Sparkles and stripes...

Barry M


This is another remnant of my vault cleanout!  I think ultimately after I had this one on my computer I just didn't think it was clean enough or that it photographed well enough to make it on the blog.  That being said I really loved this mani too and I wore it for a considerable period of time. I started out with just wanting to do the stripes and then I decided later to jazz it up a bit with some glitter. I hope you enjoy it!! :)

In the jean pool...

Barry M

It's day four of the texture challenge with The Digital Dozen!  I rarely ever do anything textured on my nails-- outside of some sandy polish that is-- so I'm really loving how this week has pushed me to try new things.  When I first decided to do these denim nails I wasn't super sure how I was going to go about it.  I have this Barry M polish called "Denim" and thought it was very fitting, but even though it's gorgeous and matte and very "denim-y" as promised...it's not exactly textured. I found a super cool tutorial over at Meisie's Nails but it requires various colors and fabric and blah blah blah.  SO....I sort of went in a similar but different direction.  I used the Barry M for my base and then I dotted some diluted white on with some cling wrap. THEN I waited til it was sort of tacky but definitely mostly dry and pressed it into the underside of a pair of jeans.  The gold was sort of an afterthought.  I didn't love it after it was on but no way was I starting over!!  I do think it helped finish off the jean effect though. All in all it came out as a win for me! And it was SUPER easy. :) Don't forget to check out the other girls mani's below!

It's a Boy!

baby boy


Is anyone else ridiculously excited about the birth of a new Royal baby in the UK?  Unfortunately, I had to work yesterday and the new little prince was born at 4:24PM but I managed to throw something together anyway after I was home! This little guy will be the first Prince of Cambridge in 194 years! I can't wait to see what they'll name him and if he will look more like his mother or father (or neither as it sometimes happens!).  Well anyway here are my tribute nails to the little guy! I used all Barry M colors to complete this look. I hope you enjoy them and congrats to the Duke and Duchess and all of the UK! :)


To the T

Barry M


Today's manicure for tape mani week with the Digit-al Dozen was inspired by a dress I have.  I'm really not patient enough to get extra fancy with the tape thing nad I think it kind of showed with this one because I spent forever touching up lines and I'm still not in love with them. It helps if you place the tape straight in the first place!  But I digress. I was still happy with the final result. I really love how the crisp white pops next to the green, which by the way is sort of a jelly so it looks super squishy and bright on the white! Don't forget to check out what the other girls came up with for today! And stay tuned all week for more tape mani's!

Colors Used: 
Zoya Purity 
Barry M Spring Green 
Ciate 3am Girl

So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible.

Barry M


It's day three of the Digital Dozen Book Week challenge.  I'm trying to get through all my most favorite books for this challenge but let's face it, there are way more than five of those!! For this one I went a little further back into my childhood years.  I believe I was eight the first time I read this book and even today it's still one of my favorites.  If you haven't recognized it yet, it's The Phantom Tollbooth.  One of the things I love about this book is that it's very logical while at the same time seeming very illogical!  It tells the story of a boy named Milo and his journey though strange lands with a dog called Tock.  I used my ring finger to represent the map of the Kingdom of Wisdom.  There were so many lands to choose from but I only have so many fingers!! So I went with just two and then added a clock for Tock on my middle finger.  For the index I have the top half numbers and the bottom half words to represent Dictionopolis, one of the capitols of the Kingdom and where Milo learns of the princesses, Rhyme and Reason and learns that they've been banished for their belief that numbers and letters are of equal importance.  Then on the pinky finger I have some numbers to represent Digitopolis, where Milo eats subtraction soup which makes him even hungrier!  I hope you enjoy the nails and don't forget to journey over to my fellow ladies pages to see what they've come up with for todays challenge!!



Colors Used:
OPI Fly
Barry M Silver Foil
Zoya Purity
Revlon Black Lingerie

I amar prestar aen....

Barry M

...han mathon ne nen. Han mathon ne chae. A han noston ned 'wilith. 

Today you all get a bonus mani!! I had way too many designs for Geek Week with the Digital Dozen so in an effort to fully round out my geek-ism I decided to keep this one in and just have one extra.  :)  These are obviously from The Lord of the Rings.  I read these books, saw the films and well...rinse and repeat.  I even read the entire book catalogue beginning with The Silmarillion, which incidentally, was my favorite since it's mostly about Elves!  My geekism of The Lord of the Rings goes so far as that I know all ten different dialects of Elvish (including sub dialects within the major accepted ones) and can write in Quenya and Tengwar.  Yeah. That bad.  I think the Elves are my favorite part of the movie and it's fitting in a way that I've chosen to do The One Ring for that reason.  The writing on the ring is known as Black Speech and it is the only pure example of Black Speech there is.  While it was intended as the official speech of Mordor it never actually caught on and the Orcs and men of Mordor used Westron to communicate (although a very mutilated form of it) as did men that came to Mordor later. The Nazgûl, the Olog-hai, and several of Sauron's major lieutenants and officers did learn and use the Black Speec, however.  At any rate...putting my heavily useless knowledge to the side! I hope you enjoy these nails!  There is one more day of Geek Week left and don't forget to check out what the other ladies came up with!





 
Colors Used: 
OPI Goldeneye
Barry M Gold Foil
Models Own Black Nail Art Pen
Seche Vite 

Barry Patriotic

4th of july

This is a swatch I've had in my cache since July!! Crazy that it never ended up seeing the light of day!  This is the glorious Barry M Jewel Britannia and it was absolutely perfect for such a patriotic holiday.  Well, besides the fact that it's a British brand and July 4th celebrates independence from the Brits! Oops!  Anyway I used it here over butter LONDON's Diamond Geezer.  I think it looks a lot like confetti fluttering down.  :)

Do you have this polish? Do you love it?


Colors Used:
butter LONDON Diamond Geezer
Barry M Jewel Britannia
Seche Vite

That Warm, Fuzzy Feeling...

Barry M

For today's Love and Heartbreak mani I decided to go a little outside my box!! I got a canister of flocking powder from a wonderful friend in the UK and I literally couldn't wait to try it out! I've used flocking powder before from the craft store but I had heard that nail flocking is finer.  I can say with a fair amount of confidence that this is the truth.  The nail flocking made a much softer finish on my nail and it seemed to last longer.  It was just a happy coincidence (or the result of having over a thousand polishes!) that I had a polish color which very nearly exactly matched the powder she sent me!  I polished on two coats on all nails and then dipped my accent in the powder and pressed it around.  This lasted on my nail for about three days before I took it off to try something new.  One warning: if you have pets, this nail will be FULL of pet fur!! My kitty left so much fuzz on my fuzzy nail when I petted her!  Anyway I jazzed up my other nails with a simple patchwork stamp. I tried t make it kind of random but it didn't really turn out.  Oh well. You can't win them all!!

 

Don't you just want to touch it? :P

Can't Catch Me I'm the...

a-england.

For today's Christmas art I went simple.  I'm running low on time to do them and yet they keep getting chipped at work --TRUST me-- it's a miracle this time of year if they last 24 hours. So rather than sport a chipped mani I've been trying to squeeze in some mini looks.  Things that are easy and don't require loads of dry time in between designing!  This one was wicked easy and only took me 15 minutes start to finish!  I used A-England Dragon for the base. It's a gorgeous holo grassy green color.  Then I used China Glaze Champagne Bubbles to add a gradient on all nails but the ring and then I used a stamp and some Barry M Gold Foil to add a gingerbread man! Easy but gorgeous! These managed three days before I chipped the thumb. :(  Oh well...onto the next!!

 Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season! Aoife helped me build a gingerbread village this year (or rather...she rearranged all the candy for me!)


Have a Very Barry Christmas...

Barry M


OK so the title might be a little misleading for this one! I know this isn't really Christmas art. BUT...I got this amazing Barry M AROUND Christmas time and it seems kind of festive so I'm running with it!  This is Barry M Blue Plum from their Gelly line.  I have to say this is my first one and I'm impressed. Thoroughly.  It says one coat and incredible shine and it doesn't disappoint.  I only used one coat and it DID dry super duper shiny.  But after about a day I got bored with the solid color so...I fancied it up a bit.  First I added a coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire which gave it this amazing duo chrome sparkle.  Then I added a swirly design using Barry M Gold Foil.  These got pretty good feedback from a lot of people! I really dig the Fantasy Fire over the deep blue.  I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season!

Models Own: Indian Ocean

Barry M
 

Today I have a swatch post for you!! This has been in my cache for awhile as evidenced by the sunny setting!  I meant to put it up awhile ago but got busy and forgot!  Still this is a gorgeous color so I thought I'd share it with you today. :) It's Models Own Indian Ocean from their Beetle Juice line.  Indian Ocean is a blue/purple duo chrome and as you can see from this picture, it's pretty sheer.  This is THREE coats of polish.  It does build up, as you can tell but as far as wearing it alone without VNL, it's a no go.

 

Here's a different angle so you can see the different colors in it.  The overall tone is a light blue but then there are gold and pinky purple tones to it too.  It's quite a stunner even without being opaque.  For a taste of what it might be like if it WERE more opaque....I layered it over Barry M Blue Moon...


This is a pic of the combo in the shade.  It's just fabulous! You can really see the duo chrome effect when you layer this over other colors.  I really loved it over the light blue because I think it makes the gold stand out more and also it's sort of demure and safe while at the same time being interesting and unexpected.  Here's an angled, sunny shot for you:

 

Gorgeous, right?  The formula on this is pretty standard for Models Own.  It IS a very sheer polish as I mentioned earlier but  these shots with the base coat are just one coat of Indian Ocean on top so you don't need much for impact!  

Do you have any of the Beetle Juice colors? Which is your favorite?

 

Peaches and Cream

Barry M


I have some pretty simple nails for you today.  I'm still working on using textures on my nails more often but this time of year work gets busy and it just gets in the way.  These nails were inspired by an outfit I had on. I used Barry M Blue Moon for the base and then Orly Prelude to a Kiss for the accent nail and the tips.  Then I took a sticker of lace and pressed it into the accent.  Two coats of Seche and done!! I love that they have a sort of vintage appeal and they're soft and girly without being pink and sparkly! Have you ever done nails inspired by something you had on?

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