Review of 'NYC Quick Dry Nail Polish' in 'Full Metal Jacket'

Hi everyone! I bought this nail varnish when I went through the phase of buying nail varnishes from NYC as they were on a 3 for 2 deal and are only £1.79 each anyway. I had picked it up with the intention of using it at Christmas to jazz up my nails, but I thought I would give it a little test now!

It's a very strong gold metallic colour and I wasn't too sure about wearing it as I think sometimes it looks a little bit tacky when people have gold nails. I don't really like gold anything to be honest - most of my jewellery is silver. I think this dislike of gold has come from seeing pirates in films and cartoons with gold teeth.

I applied my base coat, which some of you may have noticed is not my usual Barry M, but in fact my old Collection one! This is basically because I couldn't find my Barry M one when I was painting my nails (although I've found it since).

I then applied the first coat of colour and was pleasantly surprised! With only one coat my nail was fully covered without the usual streaky appearance that lots of the nail varnishes from NYC seem to have. You could definitely get away with only applying this one coat, but I wanted to apply a second more to protect the nail varnish from chipping!

So the second coat made very little difference to the colour, which is great as it proves you can get away with only applying one coat of colour!

I didn't apply a top coat as I wanted to test out something on top of it which you will be able to read about in a few days time!

I love how well this nail varnish goes on and how your nail colour looks the same as the bottle after one coat, but I'm still not sold on the idea of having purely gold nails. If you like having metallic nails then I would, without a doubt, recommend you get this as it is one of the best ones from the NYC collection. If you have never tried metallic nails then this would the perfect one to try out because even if you don't like it you won't have spent a huge amount on it.

Do you like metallic nails or have you never tried them? Let me know! Keep an eye out for what I tried next with this look and 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!

Review of 'Holographic Nails Topshop' in 'Wistful'

Hi everyone! I have never actually tried any of the range of cosmetics that Topshop has to offer and thinking about it I don't think I have ever bought any clothes from there either?! But I was given a gift card from the family I  babysat for almost every day after school for nearly a year, as they are moving away and this was sort of a thank you present!

So I went into the Topshop in Bath and had a little look at the clothe,s but the store isn't really that big and nothing exactly caught my eye until I went over to the nail varnishes. A few of my friends and lots of other peoples blogs I read love the nail varnishes from Topshop and I have to say there is a huge selection! Instead of getting a plain colour (although there were some gorgeous colours) I thought I would be a little adventurous and I got this holographic one!

It is £6 and it is really different to other nail varnishes I have seen in Boots and Superdrug and I have never tried anything like it before! They also had a bluey one and a sliver one but as I wear a lot of flowery clothes I thought I would get the pink!

So I applied my base coat from Barry M. Please excuse the state of my nails but they got completely ruined whilst I was travelling around Europe as I didn't really take time to take care of them as I was just having so much fun!

I then applied the first coat of colour. I needed to apply it quite thickly in comparison to what I normally do as it dried quite quickly so when I went I tried to spread out the nail varnish across my nail it just sort of made it really uneven and gloopy if that makes any sense! But once I got that sorted it was all good!

I felt it needed a second coat as in some places it seemed sort of opaque. But the effect was there are after one coat and I actually was surprised how much I liked it! It is very shimmery and does look like those hologram stickers that I always seemed to have when I was younger. I did think it felt slightly odd when I ran my finger over the nail as it wasn't smooth like my other nail varnishes.

I then put a top coat over the top and I was worried that it would ruin the effect but it didn't do anything like that - it just gave it a nice gloss over the top and it made it feel a lot better when I felt it! I also cleaned up an bits of rogue nail varnishes that had crept onto my skin and all done!

I actually really like this nail varnish because the effect it one I haven't seen before and it looks really nice! I don't know if it is the same with all the nail varnishes but I found it dried really quickly which is a huge plus to any nail varnish for me!

Let me know if you've tried any of the other colours from Topshop and if you like the hologram effect? Thanks for reading!

Review of 'Barry M Glitter Nail Paint' in '349 Rose Quartz Glitter'

Hi everyone! If you haven't already read my previous review of the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint then I suggest you go take a look at that as this is carrying on but I'm sure it will still make sense if you haven't read it!

I have several glitter nail varnishes in my collection but this is my favourite by far! I love Barry M so much as they are affordable and are pretty good quality too! I actually got this bottle as a present but assuming it is the same price as most Barry M nail varnishes I think you can get it for £2.99.

So I've already applied my base colour which was also from Barry M in the colour Pomegranate from the Gelly Hi-Shine range. The photo shows it as a red colour, when in fact it is actually more of a deep pink exactly like the colour in the bottle!

Then on goes the glitter! I really like that there are various sizes of the glitter pieces as it makes for a more interesting nail. It spreads on quite nicely and although the larger pieces are randomly distributed in comparison to other glitter nail varnishes it seems to look good as there is plenty of small fragments of glitter to fill in the gaps.

I tend to only put on one coat of glitter as I think it is sparkly enough but if you are looking for a more full on glitter approach I guess you can just keep adding layers until you are happy with the effect.

I then seal the whole thing off with my Barry M top coat (which I previously used as a base coat) to make sure all the pieces of glitter stay in place and don't chip off pulling up the base varnish with it! And they are all done!!!

I would really recommend this glitter coat as I think it looks really pretty and creates a nice overall effect and with all of the Barry M nail paints it is great value for money. The main thing I love about applying a glitter coat on the top is that if your nails do get slightly bed printed or smudged the glitter masks it! Thanks for reading (:

Review of 'Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint by Barry M' in 'Pomegranate'

Hi everyone! There is so much hype surrounding the Gelly Hi-Shine range that Barry M brought out sometime last year from so many different people about how you only need one coat; how glossy it looks etc and to be honest I was a little bit skeptical because I apply quite thin coats, as you may know, so I thought I would give it a whirl and see if it's all it's cracked up to be!

I picked it up for £3.99 from Superdrug (although I think you can get it for around £2.49 from Amazon) in the colour Pomegranate because I really like dark pinky colours and it looked really nice and rich!

Please excuse the shortness of my nails but at the time of painting them I was a day away from embarking on my backpacking trip around Europe so I wanted to make sure they didn't break whilst I was away hence the shortness. I think when this is published I will be in Germany/Holland which is a little strange to think about!

Firstly, I applied my new favourite base coat, also from Barry M! It was £2.99 and I have been finding since switching to this my nail varnish has taken longer to chip and my nails haven't been breaking as much so thank you Barry M!

I then applied the first coat of colour and WOW! It glides onto the nail so nicely and it has really good coverage even with the first stroke. As it is a gelly nail varnish it is quite a bit thicker than normal nail varnishes which is probably why it gives such an even appearance on the first stroke. I honestly don't think I need another coat or even a top coat! It is super glossy and looks like I've already done two coats! The pictures seem to show it as a red colour when in fact it is exactly like the pink bottle so don't be fooled!

Well that was short and sweet! I would really recommend the Gelly Hi-Shine range as it is such great value for money and looks so professional! I will definitely be going out and buying more colours so you can look forward to seeing a few more reviews of this brand cropping up in the near future!

As it looked so great after the first coat I didn't feel the need to apply another coat which meant this review was very short! So I thought I would spice things up a little and add a sprinkle of glitter over the top and review that nail varnish at the same time! It's like killing 2 birds with 1 stone! So if you want to find out how this ended the continuing review will be up tomorrow! Thank you for reading (:

Review 'No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour' in 'Cruising'

Hi everyone! I recently had a voucher for £3 off any No7 make up (including nail varnishes) at Boots so I went to have a little look around but as I don't really wear much make up it seemed a bit pointless spending it of make up so I got a nail varnish! Normally, they are £6 but with this voucher I got it for £3! Most of the colours were shades of pinks & reds and I didn't really want that as I have so many so I got a deep bluey green colour.

Firstly I used my Barry M base coat which I picked up for £2.99 to protect my nails as they break so much! I really like this one as it doubles up as a top coat which a) saves you a bit of money & b) saves you a bit of room in your bag if you are going away!

I then applied the first coat of colour. I put on a very thin coat after last time my nails didn't dry properly so as you can see it's a little bit opaque but if you did apply a little thicker of a coat I think you would be able to get away with only one coat of colour. The bottle claims to be highly pigmented & quick drying but I'm not too sure about the quick drying aspect as it still took a good 10 minutes or so to dry.

I then put the second coat of colour on and I think the colour is really strong now

I then used the Barry M base and top coat on the top and cleaned up the mess I made painting them et voila!

I really liked this colour. It's not particularly summery in my opinion but it is a really nice colour. Thinking about it... I'm not sure really what season this colour is - can it be all? I would really recommend this brand and this colour because it has such a glossy finish to it even without the top coat & I really don't like nail varnishes with a matt finish but each to their own.

Let me know your opinion on the colour and if you've tried any No7 nail varnish before! Thank you for reading (: