Gradients and palm trees

Hey everyone! No explanation tonight, just nails. I'm tired and I need to sleep, it seems to be a common occurrence than I post late at night and then dont have the energy to write much, so I'm sorry about that! These nails were inspired by the recent sunny weather we've been seeing in Britain, although I'm not quite sure we're up to palm tree standard yet!

The base was 70° and sunny by Clinique, which I'll be reviewing in the next few days, sponged with Barry M - Passion fruit, I then top coated that and used the Black Barry M nail art pen to create the palm trees.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Gradient chevrons

Hey everyone! I'm not going to say much today because I have an exam first thing Friday morning and I'm so so underprepared I could cry, but I wanted to post so you lovely people are not kept waiting. This design came about after a bit of experimenting. I was trying out China Glaze - It's a Trapeze, and I thought I'd try layering it over another colour rather than wearing it alone. I'm sure this has probably been done but I've not seen it (let me know if you have so I can check it out!). I then decided to add a gradient, but being someone who isn't great with simplicity I then also had to add chevrons (are they chevrons? or are they just triangles? I dont know, but to me they are chevrons!).

I used a base of an no-name W7 polish I got in a set from TKmaxx, and I can't remember the colours I used for sponging because this was a while ago but I know the red and pink are definitely by Barry M.

I really like how It's a Trapeze looks alone and I definitely want to try it out a bit more in the future. 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Seven Deadly Sins: Week 5 - Wrath

Hey everyone! I'm afraid this post is a little bit late because my brand new laptop broke (only a month old) but I took it back today and they gave me a brand new one so HOPEFULLY I should be okay now. 2 broken laptops in just over a month is not how I like exam period to go, or any period of time for that matter! 

Anyway, I'm back now and I have the next week of the Seven Deadly Sins challenge for you: wrath. The prompts for this were either 'get mad trying that technique you know is going to be a fail' or 'find something that blows your top and express it with your art' and I decided to combine the two and go with something that really annoys me about nail art/nail polish: the removal of red polish! It seems to get everywhere and I hate it, so I thought I'd go against my hatred and do some nail art with it.

I had this red to review anyway from the lovely Sally over at Sally Magpies, as she wanted me to let you all (in the UK) know that you can get a wide range of products on her store that are sold abroad usually, which you're all lusting after. For instance, Essence. As I've mentioned before my lovely friend Emily provided me with a few Essence nail varnishes and it included my new favourite blue: 'that's what I mint' which is luckily sold at Sally's store, as its already half empty. Anyway, here is the red that Sally gave me, it's called 'redvolution' and along with many other Essence products it's sold here for just £2.75

This is 2 very easy coats, it's not quite as neon as the picture suggests but it is pretty bright

Essence 'Redvolution'

Of course, I couldn't do that without adding a bit of nail art, so I removed a couple of nails (eugh) and added 'Something Sweet' by China Glaze and added some mini strawberries. 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Rose curtains

I dont really know what to call these so I'll just go with 'rose curtains'. I've this design around quite a bit and I've wanted to recreate it for ages, so I decided to do so in line with an exciting project I have lined up. If it all works out you'll see in a couple of months! I'm not going to write much because I want to go to bed, so enjoy!

The base colour is Barry M - Lychee, and the black is China Glaze - Liquid Leather, the pink is Barry M - Bright Pink and Barry M - Passion Fruit, and the green is Clinque - Hula Skirt

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Seven Deadly Sins Challenge: Week 4 - Sloth

Hey everyone! Today I'm back with another seven deadly sins challenge post and this week it's 'Sloth'. The prompt for this was 'dont try too hard but explain how to do something really easy [tutorial]' so here you go! I decided to create an easy gradient youtube tutorial, with 'Chalk Dust' by Maybelline over the top. I'm pretty sure this is the only thing I'm going to be rocking on my nails during exam time as they're super easy to create. But dont worry I have a load of posts lined up for you so this isn't all you'll see. 

The base colours for this nail were Clinique 'Juiced up', 'Splish Splash', '70° and Sunny' and 'Pinkini' which i shall be reviewing soon, and also 'Hula Skirt', which I reviewed here, and then I sponged 'Raindrop' by NYC, Barry M 'Passion Fruit', Barry M 'Prickly Pear', and Barry M 'Cobalt Blue', all topped off with a coat of 'Chalk Dust' by Maybelline (a much cheaper, and bigger, alternative to the new Loreal black and white glitter for all your Brits)

And here is the Youtube tutorial (excuse the weird intro, I didn't have time to record one and my friend edited the video so she had to mash one together, oops!). For some reason it wont let me add the video to this blogpost but I'll try again tomorrow if you're too lazy to click the link!

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Barry M Summer 2013 Confetti Nail Effects/Polish Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! Today I have a review of the new Confetti Nail Polish* from Barry M to show you. I intended to post these weeks ago but never got around to editing the photos, so even though I'm sure you might have seen these around I hope you enjoy them anyway! I decided to try something a little different to the other reviews I've seen and show you what they look like alone or layered over another colour, rather than just layered.

These are available now on the Barry M website and will be available in Superdrug on the 5th June and Boots on the 12th priced at £3.99. These have been compared to the feathers effect collection by Nails inc but these are definitely the more affordable option if you're looking to buy some. I dont own any to compare but I'm assuming these are just as good. As always the pictures and review will be after the jump!

Seven Deadly Sins: Week 3 - Greed

Hey everyone! I'm a little late with this week's seven deadly sins post, I dont really have any excuse for that except that I forgot to edit the pictures last night and then it was too late, so sorry about that! This week's prompt was 'go wild and use your most expensive and precious polish'. I dont own many expensive polishes because I have a £3 maximum spend (the student life is super fun) but I did recently recieve these awesome Clinique polishes, as you saw here, which retails for £12 (I also have another few Clinique polishes to show you soon!) and last winter when I saw China Glaze 'Glistening Snow' I had to splurge a massive £6 (!!!) to buy it straight away, so I thought I'd mix the two together, along with my always-expensive top coat: Seche Vite. 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Half and half

Hey everyone! Just a quick post today, I did these a couple of weeks ago before my old laptop broke and then I completely forgot about them. If you follow me on instagram (@onenailtorulethemall) then you will have seen these partly already, but here's the full thing!

I can't remember the base colour and I'm in a different county to it at the moment so I cant check, but the white is acrylic paint, the blue is Barry M - Blueberry and the green is Sally Hansen - Spring Green, topped off with Seche Vite

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Barry M Summer 2013 Gelly Nail Varnish Review

Hey everyone! I totally meant to post this last night but I got so engrossed in doing my work (by which I mean watching Parks and Rec and pretending to do my work) that I forgot. Sorry about that. But anyway, today I have a review of the AWESOME new Barry M Gellys. This is the third set they've released, you can see my review of the second set here. This time around there are 5 new colours, and I think they're right on trend for summer. As always the rest of the photos will be after the jump!

Xbox nails!

Hey everyone! This design was repeatedly requested by my boyfriend and his best friends for months before I actually got around to it, and I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't do their request more justice, because this is really not my best work. I did these around 2 months ago and I've been strongly debating whether or not to post them for a very long time because I really am not proud of them, I think I really messed up the execution and they could have been much better. Nevertheless, this blog is a gallery of my work and I spent quite a long time doing these and it would be a shame to waste that time!

I cant really remember much about these because I did them so long ago but I know that the matte top coat was MASH - Matte Top Coat.* Which, as you can see it's not quite as matte as most top coats, but I actually really like it like that, especially for these nails which didn't need to be too matte. It also dries super fast

What do you think? Am I being too hard on myself or could these do with improvement? If so, what improvement? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*This was provided to me for review but all opinions are entirely my own

Barry M Sequin Nail Effects Review

Hey everyone! Today I have a review of the new Barry M Sequin Nail Effects which will be released on the 8th May on 'Hot Spots' aka the top shelf, and then on the 5th June in Superdrug and 12th June in Boots. To my surprise these polishes are textured, which I know is very in this year, but I'm not exactly sure it suits these, read on to find out more. 

As always the pictures and review will be after the jump!

Seven Deadly Sins Challenge: Week 2 - Gluttony

Hey everyone! Just a quick post from me today, I have been swatching all night (around 9 hours) and I really just want to crawl into bed, so basically this is week 2 of the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge, which is Gluttony, I chose the option to 'paint something that makes your stomach growl' which is definitely cake!

For these I used China Glaze - It's a Trapeze (and I was inspired to use it for the frosting by Algae Veronica), Essie - Blanc, Essie Blanc mixed with Barry M - Grey, and Nail Supreme nail art pens for the black outline and cherry.

I also wanted to show you it without the outline because I'm torn over which looks better!

What do you think? Do you prefer them with or without the outline? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Clinique - A Different Nail Enamel For Sensitive Skin Review

Hey everyone! Today I have some exciting new nail products to show you, by Clinique! A lot of you will be surprised to hear that this isn't their first try at nail polish, but it's looking to be the most successful. They will be releasing 12 permanent shades and 9 limited edition shades to start off with. I'm very excited about these new polishes and I would definitely recommend them. As always, all pictures will be after the jump