Pink Gradient with dots...

Essie Go Ginza and DJ Play That Song gradient with Barry M Lychee dots

A bit of jolly nail art for my newly rounded nails! I chose a couple of blue-leaning pinks for the gradient (Essie Go Ginza and DJ Play That Song), then added nude dots with Barry M Lychee. I put the dots on straight away, so no pictures of the gradient on its own, sorry! The gradient was done with my usual method of a fine, damp makeup sponge; I painted one coat of the lighter pink (Go Ginza) to give the gradient a base. DJ Play That Song is rather jellyish, but the formula blended well with the other Essie polish for the gradient and I love how the pale pink base of Go Ginza really makes the colour pop.

I really enjoyed this combination of colours, and I'm getting used to the new shape now - I was sad when I finally had to remove this mani the other day because there was too much growth around my cuticles.

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Essie Go Ginza and DJ Play That Song gradient with Barry M Lychee dots

All polishes in this post are from my personal collection. Barry M Lychee is one of my favourite nudes, especially for nail art - the formula is so rich and dense it works fabulously well for dots, striping and stamping.

Nail of the Day! Barry M Gelly - Coconut

Barry M Gelly Nail Paint - Coconut

This was intended just as a base for something else - but I love it so much it became my NOTD and I think it's worth sharing in its own right. Every now and then there's a must-have polish released that should be in any collection, and I think this is one of them! I've no vested interest in saying this - Barry M don't send me their products to review, I bought this myself.

Although I love pastel shades, I don't actually like WHITE polish (other than for nail art of course) - I find it too stark. But I'm always fascinated by the near-white shades.... OPI My Vampire Is Buff, Zoya Jacqueline and American Aparrel Cotton are all firm favourites of mine and I'm adding this to the list! Barry M Coconut is a slightly warm (but not yellowish) just off white shade. This is two coats with Seche Vite quick dry topcoat. Application was fantastic for such a pale shade.

Coconut is one of the new Barry M Gelly shades this summer - I purchased this from Superdrug along with Olive and Almond on a three-for-two offer.

Barry M - new gelly shade OLIVE with a bit of stamping.....

Barry M Olive with Essie Sew Psyched

The finished mani... Barry M Olive stamped with Essie Sew Psyched using MoYou Pro XL plate 05. I was really pleased with how this turned out!

The new Barry M Gelly Nail Paint shades include three pale neutrals, which are in that range of colours that I can't seem to resist - so when I realised these were a three-for-two offer at Superdrug I couldn't help myself. I bought Olive, Coconut (off white) and Almond (pale taupe).

Here's Olive:

Barry M Olive

I think the colour is fab and I'd say the formula is OK but not amazing, I used three coats here because it still looked a bit streaky after two. I like the colour enough for it to be worth the bit of extra effort with the application. It's quite a unique colour - I'm not sure I've got anything quite like it in my stash!

And here are some more pictures of the stamping. I've not tried Essie Sew Psyched for stamping before but it works brilliantly - and it's a lovely colour match for Barry M Olive! Some of my pictures are taken in bright sunlight and this really makes the green in Sew Psyched stand out!

Barry M Olive with Essie Sew Psyched

I purchased Barry M Olive from Superdrug last week - Essie Sew Psyched has been around in my collection for years but I think it's still a current shade.

Hipster Mani - with MoYou new Hipster plates 1 and 2 and R&R Lacquers Steve

MoYou new Hipster plates 1 and 2 and R&R Lacquers Steve

Long title for this post, lol! MoYou released some fab new 'Hipster' plates last week so when mine arrived I dived straight in with a hipster style mani! I went for a beige, blue and red combination, with a bit of check! The plates have some great designs and all those I tried stamped perfectly.

I painted most of my nails with Essie Case Study; the accents are M&S Autograph Bordeaux and RBL Cuprum. I chose the accent colours because they were the nearest I had to the glitters in R&R Lacquers Steve. All the stamping is Barry M Lychee. I added R&R Lacquers Steve (from R&R's current collection 'Assemble') to my check stamped nails. Steve has matte dark red and blue hexes in a clear base along with white squares and small gold and holographic glitter. This is just one coat - application is very easy and the formula is smooth. I also added a single blue glitter to the red accent nail on each hand. For the blue accent nails, I added double dots with Essie Case Study and Barry M Lychee.

MoYou new Hipster plates 1 and 2 and R&R Lacquers Steve

Here's a closer shot of the check stamp and the glitters in Steve!

MoYou new Hipster plates 1 and 2 and R&R Lacquers Steve

I purchased Hipster plates 1 and 2 from MoYou's website; I purchased the fabulous Smash from R&R Lacquers Assemble collection recently and Rebecca and Rachel very kindly sent me sample sizes of the rest of the collection for review :) R&R Lacquers are available from their Etsy Shop; follow their facebook page for details of upcoming colours (there are some spring colours in the pipeline I have my eye on!). All the other polishes I used here are from my collection and were purchased by me at some point in the past.

NOTD - Nails Inc St Martins Lane with Barry M Lychee Dots ...

Nails Inc St Martins Lane with Barry M Lychee Dots

If you only ever do nail art once - do some big dots with Barry M Lychee! This is becoming a nail art standby for me - so easy and I love the effect.

Nails Inc St Martins Lane with Barry M Lychee Dots

My base colour, Nails Inc St Martins Lane is a red-leaning magenta which is quite sheer and almost 'glows' in full sun. In the shade and in indoor lighting it looks quite a bit darker, but is still a beautiful and quite unusual shade. This is three coats.

Nails Inc St Martins Lane with Barry M Lychee Dots

Flash Nails Sticks and Stones over Barry M Rose Hip

Flash Nails Sticks and Stones over Barry M Rose Hip

I think Flash Nails is going to be a brand to watch over the next few months! This is Sticks and Stones, a glitter topper in a clear base with mixed shapes of matte black, white and various shades of pink. I'm a great fan of black and white glitter specifically, and matte glitters generally (I'm hardly ever attracted to the super-sparkly glitters these days), so this one is right up my street!

I ordered a couple of polishes from Nicola when she first opened up shop a few weeks ago (here's my post about the lovely Jagged) and she very kindly included a mini of Sticks and Stones as an extra!

Flash Nails Sticks and Stones over Barry M Rose Hip

My base for this mani is Barry M Gelly Polish in Rose Hip - one of the new pastel Spring Gelly shades. There have been a few reviews of this polish already; I like it, but like any very pale shade it needs a bit of care and patience with the application. I used three coats here, and topped with Seche Vite to even it out fully before I applied the glitter. I used just one coat of Sticks and Stones in this mani as I wanted to keep the glitter looking quite sparse - Sticks and Stones is very easy to apply, even from the mini bottle.

Flash Nails Sticks and Stones over Barry M Rose Hip

I purchased Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Rosehip at my local Tesco; Flash Nails Sticks and Stones was a sample sent along with a couple of polishes I purchased from the Flash Nails Etsy shop. I like the Flash Nails polishes so much I placed another order last night :)

EDIT
I added a stamped pattern to this mani today using American Apparel Hassid and MoYou Artist Collection plate 03.......

New nail shape and some native american inspired stamping.......

MoYou Explorer Collection Plate 14

I filed my nails into baby stilettos! This happens every year about this time. Or at least for the last three years, I can't remember exact dates of nail shape changes before then, I just used to paint my nails a couple of times a week - there were no pictures, lol! I get bored with square nails, so I shape them pointy. Then I grow them long. Then I get bored with them, so I cut them short and square again. The last bit usually happens in the summer when I'm swimming outside a lot, and it takes ages to get into my wetsuit AND I start shredding it!


The mani is a base of American Apparel Cotton, stamped with Barry M Matte Nail Paint in Caramel. I used two different sections from MoYou Explorer Plate 14 for this part of the stamping.

I wasn't specially concerned to get the two parts of the image equally spaced, since I was just going to stamp another pattern band over the blank bit. I did like how these pale neutral colours looked together though, so I thought it was worth taking a picture.

Then I added a black band from another part of the plate with American Apparel Hassid. I love how this mani turned out - I'm becoming increasingly fond of MoYou plates and my collection is growing steadily, lol. I'm a great fan of ethnic geometric patterns, so the explorer collection really hits my spot! And I like the whole pattern plates, they give such a variety of pattern possibilities.

MoYou Explorer Collection Plate 14