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.

Hippy Sailor // Mandala Dreamcatchers & Nautical Stuff

This design came about because I couldn't decide if I wanted to go nautical or bohemian....So I did both. Thanks to the Rose Quartz & Serenity pairing (I swear that wasn't intentional) this doesn't look to bad. It's not the best stamping skills in the world but I'm getting better every time I do it.

For the Mandala/Dreamcatcher nails I started out with one layer of Sweet Memories then followed that up with 4 sponged layers of Alanala & Breanna ombre'd together. I then stamped the design on top and hey presto!

I love the colour of those two W7 polishes however on their own they're not great, sponging solved that problem. They almost had a chrome effect by the 4th layer and the subtle colour shift looked beautiful when the light hit it in the right way:

I didn't get the best photos of this design but I'm definitely going to be doing it again, perhaps using a stamp that doesn't cover up the nail so much. 

The nautical design isn't the best and the lines are a little wonky but it's still cute and I think I'll try to improve it. Especially since I now have a stamping plate with ye olde map lines on it.

Here are the polishes I used:
- OPI // Sweet Memories (light pastel pink)
- W7 // Alanala (blue to lilac/pink colour shift)
- W7 // Breanna (pink to blue colour shift)
- Born Pretty // Stamping Polish #4 (white)
- Essie // Blanc (white)
- Born Pretty // Stamping Polish #284 (blue)
- Born Pretty // Stamping Polish #3 (black)
- Revlon // Colorstay Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat
- Born Pretty // Liquid Latex
- Born Pretty // Stamping Plate BP L051 & BP 33

First Try at Galaxy Nails + Welcome!

Hey guys, welcome to my blog. I say guys, no one is reading this lol. There are literally millions upon millions of blogs on the internet and thousands get created every day and I'm just another figure bolstering that statistic. But you know what? It keeps my mind occupied.

I'm currently on the last year of my degree and I need to keep the pace going but I know if I stop, sit down and start watching netflix, I won't get back up again for 3 days, so that's where this blog comes in.

I used to like nail polish, I hoarded it quite a bit but never actually used it. My cuticle care was abysmal as well, but then, several months ago, Safiya Nygaard followed a tutorial by someone called Simply Nailogical. I went and watched that video and now I have consumed almost everything Cristine has done (in the least stalkery way possible...) Her channel and blog though really inspired something in me because I'm now obsessed (and I mean obsessed) with doing my nails. In the space of 4 months, my polish collection has grown from 100 bottles to 200 and it's growing exponentially. 

So, here is my first nail art post; my very first attempt at galaxy nails. I love space. Star Trek: Enterprise is my favourite TV show and ever since I was 5 I wanted to go to space. So, expect a lot more space-themed nails in the future.

Anyway, this particular galaxy design was inspired by when I layered Nail Junkie on top of Starry Starry Night when swatching. I loved the depth of the colours and the holo glitter chunks on top of each other and decided to try and expand it.

I started out with a black base coat (just 1 layer) and topped it off with one layer of Starry Starry Night. This in itself looks great:

I then used a small brush to dab on Alanala & Breanna in a disc-like fashion (it didn't turn out the best but practice makes perfect!)

Afterwards, I added one layer of Nail Junkie to add some holo sparkle and depth before drawing on a few stars with a white polish.  Last but not least was the glossy top coat to make it all shine.

I don't have a proper macro lens yet (it's one of the few lenses I don't have, go figure), so I'm currently using a 50mm lens (on my Nikon) and cropping in and then using a 24mm lens on my Canon (which has one of the most awful UI's in the world). Hopefully in the new year though I'll have saved up enough to purchase an 85mm macro lens.

Thanks for clicking and joining me on my polish journey!

Polishes Used:
- Essie // Ridge Filling Base Coat
- Essie // Licorice (black)
- Essie // Starry Starry Night (new formula) (deep translucent blue with sparkles)
- W7 // Alanala (blue with lilac/lavender shift)
- W7 // Breanna (pink with blue shift)
- Sinful Colours // Nail Junkie (translucent blue/teal with holo sparkles)
- Essie // Blanc (white)
- Essie // Platinum Grade Top Coat