NOTD Gelly Texture

Hello! I've been in the midst of quite a bit of work at the moment, as it's coming to crunch time and my exams are fast approaching, but among all of this, I woke up this morning and just wanted to paint my nails - I almost never allow myself the time to do this during term time because I've just got too much work to do!! So I thought I'd do a blog post about it at the same time!!

I went for the Barry M texture polish in Kingsland Road which I bought a couple of weeks ago, it is literally THE perfect pastel pink colour, it's so pretty and I think it suits my pale skintone quite nicely if I do say so myself, and gives me the illusion of having more colour than I actually do.. haha! I had a couple of the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shines that I wanted to try out too, as I hadn't used them yet, so I decided to throw in a few accent nails in complimenting pastel shades (Blueberry and Prickly Pear) All in all I'm quite pleased with the results!! All of my nails just took 2 coats and they're pretty much opaque, and they were touch-dry quite fast, which is a massive bonus!

The Gelly Hi-Shines are definitely living up to their expectations and are very glossy without a topcoat, and I really love the texture effect polish, I can't stop running my fingers over it to feel it haha! It has a grainy texture, almost like sand mixed in there, and I think it has a really cool effect on the nails. The pastel shades that they've released in the collection are absolutely perfect because they make your nails look polished (lolgeddit) with the pretty colours, but with an unexpected quirky twist, which is something that I really like.

So overall I'd definitely recommend any of these polishes! It still baffles me as to why people would go out and spend great amounts of money on nail polishes, Barry M are such great polishes, and if they have the right shade for you, GET IT!! They're so cheap but really good quality!

Do you have any of these polishes? What do you think of them?
Eleanor x

Barry M Black Red

Hello! So quite a while ago now, I did a blog post about my favourite Autumn nail polish colours. And I thought that it was about time that I did a NOTD featuring one! Now my NOTDs don't tend to be too adventurous, I definitely don't have time to experiment with nail art, what between going to uni, all the uni work I have to do, working 2 jobs AND blogging! So when I'm lucky enough to have enough spare time to paint my nails in, I tend to only have enough time for a plain block colour. But I quite like just plain painted nails, so I don't mind!
Anyway! Enough of that! Barry M's Black Red is absolutely hands down my favourite colour polish (with their navy polish coming in a close second), it's the perfect colour for the colder months, being a burgundy tone. And this sort of shade really does it for me, I'm not a huge fan of the brighter bolder berry colours that so many others favour, and I prefer my berry tones more on the dark side, with an almost vampy and gothic element to them, they just feel so much deeper and more interesting to me.. Not to mention I think they look SO cool, and add a bit more grunge (which I really like) than the brighter berry colours.

So this is what the polish looks like after just one coat (sorry about the quality, these ones weren't taken on a proper camera)

And then I would normally go in with another coat after that, ending up with this! I can't say it enough how much I love this colour! Like I said, it's perfect and so "in" around this time of year, but I really like to wear this in the summer too, because I feel like it adds something more than a typical black to the sort of grunge vibe I often tend to go for. But I think this can work with so many styles, wear it with an evening dress and it can look really expensive and classy. It's such a chameleon when it comes to being styled, and I would highly , highly recommend it!

I wore this with the Sally Hansen Diamond Shine and my nails were suuuuper shiny and they didn't chip for quite a few days! I love the fact that you can get the sort of effect with this polish where it's a smooth colour but there's an almost transparent quality to it, or you can build it up in a coat or two to be completely opaque. As you can tell, I can't rave enough about this, it's definitely my most used colour (when I get the time to paint my nails haha) and I would buy it again and again. I'd definitely recommend anyone to go out and buy this shade, Barry M nail polishes are super cheap at only £2.99 and are currently on 3for2 offer in boots.

What do you think of this colour? Let me know if there are any of the other Autumn Polishes you would like to see in a NOTD/review like this!

Eleanor x

A Simple NOTD

Hello! So on Wednesday I was going out to meet a friend for coffee in the morning, and I painted my nails before I dashed out, so I thought I'd share! I used Nails Inc's South Molton Street, a very sheer pink that says "my nails, but prettier" I feel like it doesn't add a great deal of colour at all - I'm wearing 2 coats and it's still very sheer - but unusually I actually quite like that. It makes your nails just look perfected and groomed without being statement at all. You know the sort that don't stand out, but when you're holding up your coffee cup your friend compliments them (true story). It's a great colour for if you want to keep your nails looking nice if you're not allowed to wear polish at work,because it looks so subtle and natural noone will notice, but your nails will look beautiful at the same time. I love looking at them too! They look so pretty, all shiny and the perfect natural pink! Something else I was pleased with was the drying time, in way less than half an hour the two coats were completely dry and hardened, not just that annoying dry stage where they're touch dry but smudge everywhere under the slightest application of pressure when you try and pull on your jeans. The only negative thing I can find to say about the polish is that it doesn't take much to chip it, saying that though, I didn't put on a base or top coat because I was in a rush, so that's partly my fault. So yes, I whole heartedly recommend this shade if you want a subtle, natural, but groomed look to your nails, I think it's great and I can see it's a shade I'll be reaching for again and again!

Have you tried Nails Inc South Molton Street? What did you think of it? What is your favourite subtle nail shade to wear?
Eleanor x