SWATCHES: W7 // Stargazer & Blood Moon

Ah W7...it's been a while since I've purchased some of these OPI wannabe polishes, mainly because the last time I did I opened the bottle and felt my eyes melt; it contained formaldehyde.

Stargazer // Forest Green/Bronze Metallic Shift
Collection:??
Release Date:??
Coats: 1 with Black Base, 2 by itself

Now I don't have this polish with me (I'm still at my parents, our office doesn't seem to be re-opening any time soon...) but I have a Barry M shade also called Stargazer and they are exactly the same shade. I swear there is no difference. Only the ingredients in the Barry M one are less sketchy. These 2 do not smell great and the teeny tiny ingredients list is one of those multi-page peel ones. It took me a good 5 minutes to get the final layer which is where the actual polish stuff was (not just the colours used). These two are at least 3 free but I don't trust them.

This shade though is quite a green/brown earthy metallic duochrome. It's ok, it has some brush stokes and dries with a satin finish. The shift is more pronounce on a black base but it's not too bad by itself. The bronze tone is mainly dominant. I ended up adding some rose gold sparkles to the tips and it turned into quite a nice Christmas party look:

Blood Moon // Purple/Bronze Metallic Shift
Collection:??
Release Date:??
Coats: 1 with Black Base, 3 by itself

This is my favourite out of two; mainly because I do like a nice purple. This feels more like a November/December polish to me. On a black base it's mainly purple with the gold coming through at certain angles. I also like it on clear false nails as it has more of shimmery pink vibe and goes well with pink cremes. 

// Verdict

I think it's safe to say I will not be purchasing anymore W7 shades in the future. The brushes were clumpy with bristles bent out and the formulas are awful. I paid £1.99 each but that was from an outlet store; they cost the same as Barry M or H&M normally! An absolute rip-off. I was lured in by how pretty they look in the bottle. Overall they're somewhat pretty but the ingredients are very sketchy.

NAIL ACCESSORIES // Meiguimei Blue Marble Nail Stickers Review

Behold! I have found nail stickers that aren't awful! I didn't have high hopes for these, especially after using the tropical holo stickers but these were easy to use and look great. The longest part of this design was letting the nail polish dry.

The blue marble pieces are in long strips so you need to cut them to the size that you want. They are quite sticky so unless you've let you polish dry it will lift it up and cause marks.

I used a quick dry top coat which looked fine at first however it did cause the stickers to shrivel up a little and there are bubbles around the side. I'd definitely recommend using just a normal top coat.

For £1.29 per sheet though this is a quick and super easy way to get marble nails. I might actually try to recreate this look using acrylic paint because it seems relatively simple.

Polishes/Tools Used:
- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Coconut (off white), Sour Candy (blue)
- Barry M Wetset // Quick Dry Top Coat
- Meiguimei // Marble Nail Stickers

SWATCHES: Arcancil // Fleur De Cerisier, Pivoine & Magnolia

A completely new brand for me! TK Maxx re-opened last week and I had a couple of days off during the week so I went to my local store and almost cried from happiness. They didn't have much nail polish in but, what they did have were these 3 beautiful shades and 3 beautiful China Glaze shades.

So, I thought this was a random in-house brand however it's actually a French brand and each of these shades are 7.50euro each but I got them for £1.99 each.

Fleur De Cerisier // Light Peony Pink Satin Creme

Collection: Vernis Green

Release Date: ?

Coats: 3

According to google translate this means "Cherry Flower" and I'd say this shade is very reminiscent of the delicate leaves on cherry blossom trees (my favourite trees!) This dries with a satin finish and due to that it does have some brush strokes but a top coat will level that out. It is a little streaky and 3 coats are needed but it dries pretty quickly.

Pivoine // Light Peony Nude Creme

Collection: Vernis Green

Release Date: ?

Coats: 3

This appears to be a light nude shade but by 3 coats it has a pink/peach undertone and I actually really like it. Or maybe it's just because I'm a bit more tan now (thank you sun), lighter shades are  now looking a helluva of lighter on me. This one also applies easier than the last and has a creme finish. Not Gelly levels of shine but still pretty nice. Once again though it does have some slight streaks that can be evened out by a top coat.

Magnolia // Clay Nude Creme

Collection: Vernis Green

Release Date: ?

Coats: 2

I'd say this one is a bit too dark for my liking. Brown/reddish shades have never looked that great on me, I was hoping this one wouldn't have a red undertone. I think this would do well with a light beige in a watermarble to achieve a coffee design. This shade is the only one though that kind of self-levels.

// Verdict

Not to shabby for only £1.99 each, especially Fleur De Cerisier, that one is definitely my favourite. I think I might do an ombre with all three though and use some of the detailed flowers on one my MoYou Botanical plates with them.

Pool Party // NCLA Nail Wraps Review

I received these a while ago in the Pool Party Meebox and since it's summer I've decided that I need to do something with them.

I'm not great with decals of any kind and these ones haven't even been produced properly! They've  been printed off to the side so a quarter of the design has been left out and the black outlines have ended up on the nail design...talk about quality control. NCLA products aren't cheap either. This particular design isn't sold anymore but they're $10 each (I don't even want to know how much shipping + import is) or £10.95 to buy from UK stores. That's an insane amount of money. I might have to try and recreate these nails using plastic wrap or something.

These nail wraps were a bit bent as well from being stored in the too small Meebox and the packaging was ripped...not off to great start. There is also a mini cardboard emery board included to file off excess product. You get 4 of each size, apart from the largest which only has 2. I suppose in theory this means you can get 4 looks out of this set. When you compare that to a salon visit, I guess £10.95 isn't bad.

I started off with a base coat and then started off with my little finger. I thought the smallest size would fit no problem, however due to how it's been cut, it actually misses a good 2mm off my nail and includes the black line and then white area around the cutout.

The nail wrap was also very sticky and because of this is actually pulled my base coat off from the nail and just came off entirely in place. They don't curve well so unless your nails are completely flat; you're gonna have a bad time.

The thumb was the worst as the wraps are super rounded at the cuticle end and the nail beds on my thumbs are square so they don't fit properly at all. 

Overall, it honestly looks like a 5 year has glued bits of paper to my nails. Filing the bits of paper off does absolutely nothing except make it look worse; like the paper has been submerged in water and has flaked off. If anything you'll just start filing your own nails.

I applied a top coat thinking it would solve all my problems but now my problems are just glossy...Sounds like most things in my life.

1/10, would not recommend. They do have some nice looking wraps on their website though that I might recreate. But these are too thick (even though they are described as ultra thin) and sticky and you can't smooth them out properly. I noticed on their website they've applied them to flatter false nails and the model is wearing the false nails. Obviously it's going to be much better applying them to false nails as you don't have to deal with awkward hand positions and nail beds getting in the way. Let's just say between these and the tropical holo nail stickers; I've been put off nail stickers....I still have a few more to review though that I bought off eBay...*le sigh*

SWATCHES: Barry M // Lilac Orchid, Pit Stop, Raspberry Sherbet, Strawberry Laces, Coconut Cream

Swatch time! Swatch time everybody! Here are the last 5 Barry M shades from my May haul. they're mainly oldies but goldies.

Lilac Orchid // Dusty Mauve Creme
Collection: Green Origin
Release Date: Spring 2020
Coats: 2

Starting off with the most recent is a new one in their Green Origin range. The other colours were a bit dark for Spring so I just went for this one. If applied slowly and carefully this is a stunning, self-leveling one coat wonder. I applied the first layer a bit too thin so I went in for a second coat but it's really not necessary. Barry M have really been knocking it out of the park with their new releases; the formula is on another level.

Pit Stop // Light Grey Mauve Creme
Collection: Speedy Quick Dry
Release Date: Winter 2015
Coats: 2

I remember when this range was first released and I bought 4 of the brighter pastel shades. I went for this one because I don't have many grey polishes and I thought this would be good for smooshing and marble looks. It's quite streaky and I find thin coats are much better with this quick dry range as it prevents dragging. It also doesn't self-level as well as other Barry M polishes. I'm not wearing a top coat but one is needed to help level out some of the brush strokes left behind.

Raspberry Sherbet // Pastel Lilac/Pink Satin Creme
Collection: Candy Culture
Release Date: January 2018
Coats: 3

Apparently these are supposed to be scented? In the bottle, there is a slight artificial sweetness cutting through the standard polish but once it started drying it had a stronger scent. I haven't eaten sherbet in a long time but this smells faintly of the raspberry sauce I'd put on icecream....or maybe I'm just projecting. This range dries with a satin finish and I found this shade to be streaky; it definitely needs to be built up with thin coats. It's such a cute colour though; perfect for spring/summer.

Strawberry Laces // Light Pink Satin Creme
Collection: Candy Culture
Release Date: January 2018
Coats: 3

I love this shade! This one is my favourite out of the lot; its that perfect pastel pink with a slight hint of peach. It's quite similar to DND's Peach Buff but I'd say that this is an excellent dupe for Ciaté Tutu. Once it's dry though; the smell is really great. It reminds me of Chewitts.

Coconut Cream // Lilac Mauve Satin Creme
Collection: Candy Culture
Release Date: January 2018
Coats: 3

This one didn't really smell like coconuts until it had fully dried. The shade is great though as it's not quite grey but not quite lilac. I imagine this would look great with some negative space bits and detailed flowers stamped on. The formula on this one was a bit streaky and had a tendency to drag; as all the shades in this range did. I think I'm just spoilt by the Gelly formula at this point.

NAIL ACCESSORIES // Gold Holo Tropical Nail Stickers Review

 
I've been wanting to try these for ages but I kept putting off buying them...even though they're only 99p on eBay and at the end of March I finally decided to buy them. I bought them in both silver and gold and they're stickers instead of water decals (i'm useless with them). They arrived a week ago and it took me a while to figure out a simple yet effective look with them as they colour is quite brash.

As these are stickers I thought they would be easier to use than water decals but they are deceptively hard to pick up and I ruined the edges slightly trying to pry them off the backing paper. You can also see the clear outline of the sticker on the nail and a top coat doesn't help.

I was eager to buy these mainly for the holo effect but once they arrived I realised that only certain patches of the stickers have the holo effect and you can clearly see in places where the holo cuts off.

I'm at a bit of a loss at what to do with them now. I think the silver may look better as the colour isn't as brassy. I think these either have to be a white or super dark background for them to work as it's kind of hard to see any detail on a nude base. When I look down at my hands it just looks like I've applied some gold foil as the light reflections from the clear part of the sticker ruin the effect.

I know I can't really complain because it cost £2 in total but I'd definitely stick to stamping for the moment.

STAMPING PLATES: Nicole Diary // 148 Marble Textures

This is from one of my most recent eBay nail hauls. I really love how more plates now have started doing interesting cut out shapes with the marble pattern built in; it makes it so much easier to do intricate looks.

With this plate though I decided to just keep it simple and did a grey and white marble design:

I started off with a layer of Cotton and Smokey, then applied a top coat. After it was dry I stamped on various marble lines as randomly as I could. To achieve that slightly 'smooshed' look I then took some acetone and lightly smudged the stamps. It's best to do this on top of a top coat so it doesn't disturb the base layer.

I actually think it turned out really well especially with the white stamps on the darker grey base. The smudged lines look very effective. This look took me about 20 minutes to do as well so it's a quick and easy way to get marble nails without the hassle of gel and water decals. This cost me £1.29 with free postage. A must buy.

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Cotton (white - used as base)

- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white - used to stamp), Smokey (dark grey)

- Nicole Diary // 142 plate

- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat