Barry M Textured Polish You Are Totally Up My Alley

I saw this stuff on the Barry M stand at Superdrug today and it was calling my name. YO SARA YOU KNOW YOU WANT WEIRD TEXTURED NAILS IN THIS SUPER CUTE EASTER BUNNY YELLOW COLOUR. PICK ME UP! So alas, I did. I picked up the Barry M Textured Nail Effect Polish in "Station Road" (I also picked up a buddy for it. A pale sky blue in "Atlantic Road")

According to the Barry M website these colours are named after the Markets of South and East London. Um, ok whatever you say, Barry.

Can I just say, two coats in... I frigging love this stuff. Once you get over the whole sandpaper-like texture deal this is kind of like the idea of the OPI liquid sand (which I posted about last time. I promise there is more to my life than nail polish) There is a very slight glitter to the yellow yet it still remains matte. How does that even work? It's a MYSTERY. These little cuties retail for £3.99 and are currently on offer for 2 for £6 at Superdrug which obviously was enough to tempt me.

Testing: OPI Liquid Sand/Mariah Carey Collection

I'll let you know straight out that I have never been a fan of Miss Mariah (ok ok apart from holding a little nostalgic double denim love for the sweet sweet fantasy days of '95) but when I read Tynan's post over at xojane last month I knew this was a launch I had to pour my pennies out for.

I picked up the 4 pack from Sally's the other day. I never normally go for the mini bottles because I'm super paranoid that the little suckers are gonna dry out after 3 uses (and god knows, I paint my nails on a daily basis so this would really upset me) I suffer from serious nail polish attachment issues so what do I do when I fall in love with a pink glitter that only sells for megabucks 6 months time on Ebay? Serious issues you guys.

This is "Get Your Number" which is, shock horror the only colour I have tested so far! Basically, you apply 2/3 coats and skip the top coat. This is difficult for me because A. I'm addicted to my top coat and B. The feeling of gritty chalkboard nails is hellish. I managed to keep away from the Seche Vite for a whole 24 hours. I painted my nails yesterday afternoon and the chipping was minor (and that's after working a delivery shift at a clothing store)

The verdict? Undecided. I'm pretty sure that, yet again I have been sucked into an incredible marketing ploy aimed just for fools like me. I've flirted with caviar nails (looked great for 30 mins, then I hated them and those pesky balls UGH) fur effect nails (worst shit ever. avoidavoidavoid at all costs you will not be Sesame Street character chic. You will look like you played a part in a pre school arts and crafts session with a PVA glue mishap) Basically, they are kind of cool. There is some kind of invisible clear grittiness to them which gives off this "liquid sand" effect (genius) but I'm thinking, surely I can just use any regular glitter polish and a matte top coat and achieve the same effect?

Yeah, but it wouldn't be so fun.

I'm wearing "Get Your Number" & rings by Evil Twin and Vera Meat if you care

Add me to instagram @damnfinepie. I like buddies!

Yes, I want something from The Disney Store for the first time since 1993

I heard that there was going to be a Disney Villains makeup collection a few months ago somewhere on blogland and got a little excited. Remember the MAC Venomous Villains collection a couple of years ago? I'm still holding onto my Toxic Tale lipstick and gloopy bottles of Formidable and Bad Fairy for dear life!

I'm forever a fan of rich, glittery, intense nail colour this is right up my street. There is also an accompanying eyeshadow palette and lipgloss set but I'll pass on them.

The Disney Villains Nail Polish set retails for £20 and can be found at the Disney Store.

Twin Peaks Nail Wraps...Kind of

So, I'm browsing ASOS looking to find myself a nice snuggly winter coat (I think I have found the one but is it going to sort me out for a cold winter? I'm liking the 20% off though)

I have my obligatory peek at the sale beauty products and then these things jump out of me and I instantly think OMG RED ROOM because I am a big, big peaks geek (as in, I actually attended an overnight viewing of the entire series two years ago and loved every single second of it)

HOW BLOODY AWESOME ARE THESE? If it wasn't for the fact that I seriously dislike nail wraps I would have snapped them up in a millisecond. I once tried to doodle chevron on my nails with my nail art pen and needless to say it was not a success.

I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange

Twin Peaksy looking nail wraps (AKA Nail Rock Designer Collection Romance Was Born - Zig Zag) are limited edition and available from ASOS for £4 (that's half price!) hm. maybe i will.

Galaxy Nail attempt #2

I tried this out for the first time about 8/9 months ago and it looked like a 6 year old had a play date on my nails. A bit of sheer boredom and a polish biting session spurred me on to try this out again. It still looks pretty poor because my nails are back to non existant because THEY ARE SO WEAK AND KEEP BREAKING but it's a lot better than my first attempt.

What I used:

Sally Hansen double duty base and top coat
Sally Hansen Insta Dri (not necessary but an excellent quick dry topcoat which adds an amazing gel like shine)
Revlon black lingerie
Revlon blue lagoon
China Glaze towel boy toy
Color Club neon purple
Color Club neon pink
Models Own Ibiza mix
Paul and Joe 014
2 x cut up pieces of make up sponges

After protecting my nails with a base of double duty I painted two coats of black lingerie.
When this dried I sponged on a small amount of blue lagoon (light blue) to about 1/2 of the nail.
Next, a small amount of towel boy toy (frosted mid blue) was smudged around that.
I then used very small amounts of the Color Club neons on the sponge.
The look was finished off with one coat of Ibiza mix (mixed glitter) and two coats of the Paul and Joe glitter (silver blue glitter)
I set the look with double duty and a coat of Insta Dri for extra shine.

The trick is to add a minimal amount of polish on the sponge which is where I went wrong last time. Anyway. I'm a nail art amature. For best results there are lots of really great tutorials on youtube such as this one which I would advise following instead.

Oh, and does anybody have tips for sorting out nasty dry cuticles? My chewed ones are pretty embarrassing!

Nail files part 1

So easy to do and interesting enough to leave on for a few days! I have been doing this for the past couple of weeks with orange, pink and lilac. I do a coat of gold glitter about 1/4 up from the cuticle and then I use my super gloopy-almost-time-to-bin OPI Rainbow Connection on top of the gold which looks almost like little gems as it's getting so thick! Excuse my nasty cuticles. I have a bad picking habit.

Brand appreciation moment: Color Club

So. I am pretty obsessive over nail polish. I paint my nails every night without fail. Sometimes twice a day if I don't have anything better to do or if I develop a sudden disliking for my colour. Obviously this means I have a large collection of polish. Too much. Last thing I need is to fall in love with another brand.
Color Club This stuff is the real deal. The glitters are thick and holographic and the neons...oh my god. Three days and no chips at all. I have not even had to go over it. I am a nutcase with my nails and for me to actually leave them alone for 3 days is unheard of. The color is intense and applies like a dream. I think this colour is called "wham, pow!" but I can't be sure as the colours came in a set with no names. Good stuff. but I can live without names if this is what the quality is like. Converted.