2013 Review - How Was It For Barry and his M?

Hi Goddesses

I wanted to also devote a post to the toast of UK nail polish - Mr Barry and his M.   I've been lucky enough to blog about most of his polishes this year, and a little like Mr Kipling, he has had (more or less) an exceedingly good year.


One of the things that has impressed me the most is that each collection has had a different finish - we've had Gellies, the unexpected Matte polishes, textures, those hairy ones, the god-awful Sequins and a flakie.   They've also had time to release LE polishes with their biggest retailers, making them the most American-like of the UK brands.


I'm also a fan of their make-up and have been wearing their Lash Vegas mascara for post of the year.  I can also highly recommend their eyeliner pots - it made me but down my Barry M Big eyeliner, and I've been addicted to that for years!


So here, in no particular order, are my 8 fave Barry M polishes this year.


Greenberry



From the Spring Gelly range, there is something so clean and fresh about this green.  It's a slightly off-track colour, and all the nicer for it.


Guava



One of the most gorgeous polishes from the summer, Guava is THE perfect turquoise ... until I try to photograph it.   I've wanted to wear this loads, and that's the only thing that's put me off - I hate showing you a polish when I can't capture its true colour.


Passion Fruit



Another Summer Gelly, Passion Fruit is off-red and slightly neon, making it a slightly quirky but summer-perfect choice.


Blue Grape



To be fair, ALL the Summer Gellies were wonderful, but I have limited myself to only 3 choices.  This is the epic Blue Grape, which I described as "Baker Street with the headlights on".   Sensational.


Countess



This autumn glitter blew me away.  Gold, purple, textured - ugh, so much to love!  This is a really complex and beautiful polish, very distinctive and unusual, and all the more precious for that.


Crush



From the Matte Collection, I thought I would be wearing this deeply wounded red over and over.  I haven't, but I "think" that's because so many other gorgeous polishes arrived so shortly after.   I am sure I'll be using this lots in 2014.


Mocha



You know I don't like brown, and I'm not saying I love this polish, but this is the nicest brown polish I have ever tried, which means it has the potential to be EPIC for a brown polish lover lol!    I love how this looks like hot chololate - dreamy.


Espresso



As with Crush, I thought I would be using this loads, but haven't yet.  I do have big plans for this though in 2014.   I love how this looks like vinyl on the nail.


What was your Bazza highlight of 2013?  And what are you hoping for in 2014?

#33DC Indian - With A Sloppy Choppy Blue Gradient

Hi Goddesses

I deliberately kept today's challenge a little vague so that people had the choice of going with American Indian designs or things inspired by the country of India. I went with the latter.

The first half of this post is dedicated to the base- I was enthralled by this, so much so that I didn't stamp over it until a day later, when I did a mani based on this Sari.

This is a "sloppy, choppy" gradient, and it's achieved by doing the usual sponge method, but using oodles of polish, so that it runs a little bit.   I used China Glaze Kinetic Candy, OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and Barry M Blue Grape.   I am in love with some of the patterns it created.

For my stamping I turned to one of my new MoYou plates - this is the skull lady plate aka Artist Collection 11.   I love these big plates that are just full of interconnected designs - the possibilities are endless.  I used the bottom right hand corner (as you look at the photo).

I didn't stamp every nail cos, you know, the base, and I also didn't do full coverage stamping, as I wanted to mimic the way a sari hangs and overlaps itself.

Please make sure you're checking out the other ladies - I've discovered some more amazing blogs to follow!

Barry M Gelly Week - They Stamp Too!! (with Cheeky Jumbo Plate 5)

Hi Goddesses

It’s Barry M Gelly Week on the blog this week to celebrate the very imminent arrival of the new Barry M Gellys to the High Street.  They are due to launch next week on the 5th, but I know some ladies have had luck picking some up already.

Today’s post uses all 3 of the 5 Gellys from the Collection – you can refresh yourself on them HERE – and is over a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

One of the hidden secrets of the Gelly polishes is that they also make great stamping polishes, so I wanted to include a mani that put that to the test and showed you how opaque they are.

I am currently a million times in love with the new Cheeky Jumbo Plates and this lovely pattern comes from Plate 5, which is all about Music.   As on most large plates, some stamps work better than others, and this one wasn’t quite perfect for me.  I struggled to get the whole pattern on the plonker, even when I tried with a Konad.

So what do you do when that happens?  You’re in love with your mani but your stamping is a little lacking.  Well on this occasion, I added a skinny French tip.  The funny thing is, it looks like it was supposed to be there!  It really rounds the mani off nicely, and grounds it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Gelly Nail Art – I have loved each and every look, although today’s is probably my least favourite.  Which one have you loved the most ??

Have a great weekend.  Enjoy xx :)

Barry M Gelly Week - Gradient Meets Cheeky Jumbo Plate 3 (catchy lol)

Hi Goddesses

It’s Barry M Gelly Week on the blog this week to celebrate the very imminent arrival of the new Barry M Gellys to the High Street.  They are due to launch next week on the 5th, but I know some ladies have had luck picking some up already.

Today’s post uses all 5 Gellys from the Collection – you can refresh yourself on them HERE – in a rainbow gradient running from thumb to pinkie.

I do have a little sad though – I am not totally happy with the thumb, as Blue Grape has turned (an albeit cracking shade of) indigo when layered over Dragonfruit.  I wish I’d done what I did on a couple of the other nails, and painted it half and half, with some sponging down the middle.

The stamp used is from Cheeky Jumbo Plate 3 and I love it !!  I’m going to be using it a lot.  It’s so big and bold and chunky – I love it I love it I love it!

So which nails are your favourite?  I think the 2 with Key Lime really stand out – they just look amazing against the boldness of the stamp – and I also love (obviously, after yesterday) anything that’s a Mango-Dragonfruit cocktail :)

One more post to come tomorrow, where I’ll be showing you that these aren’t just glorious colours, they STAMP too.

Enjoy xx :)

Barry M Gelly Week - Blue Grape, Key Lime and Guava Tape Mani

Hi Goddesses

It’s Barry M Gelly Week on the blog this week to celebrate the very imminent arrival of the new Barry M Gellys to the High Street.  They are due to launch next week on the 5th, but I know some ladies have had luck picking some up already.

Today’s post uses 3 of the 5 Gellys from the Collection – you can refresh yourself on them HERE – and is over a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

I’m a little bit obsessed with tape manis at the moment.  I’m not the only one – Nailasaurus, Manicurator, work/play/polish – they are all tape mani experts, and it’s become a bit of a mission to get my tape manis GOOOOOOD.

I'm not perfect yet, but I'm determined to get there :)  Being me, the pattern on each nail is different, but I used the same roll of tape throughout.

One of my tape mani issues is pooling, and on this mani, I had none of that – so what did I do?  Well, as you may be able to tell, this is a splodgerama.  So after painting my nails white and appling tape, I used tweezers and a small piece of make up sponge to very carefully colour my nails in.

Not only do I like the random splodge formula, but it made the tape mani much easier to execute.  The polish applied is quite sparing, but you can build it up to achieve density – and then peel it off with no puddling issues whatsoever.

This is definitely how I’m going to try my next few tape manis :)

Which nail is your favourite?  Enjoy xx :)