Review of 'Barry M Aquarium Collection' in 'Pacific'

Hi everyone! So not that long ago Barry M brought out a Silk collection (which I wrote about here) and I was worried that their new Aquarium collection would be exactly the same but I had no reason to worry! There are 6 new polishes in the Aquarium collection, 4 duochrome effect polishes and 2 glitters. All of them have oceanic names and I picked up Pacific for £3.99 (although Superdrug were doing a 3 for 2 offer so I did get another two!)

Pacific is a bluey green colour like the ocean really and is kind of metallic so in different lights it appears slightly different in colour which I think is really cool! In the bottle is does seem very similar to East Village by NYC but a bit more blue. I love the scale design on the lid of the bottle making this collection very distinguishable.

I used NYC toughen up nail varnish which isn't actually blue when it goes on! I know it isn't a base coat exactly but my nails have been braking a lot recently which I'm putting down to my new job at Costa!

I then applied the first coat of colour and was surprised how thickly it went on! I was expecting it to be very similar to East Village but I did find it to be a little streaky as I was applying it. Due to the metallic nature of the polish it means that brush strokes are a lot more visible than normal. I did really like the colour and even with one coat it was pretty much the same as in the bottle.

For the second coat I applied it a little thicker than the first to eliminate any brush strokes because I think having brush strokes on your nails just make them look really cheap and badly done! I mean, you wouldn't want paint stripes down your walls would you!?

Finally, I applied a top coat and tidied them up a bit and that's the finished look!

Whilst I really like the formula and colour of the nail varnish it's definitely not the first or only ones out there. I do love the colour and I think it's my favourite of the collection but I kind of forgot I had the NYC one at home because they are so similar I now wish I'd bought a different colour! Do you think you'll give the collection a go and what is your favourite one? Thanks for reading!

Review of 'Revlon Nail Art Moon Candy' in 'Galactic'

Hi everyone! I got this polish as a Christmas present and have been dying to use it and show you for ages but I wanted to save it for a special occasion (it was my birthday week!). It has been around for a little while now and I haven't really seen anything that compares to it. Whilst it is basically a base colour with a top coat glitter duo, the glitter isn't like any ordinary glitter; it really makes your nails look amazing and I got loads of compliments when I wore it!

There are also 6 others in the collection in different colours all just as beautiful but I think in other countries the collection is larger as I've read reviews on colours I can't find myself in shops. In the UK you can get them from pretty much any Revlon counter in most shops and they retail for £7.99.

Due to it being quite a dark colour I used my Barry M basecoat to protect my nails.

I then applied one coat of the base colour which is a dark blue, almost black, colour. It goes on really well and even though I only applied a thin coat I still only needed one for a full coverage and it dried pretty quickly as well! I did find it a little hard to apply as the brush is attached to the other side of the duo making it a lot longer and heavier than normal nail varnishes.

I didn't have to wait long until I applied the glitter coat on top which is a turquoise base with different blue iridescent glitter flakes and it is so gorgeous! I felt it was better to dab it because otherwise the larger flakes stayed on the brush rather than transferring to the nail although it did mean in some places quite large flakes stuck up off the nail but they could quite easily be pushed down with tweezers. 

Although you don't really need a top coat as the glitter coat itself is really shiny but I found that due to the glitter flakes being different sizes my nail didn't feel very smooth so I used my Barry M top coat to fix that.

I absolutely love this nail varnish and can't wait to wear it again. I'm going over to America in the summer so I'll have to have a look at the other colours and maybe even treat myself to one! I would really recommend you give this collection a go if you haven't already and although they are £7.99 I think it's worth it! Let me know what you think and if you've tried one out! Thanks for reading!

Review of Tanya Burr's Nail Varnish in Little Duck

Hi everyone! By now I've have no doubt you will have all heard about the lovely Tanya Burr releasing her own line of nail varnishes and lip glosses! In the collection there are 12 lip glosses and 10 nail varnishes. This is their second appearance already on my blog (I wrote about Penguin Chic here) but to be honest with you I don't actually own this one. The same time that I ordered mine from feel unique for £5.99 my sister got this one, along with a lip gloss, but she has kindly let me borrow it. They are now on Superdrug online so I imagine they will be making there way into store soon! 'Little Duck' is a pastel mint bluey green colour which is perfect for spring and summer if the sun ever decides to come out!

I love the packaging of the nail varnishes especially with her signature on the front of the bottle. I've also just noticed there is a little heart on the top of the lid which had escaped my attention before. I didn't have this problem with my Penguin Chic nail varnish but I found with this one the brush was a little frayed. It wasn't a disaster it just made it a little harder to apply.

I used my new Sally Hansen base coat this time which I got from Fragrance Direct at a bargain price of £1.50! It's cheaper than my usual Barry M one and dried a lot quicker which is a huge bonus!

I then applied the first coat of Little Duck. The consistency again felt very similar to the Barry M Gelly Collection and although it's not advertised as a gel nail varnish I think it must be. I did feel that it went on slightly thicker than Penguin Chic did and without a doubt only really needed one coat. It's so glossy which I absolutely love but as the coats went on quite thickly I had to wait longer between coats for them to dry which was a little annoying.

I decided to apply a second coat anyway just to strengthen the polish from chipping.

I also applied my Barry M top coat which was something I didn't do last time. In terms of using a top coat to make them more shiny you don't need to; I simply put one on to prevent chipping. Something I found with Penguin Chic was even without a top coat by the end of the week they were still pretty much perfect which is great because I normally get to Friday and my nails have chips all over the place.

Although the price is a little more than I would pay for a normal nail varnish it is without a doubt worth it because the quality is amazing and they live up to their chip resistant name! I would definitely recommend you have a wander into Superdrug when they are released in store to have a proper look at all the colours! Let me know if you have or are going to try it out! What is your favourite colour from the collection? Thanks for reading!

Review of 'MUA Nail Constellation' in 'Pisces'

Hi everyone! So as you know I normally just do plain nail varnish reviews but I thought I would try something different! I'm also thinking of doing some patterned nail tutorials and things like that in the future, if you are interested in that?

This isn't mine by the way, it's actually my sisters and she kindly let me borrow it so I could try it out. I believe you can buy them at £3 from MUA which is a brand you can only find online or in Superdrug and I'd not heard of this brand until pretty recently but they basically do super cheap make up and from what I've heard most of it is actually pretty good!

So I am using the colour Pisces (which is actually my star sign) but I think I am right in saying there are 4 other ones in a variety of colours. This one is mainly green with bits of pearly pink and white infused into the mixture.

I have already painted my nails with a colour I found to match the green balls best which I got from the NYC and you can read a review of that HERE . I didn't have any that matched the pearl or white but I think it would have looked more effective if I had been able to use a pearl colour as my base.

So what you have to do is paint your desired nail with your base colour and whilst it is still wet and tacky pour the small balls onto you nail. This can be a bit messy so make sure you have something underneath to catch the mass of stay ones! Once your nail looks fully covered gently push the balls down onto your nail and then apply a clear top coat on top to secure them.

My whole nail is covered! Honest! It's just that the green balls blend in the my base colour

I only chose to do one nail thus acting as an accent nail because I had never tried anything like this and thought it might be a little bit too much if I did all my nails like this!

Although the bottle is very well designed to pouring the balls out it is a bit tricky getting them back in. For some reason I couldn't remove the funnel part of the bottle as you are supposed to do so I have to try and pour the stray balls back through the tiny hole they came out of! I managed to get there in the end but it was a bit annoying.I'm sure by removing the funnel it is a lot easier to pour the balls back in but I was just unable to do so.

Excess balls 

I quite like the overall effect although I did find it strange to have things sticking out of my nail! Considering the price of £3 I would recommend this as it is a great way to jazz up your nails although personally I would try a different colour out as I don't think this one was right for me!

Let me know if what you do to spice up your nails and also if you would be interested in me doing some tutorial/nail pattern design things in the future! Thanks for reading.

Review of 'NYC Quick Dry Nail Polish' in 'East Village'

Hi everyone! It's been ages (over a month!) since I did a post about NYC nail varnish so I thought I would pick one out from when I went through the mad phase of buying every single one and try it out! So the bottle on it's own is £1.79 but I picked all of mine up on a 2 for £3 deal is Superdrug.

So, this is a sort of bluey green shimmery colour as at the moment I'm going through a blue/green stage instead of playing it safe with pinks and purples like I usually do. I'd probably say it was more green in colour than blue - sort of turquoise although the picture doesn't seem to support my opinion!

Firstly I applied the base coat I always use which was £2.99 from Barry M.

I applied the first coat of colour and I was so shocked! I've used nail varnishes from this brand loads before so I know you always tend to need more than one coat but this was ridiculous! It has so transparent it was almost like it wasn't even on! I do apply thin coats but even so it was just unbelievable! This was when I realised it was going to take a fair few more coats than usual before I got anywhere near the colour in the bottle!

As it was so thin it dried super quick which was a bonus so I applied the second coat a little more thickly and as you can see it is starting to look a little better, although it's still not great! It's sort of the colour transparency I would expect from one thin coat from any NYC nail varnish not two!

Third coat now! It does look a lot better but I think it's ridiculous that I had to apply 3 coats before it got to this stage!

As it still wasn't the colour I wanted I applied one more coat of colour! 4 coats now! You shouldn't have to be applying 4 coats of any nail varnish regardless of price to achieve the colour it was intended to be.

I didn't apply a top coat because I honestly couldn't be bothered waiting for yet another coat to dry and I figured that 4 coats is anyway more than I normally do with the top coat included so it should be strong enough not to chip! I also didn't apply a top coat because I wanted to experiment with some nail beads!

Although I did like the colour and absolutely love the brand as it's so cheap I wouldn't really recommend this particular colour due to the sheer amount of time I had to wait between each of the 4 coats!

If you've tried  this or any from the NYC collection I'd love to know what you thought of them so leave a comment! Thanks for reading!

Review of 'L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Nail Polish' in '701 Midnight Mistress'

Hi everyone! To start with I'm really sorry that this isn't particularly a nail varnish for you if you are on a budget, but in my defense I did get it on the ferry back from Holland and it was around €3 so to me that seemed like a good deal!

It is a very deep blue almost black colour which is not the sort of colour I often wear but it was because of that reason I chose it, as I knew I had nothing already like it in my collection at home. It is also a lot smaller than the ones I usually buy. It is only a 5ml bottle so I'm not sure how long it will last? I also wasn't too impressed with the quality of the lid because as I peeled the plastic cover off it pulled off some of the gold which now I think makes it look a bit tacky!

Anywho, I applied my base coat which I think is really important especially when applying a dark colour like this one as you don't want it to stain your nails! I used my usual base coat from Barry M and as usual - it's nothing spectacular but it does the job!

I then applied the first coat of colour. At first I thought it was because I apply thin coats but then after reading other peoples reviews I was assured the first coat was very streaky for everyone! This surprised me because I sort of assumed that as it was such a small bottle and was made by a world famous brand that one coat would be enough but clearly I was wrong.

After applying the second coat a little thicker than usual just to make sure my nails had full coverage of polish it looks so much better! It did shock me a little how black it was as when it was just one coat the blue was quite strong although it was still a little opaque in some places. But it is incredibly glossy which is nice and is something I highly rate in nail varnishes.

I still applied a top coat just to give it a little more protection to chipping rather than to increase the shine. And here they are all done!

I have to admit I wouldn't really recommend this product as there are plenty of nail varnishes out there that are much cheaper and at the same time give you a much better coverage. I do like the colour but I have to be honest, I think it will be one I save for Halloween which is a bit of a shame as I had such high hopes considering the brand name. I would be quite disappointed if I had payed full price for this.

Let me know your thoughts on dark nail varnishes - do you love them or hate them? Thanks for reading!

Westfield Shopping Centre: Accessories Haul

Hi everyone! So if you haven't already read my Clothing haul (which you totally should do) then you won't know that this is a follow on from that so go read that first!!!

Basically I'm going to show you all of the shoes/earrings/general accessories that I bought on my shopping adventure to the Westfield in Stratford. Fun Fact: I can't spell accessories to save my lie and I keep having to spell check it to get the right spelling!

So the first thing I bought was this really cute bracelet & earring set which are from the Miso brand but I can't quite remember where I got them but they were in the sale for £1. They sort of rustic looking little bumble bees and the bracelet is quite small which I like as I don't normally wear anything on my wrist aside from a couple of hair bands just because I find it always gets in the way!

Miso - £1

Miso - £1

Miso - £1

I then went into Accessorize to find they were having a huge sale so I picked up these cute Rainbow earrings for £1.50. They are really fun and I really want to wear them to Rainbows to see if the girls notice!

Accessorize - £1.50

Accessorize - £1.50

The next thing I bought, also from the Accessorize sale for £3 were these gorgeous sort of floral inspired drop down earrings. In September I will be starting my first year in sixth form where we are allowed to wear our own clothes so I will be able to wear nicer earrings now hence my reason for this purchase.

Accessorize - £3

Accessorize - £3

The final thing I bought in Accessorize was this hat for £5.20 (reduced from £20) as I have pretty fair skin and burn easily and I am off around Europe so I needed something to protect my little head. I really liked the chain around it as it just jazzes up a seemingly plain hat.

Accessorize - £5.20

Accessorize - £5.20

Now onto shoes!!! Like I said, I am going into Sixth form and not only does that mean I can choose what clothes to wear but it also means I can choose my shoes instead of wearing the same pair of black pumps everyday.

I got these in Select and they were £5 each or £8 for 2, so naturally, I bought 2 pairs! I liked them because they are sort of like converses but a bit more summery! I also really liked the spotty pattern and I think as they are pretty simple colours I can get away wearing them with several different outfits.

Select - 2 for £8

Select - 2 for £8

Select - 2 for £8

Select - 2 for £8

In my opinion I've saved the best until last. I am 5'6 which is not particularly small, but I seem to have made friends with all the tall people in my school. I used to be super tall as I've not grown from the age of 11 so 5'6 was pretty tall for a little year 6 & I kind of miss that, so I bought some wedges. I cannot walk in heels but wedges I am fine with as they are more sturdy. So I got these from the Teen section in New Look (who go up to size 7 I think) for £14.99. I'm really looking forward to wearing them when the weather is nice.

New Look Generation - £14.99

New Look Generation - £14.99

New Look Generation - £14.99

So I hope you enjoyed this second part of my haul. Let me know if you liked it and if you've done a haul tell me because I love looking at what other people buy!!! Thank you for reading (: