Drool Britannia - w7 Suedes

Hi Goddesses

I don't know about you, but the word suede (in relation to polishes) can always be relied upon to get me excited.  The OPI Suedes are legendary, and rightly so, and even a lot of so-called matte polishes tend to have more of a suede appearance.

I was really excited then when w7 released some Suedes a couple of months ago, not least because w7 is usually sold at a bargain price.  However, it was a bit of a thumbs down experience.

Whilst the polishes you are about to see LOOK lovely, they were an utter PITA to apply.  Drag marks galore, bald spots, really finickity.   I am sure most of this is due to a quicker drying time, but if you get your stroke wrong, or it's not laden enough, seriously, don't even try to go back and adjust it, or you'll get VERY frustrated.

The colours then, and let's start with my obvious favourite, the purple - Mauve Suede.  This was dark and decadent and I loved it (application issues aside).

This colour is made for winter, and looked great - nice and heavy, but in a good way.

Pink Suede was also a nice colour, and also held the light nicely.

If you can get past the application issues, this is a good nail art polish - I always think it's good to have a variety of textures in your stash.

Silver Suede - looks nice, doesn't it.  This was the most evil of the 4 to apply.  Evil, I tell you.  (Which is why not all the nails are in all the photos - ha!)

I hated applying it so much that I couldn't even be bothered to try stamping with it.

And finally, Aqua Suede, most heinous polish .... so, you've got the application issues and then YUP, you've got staining issues too.

I'm not a particularly messy painter these days, but can you see (especially around my ring finger) the holy mess that was created?  Wow, this would not clean up for love nor money.  Avoid, avoid, avoid.

If you're more patient than me, these issues may not bother you.  I'm sure the application can be resolved once you perfect a technique, but I was sadly disappointed in these.  Bummer considering how pretty they look.

Enjoy xx 

Glitter Polishes - Should You Wear Undies? feat Shimmer Polish Eva

Hi Goddesses

Today I have a How To / Comparison piece for you, looking at the best way to wear a glitter polish.  The polish we're using is Shimmer Eva, which was sent to me for review.

Before we get in to the hoo-hah, a little clarity.  The polishes I am talking about here are the ones that CAN build to opacity, not the Connect The Dots / Random Dancing type of polishes.  We're looking at the glitters that look opaque in the bottle.

Usually, although these glitters LOOK opaque, they're not.  They tend to be built on a jelly base, and let's face it, they have to be.  You're not going to get a very glittery polish if you make the base too thick.

extra camera POP for illustrative purposes!

So, let's look closer at Eva.    Gorgeous ruby red base, laden with red, black, silver glitter, super scrummy.  On the index and ring fingers, she's naked, and on the middle and pinkie, she is layered over Zoya Dakota.

So why would you want to even wear undies?  Well for a start, we all know glitter polishes are a pain.   The more you wear, the harder it is to get off, so using a base colour can significantly reduce this hardship.   Also, sometimes you just lose a little of the magic if you wear too much.

Also, because the glitters tend to be suspended in a jelly, a base colour can really help you get more depth and therefore, more KAPOW.  You may also notice that the ring finger (no undies) looks a little threadbare in places compared to the middle finger (undies).

The trick is to pick a base that compliments your glitter, and is as close the jelly colour as possible.  A little bit either side is ok, but a pillar box red here would have made Eva look .... not like Eva.  (and, despite the photo looking like a pillar box red LOL, Dakota is actually a ruby red.  Sorry, I was still getting used to my camera!)

What's your preference?  How do you like to wear yours?

Enjoy xx

The Barry M Autumn Collections - Questions and Answers

Hi Goddesses

Today's post is a little mish mash of everything - random questions I have been asked about the polishes, and things I thought you would like to know.

Q1 - How do the matte polishes look glossy?

Answer - lovely!  Above, you can see Mocha.  These look great glossied up (I used Poshe).

Q2 - How do the textures look glossy?

Answer - again, lovely, but some colours work better than others.  My favourite was how Countess looked like fireworks.

Q3 - Do the mattes stamp?

Answer - yes they do!   Here, I stamped over Lady with Espresso.  Easy to use, clear image, good consistency.  

On the middle finger, you can see how it compares with Konad Black (which is the king of them all).  I would say the mattes stamp as well as any non-stamping polish brand.

Q4 - Do the textures come off easily?

Answer - hhhmmmm.   Well, these are glittery textures.   They don't come off as easily as a "just texture" polish, but they are also not as hard to remove as a glitter.  I found that leaving the cotton pad on for a minute was enough for easy removal.

Above you can see how Countess looks as she starts to come off.

Q5 - Can you paint over the textures?

Answer - yes you can!  Ok, excuse the bad photos here, but I was just playing around.  What I wanted to see was whether sponging another polish on top would retain the texture, and it did.   Here I used Berry Cosmo and Princess. Yup, gonna be trying that properly soon.

Q6 - Can you top coat the Mattes?

You've seen above that a normal top coat makes the mattes nice and glossy.  I was intrigued to see what would happen if I used a wax top coat and a matte top coat.  Wax went on the index finger, matte on the ring.

I have to say, neither made a MASSIVE amount of difference.  The middle finger looks darker, so rather than affect the finish, it's more like they affected the colour.

If you think using one of the these top coats will extend the wear time for you, go for it - I honestly don't think you'll be able to tell the difference.

Q7 - How did they wear?

I only tested the wear time on this tape mani I did.  I had this on for 3 days with no chipping.  Usually, I find matte polishes chip super quickly because you don't / can't protect them with a top coat, so I was super impressed with these.

Q8 - Can you stamp over the textures?

Answer - yes you can!  Again, not my best work, but I just wanted to show you how clean the image drop was.

Q9 - Can you mix and match them?

Answer - yes.  Here is Duchess, sponged over Caramel.  The textures are great for glitter gradients.

Phew!  Did that cover everything ?  These polishes were all sent to me for review - enjoy! xx