Ethnic print stamping with MoYou Explorer plate 5 and Barry M Lychee

Nail stamping with Barry M Lychee MoYou Explorer plate no 5 

I love ethnic prints so I was really excited to get MoYou Explorer collection plate number 5. This is an allover pattern plate, which are just brilliant for longer nails. I'd been thinking about trying Barry M's Gelly Nail Paint in Lychee for stamping for a while, and this was a perfect test for it! Lychee stamped wonderfully over this teal base - it's already a firm favourite nail art polish of mine; I've used it as a base, for dots, freehand nail art, watermarbling and tape!

Nail stamping with Barry M Lychee MoYou Explorer plate no 5 

I used the geometric section of the plate in the bottom right corner and stamped at different angles on each nail to get this variety of patterning. The last couple of pictures are with a matte topcoat that has worn a bit 'satiny' after a day or so.......... but I like the effect this gives the stamping!

Nail stamping with Barry M Lychee MoYou Explorer plate no 5 

The base for this mani is Binky London Parsons Green and Paris Pearl, which I reviewed here (that post includes some stamping with other polishes from this same plate too). I purchased my Barry M Lychee from my local Boots and the MoYou plate direct from MoYou.

Layla Coral Glam - swatch and review

Layla Coral Glam

OK - I have a confession with this polish ~ it's been sitting around in my untried box for over a year. Maybe I was just never in the mood for it on a day when the sun shone - I don't know, it seems a shame. Whatever, yesterday was a lovely sunny day, so I decided it was time to dust this one down and wear it!

The first collection of Layla holos were released in early 2012 and created quite a stir in the nail polish world. Mostly they were all soft, pastel colours (the notable exception is Flash Black, which is actually a dark charcoal, but superb nonetheless) and later last year Layla followed up with some brighter colours. At the time, these were fantastically holo, but since then there have been various holographic polishes from all around the world which have put these in the shade a bit. I'm not the world's greatest holographic polish fan - I have to be in the mood for them, but for a comprehensive review and swatch of just about any holographic polish, and tips on application, The Holo Queen is your girl!

On to my review, this is a pretty, dusky-pink-toned nude holo. I used three thin coats, no basecoat and no topcoat, and the application was straightforward - no bald spots or dragging. I did buff my nails first with the file Layla provide with the holo polishes; I've also used Nfu.oh aquabase with Layla holos and got good results; the main drawback I find with aquabase is that it takes ages to dry.

All these pictures are taken indoors on a sunny day. Firstly in indirect light from the window, the holo is visible, but not crazy:

Layla Coral Glam

However, move into direct light and the rainbow emerges!

Layla Coral Glam

This is a pretty polish and I'd consider it suitable for most professional situations. I received this bottle as a part of a swap rather a long time ago; you can but Layla polishes directly from Layla in Italy but as they have increased in popularity they are now fairly readily available around the world. In the UK you can purchase from Sally Magpies.

Layla Coral Glam

Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan over B.Complete Piglet

Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan over B.Complete Piglet

Haba Xueshan is a mountain in Yunnan, China, and the name in translation means 'Snow Mountain'. It's a black and white glitter with lovely pale aqua glitter circles - I could imagine being on top of a snowy mountain against a bright blue sky looking at these colours!

I love black and white glitter, and they are so easy to use - they'll pair with just about anything. This is a little more difficult though, with the aqua in there, so I referred to my colour wheel for help. The complementary colour to aqua (blue-green) is orange-red; lighter versions of orange red are fleshy, nude tones and draker versions are brown. I think this polish would look great over orange or brown, but I really wanted a delicate, pastel look - and I had a great looking new nude I wanted to try out, so for this mani I went with B.Comlete Piglet as my base.

B. is a new range from Superdrug which launched a couple of months ago. Here's a Cosmetics Business article about the launch of this brand in February 2013. The polishes were on a 3 for 2 promotion in my local Superdrug this week, and there were a few interesting colours, so I couldn't resist! Here's Piglet on it's own:

B.Complete Piglet

In strong light it's very delicate peachy nude. This is three coats with Seche Vite topcoat - as you can see it applies quite evenly and there are no issues with streaking. In softer light the polish looks a warmer colour:

B.Complete Piglet

Not sure why my middle finger nail looks a bit darker here; I must have applied the polish more thickly, but this isn't noticeable in real life. Although I like the colour, I do have a couple of quibbles with the polish:

First, the brush is enormous! I like a bigger brush, such as OPI and some of the Bourjois ranges, but this is TOO big. If you're not careful, it's hard to get in back in the neck of the bottle without splaying the bristles and it makes application a bit messy - you certainly need to do a Megan Chair Clean-up to get a smart looking mani with this.

Second, and this very much a personal gripe of mine, the polish is made in China. I didn't realise this until I got it home and read the small print on the bottle. I have no issue with polishes made in other parts of the world, and I love to try out exotic brands from other countries............when they are sold as such. But this is a UK brand, offshoring production to increase their profits. Barry M and Boots can make polish in the UK and sell it at a similar price, and other brands sold in the UK such as Bourjois, Max Factor and the Tesco own brands are made in France - so it's not as if polish can't be made in this part of the world.

OK - rant over, I like the colour and after a day I applied a coat of Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan:

Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan over B.Complete Piglet

I love how the colours work together and how delicate the whole thing looks! Here are a couple of closer pictures to show the detail in the glitter

Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan over B.Complete Piglet

I used a coat of Gelous and a final coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out. Elevation Haba Xueshan isn't too dense a glitter, and the base is quite jelly-like, so it's easy to apply and doesn't dry gritty.

Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan over B.Complete Piglet

I purchased B.Complete Piglet from Superdrug, and Elevation Haba Xueshan directly from the  Elevation Polish Website. At the time of writing, Haba Xueshan is sold out, but Lulu restocks the polishes regularly, usually twice a month.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude (with stamping)

I have a bit of a weakness for 'nude' colours, but they have to be rich and creamy, I don't like sheer nudes at all. This is one of my favourites - Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude

Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude is a dense, pale, slightly pinkish nude polish. It doesn't match my skintone; it's quite a bit lighter, but I'm not sure I like the idea of real mannequin hands anyway. The application is impeccable; this mani is two coats plus Seche Vite but a single coat would probably have done.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude

I wanted to use this colour as the base for a stamped mani I've had in mind for ages. The stamping is not an original idea, it's a combination I've seen a few times, and every time I see it, I think 'that's so pretty, I must do my nails like that'. And finally I've got around to doing it!

One of the nicest examples of this mani that I've seen is Jenny's at Lavish Layerings - she used a slightly darker base than mine (OPI My Very First Knockwurst, which is another super nude shade). The design is a whole nail pattern stamped in white, and the overall effect reminds me of a William Morris wallpaper.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude stamped with BM plate 221

The stamping plate is Bundle Monster BM221 and I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White to do the stamping. I love the frothy girliness of these colours together, but I'm really tempted to try this plate again soon in some darker colours, to get more of a William Morris feel...........maybe a slatey-blue with yellow.

I got both of these polishes in swaps, but Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude can be purchased at their website; the description refers to wildly sophisticated girls with perfectly oval buff-colored nails who never have a bad hair day  so I guess I have to take this off before I go out for a fifteen mile run across a windswept moor in the morning!

The bundle monster stamping plates come in a set of 25; I got mine from Amazon.co.uk but Bundle Monster do have their own website where you can buy them direct.