wear, the brush is so so amazing.

It's a thick wide-spanning one so literally one swipe and your whole nail is covered! Makes painting nails super quick!

To see more Essie posts:

I did a 'current nails' with 'Bikini So Teeny' a while back, a beautiful shade. The pictures on that are a lot better as I didn't have time here to get out my proper camera and I had to rush off!

I also featured 'Bikini So Teeny' in last year's spring nail polish edition 'Put a Spring in your step', a blog post of my favourite spring polishes. It's definitely worth a read!

And in my winter nails selection I featured another beautiful Essie shade, 'Velvet voyeur'. 

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Update: A couple days after, I got bored as I so often do with my nail polish.

Instead of taking it off and putting on a new colour as I so often do, instead I did something I sometimes do, which to change up the nails without the full bother of repainting, I just whacked on a matte topcoat! Done.

And hey presto your nails are like new.

The best thing about using a matte topcoat is that it dries super quickly, way quicker than any glossy topcoat I've tried, so rejuvenating your nails takes like 20 seconds and then you can get on with your life!

In my 'Ultimate Nail Polish Tips' blog post I named my favourite matte topcoats, and the one I used here is the Rimmel pro matte finish one, it's so cheap and I can't complain at all it's all you need in a matte topcoat. I also gave loads of other good nail polish tips.

I also have a nail care megapost which gives my top tips for healthy strong nails- it's definitely worth a read!

What nail polish do you currently have on? What's your favourite nail polish? Let me know in the comments below.

Current Nails: E.L.F. Mint Cream

Currently I am wearing on my nails...

Sometimes companies have really obscure polish named, but there's no other way to describe this than a creamy mint! Well done ELF! 

It's a perfect spring/summer colour.

It's actually surprisingly close to being opaque (the quality isn't the best still), but here you see two coats on the nails

You've probably heard of this brand before, but if you haven't, here's a link to this nail polish (online only for us UK beauty fanatics) and you can pick it up for just £2.50. Still cheaper than most at the drugstore (and they seem to have 50% off sales every other week).

I think this is one of their more popular nail colours.

What's your favourite product from ELF? What are you currently wearing on your nails? Let me know in the comments below.

Throwing Out: Nail Star Nail Art Pens

I'm Gonna Have to Get Rid... Nail Art Pens from Nail Star

New series I'm doing where basically I do a blog post on items I have decided to throw out due to either lack of use or deciding they're off and not something I can use anymore. Either that or they're just awful products with no better home elsewhere. This is different to empties as those are products I've completely finished up. These are not.

Today I decided to throw out some of these nail art pens. I bought them over 2 years ago from amazon and you can probably find these ones or better still up there for sale. I bought them in a set of about 24 I think, and am throwing these ones away. 

They are either broken or just too gloopy and thick to be of use anymore. I'm not throwing away all of them, because most are still useable.

The texture has become more gloopy and thick now.

They are two way because they have a striper (as shown below) and a pen nib for drawing little details.

I really just don't use nail art pens anymore enough. You can use a toothpick instead and it's just as simple.

The stripers were really bad on these and broke easily or lost hairs.

They come with a thin stick to unplug any caught up polish in the nib, which is great

I probably won't be buying any new nail pens in the future, it's easier just to use normal polish, especially when I have so many.

What's the last product you've had to throw out? Let me know in the comments below.

Current Nails: Barry M Lychee and Pink Glitter Accent

Currently I am Wearing...

This beautiful nude from the Barry M Gelly range called Lychee and a glitter polish, also from Barry M, on the accent nail to spice things up a bit.

I am obsessed with my nails right now, I think this combination looks amazing. It would be great for prom (with glitter matching your dress colour) or just summer in general.

One coat of basecoat and two coats of the Gelly shade, with a layered gradient on the accent nail of glitter

To get this look I used the OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, the Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Lychee and the Barry M nail paint in Pink Sapphire Glitter.

What is your favourite nail polish? What do you currently have on your nails? Let me know in the comments below.

Current Nails: H&M Yellow

Currently I am wearing...

This bright sour yellow colour from H&M in the shade 'yellow'.

 It came in a set of 5 (I think) minis in standard colours and can't have been that expensive. I'm pretty sure they don't sell this exact set anymore but they still have nail and cosmetic products which are worth a try.

I painted two coats over a basecoat. I don't normally use a topcoat because I only like wearing one select shade for a few days anyway- usually about 4 or 5 days.

The shade is called 'yellow'... I know- creative!

What's your favourite nail polish? What do you currently have painted on your nails? Let me know in the comments below.

Nail-care Megapost: Achieve and Maintain Healthy, Strong Nails

Nail Care Top Tips

Here I will share with you my key tips and products to help you grow your nails and maintain their health.

I love long nails, so I've learnt over the years the best way to get them to the right stage, and avoid breakages.

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Firstly, it is extremely important to file your nails regularly, and properly.

Filing your nails regularly not only keeps your nails in shape, but it encourages growth and keeps them strong too. Shape is extremely important, as if your nails are growing at odd shapes, they will be more prone to splitting and breaking, and we all know how annoying that is.

I use this glass nail file from Paname

Crystal or glass nail files are much better than the regular board files, as they are more gentle, whilst actually working quicker and being more effective. Now I've got one, there's no way I'm going back. 

Also glass files prevent as much tearing, which used to be a huge problem for me. You can get them from around £6, and they're usually around the £10 mark. I don't think this price is unreasonable, especially as these files last way longer than the regular ones.

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If you suffer from nail splitting, or weak nails, then I suggest some sort of nail strengthener. The best ones by far are the 'Nail Envy' ones from OPI. Sally Hansen also has a great one, for a slightly cheaper price. Are your nails weak? When you push directly down on them, do they hold or do they bend? I used to have extremely thin, bendy and peeling nails, and the weakness would mean they would break all the time. But filing them properly and from time to time if necessary using a nail strengthener has ensured I don't have any sort of problem anymore.

The good thing about this sort of treatment is that you can wear it as a basecoat underneath nail polish, meaning that you can treat your nails whilst wearing a colour on them.

This is the 'sensitive and peeling' Nail Envy, they're quite expensive, around the £15 mark, but they are amazing. I also had the matte version, which I actually preferred. This one, somewhat ironically, tends to peel off the nails after about a day, so I don't recommend using it as a basecoat under nail polish.

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My next tip is cuticle care. I use three different products, but you don't necessarily need to use them religiously, just once in a while.

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

This cuticle cream is amazing. Basically it softens your cuticles and generally helps the condition of your nails, plus it has a lovely sweet lemon smell. I even have a bigger tub as backup when this runs out, not that you need to use much at all.

I also own a cuticle gel and nourishing cuticle pen. The gel is a lifesaver for me. A tiny squeeze of this is enough to easily remove the bits of cuticle on your nails with just a little rub. It's not painful at all, and takes seconds. I just personally hate pushing back cuticles with a cuticle-pusher. It's uncomfortable!

Excess cuticle on the nail is annoying because it obstructs some of the part of nail you're meant to put polish on. 

Ms. Manicure Cuticle Gel, Elf Noruishing Cuticle Pen

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Finally, I recommend always using a basecoat underneath polish. This prevents your polish from affecting the quality of your nails, and also means you won't face staining, especially bad when you wear red or deep purple polish. Nobody wants stained nails.

Three of my favourite basecoats- NYX Ridge Filler, OPI Natual Basecoat and ORLY rubberised bonder basecoat

 Did you find this post helpful? What are your top nail tips? Let me know in the comments below.

Current Nails: Barry M Chameleon Blue

Currently I am wearing on my nails:

This glossy silvery grey-blue from Barry M.

It costs around the £3 mark from Superdrug or anywhere with a Barry M counter.

I have been wearing this on my nails for about a week now, opting for the lazy tactic of simply adding a new layer over the top as the current one starts to chip.

As you can see, this coat is also starting to chip at the tips. As a result of the build-up, what you see in the picture is the colour after three coats (over a week or possibly more), however the colour fully and opaquely coats the nails in just one coat, as I have come to expect from Barry M.

I've had this for ages and the formulation is still so smooth and not clumpy or thick at all.

My nails are finally starting to gain some length haha! I'm so happy. I really hate short nails on myself.

Three coats, with a basecoat. As you pile on the coats, the shade gets slightly darker

The reason it's called 'Chameleon Blue' and has the funky limited edition packaging is due to the special effect of this polish.

With the addition of a topcoat, this blue shade transforms to a reddy-bronze. This makes it extremely easy to do funky nail art designs. I have tried this method before and not only does it work well, but the colour is also beautiful. This time I just felt like using this as a plain blue though.

Have you tried this nail polish? What are you wearing on your nails at the moment? Let me know in the comments below.

Current Nails: Barry M Silver Foil

Currently I am wearing on my nails:

This is a metallic silver shade from Barry M labelled 'Foil Effects Silver Foil'.

As you can see, it really does look like a silver or aluminium foil.

Barry M have an amazing colour and effect selection, and they're not too expensive either. They're around the £3 mark.

Once again my nails are disgustingly short, but I'm woking on it okay!

My nails currently have a basecoat and one coat of this polish. It's fine like this, but more even with two coats.

I love this polish, it's great quality, looks amazing and most importantly, this literally dries in 20 seconds. And I mean completely dry! Same with the gold foil one that I also own.

Have you tried this nail polish? What are you wearing on your nails at the moment? Let me know in the comments below.

February Most Used: Nail Polish Edition (Barry M Black Multi Glitter)

Barry M Nail Paint in Black Multi Glitter

Here's a new feature I'm going to be doing every month where I showcase a product (I will have makeup, skincare and nail polish editions) that I have used a lot throughout the month.

In February my most used nail polish was the Black Multi Glitter shade from Barry M.

I've had this for ages, but found myself reaching for it loads in February because it's been cold, and a dark colour seemed right, but this is a subtle alternative to a boring plain black. Black has been a favourite of mine for a few months now, I just find it so cute on the nails.

Clearly this is not your ordinary black! It has amazing multi coloured tiny glitters in which make your nails look really amazingly unique.

Barry M colours are around £3.

Each tub comes with a lot of product and these do last for a while, although after a long time they do become even more thick and gloopy.

You can see the other colours; red, blue, green, lighter blue. It's just unique and beautiful.

The formulation is fairly thick but it does make for an even application which is great.

One coat

Two coats

The other glitters are subtle but when your nails catch the light it's just perfect. This polish is so much more than a simple black.

So there's my most used nail polish of the month of February! I hope you guys like this new feature of mine, and I'll be letting you know my March most used skincare, nail polish and makeup product at the end of this month, or the beginning of April.

Do you have this nail polish? What's your favourite brand for nail polish? Let me know in the comments below.