Coachella Sunset // Pink & Lilac Ombre with Palm Trees

Oh boy it's been a hot minute. Where does the time go, I've posted 3 times this month! I've been busy moving back to sunny blackpool and driving up and down the M6 as well as trying to wrap my head around a different programming language for work. I've been painting my nails but I just forgot to take photos or edit or function properly 🙈.

In other news I've been reunited with my full collection; just in time for autumn as I only had spring pastel shades with me. But, I will not let summer go that easy and I did this ombre and palm trees look. I actually wore this with a normal basecoat and for days I just kept staring at my hand (only my left hand...no one does nail art on the other hand).

And there's a video! I found a desk sized ring light that's big enough for my camera to film through so now I can film no matter what time it is!

There were so many looks I had planned this month but I'm almost settled so hopefully things will go back to normal next month. MoYou London just released a new tropical themed collection that of course I had to buy; it had layered monstera leaves. I'm living the dream right now painting my nails and drinking Aldi's £4.99 version of Bailey's Strawberries & Cream.

Polishes/Tools used:-

- OPI Infinite Shine // Brightening Primer

- Essie // Blanc (white)

- Deco Miami // Cake (pink)

- Ciaté Gelology // Spinning Teacup (lilac)

- Twinkled T // Vibin' (black)

- Barry M // Matte Top Coat
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Mix & Match 13

Botanical Foils // Flowers with Primark gold foil and green watercolour design

This turned out so much better than how I saw it in my head. I think it's because for the first time I actually practiced the design first on some swatch sticks and ironed out the kinks. I need to do that more often instead of just ploughing on ahead.

When Primark recently re-opened I went in and spent a lot more than I should've but I just couldn't help myself. They also had a shiny load of new makeup that obviously I had to buy. Especially these cute jars of foil flakes. I think they're supposed to be used as eyeshadows and on your face but I immediately knew that these pressed flakes would be perfect for nail art looks.

They have them in bronze and gold and they're so much easier to use than foil sheets and £3. These pots are gonna last me years. I used an eyeshadow applicator to pick some up and then dabbed it on my nail. If you apply it on top of a dried glossy top coat it sticks but it also moves so you can re-position it how you like then seal it in with another layer of top coat.

For this look I also mixed some of Hope with acetone to create the watercolour effect. I did trial some of the blooming polishes I have from Nicole Diary but I didn't have a green so had to mix blue and yellow and it just looked muddy.

Polishes/Tools used:-
- Ciaté // White Heat
- Kure Bazaar // Hope
- Twinkled T // Vibin'
- Primark PS // Golden Foil Flakes
- MoYou London Stamping Plates // Botanical 07
- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

STAMPING PLATES: MoYou London // Tutti Frutti Collection

It's new plate time! The summer is always the worst because summer plates are the best with their monstera leaves and banana leaves and palm leaves....ok I just love leaf prints. MoYou's new summer collection was a cute set of fruit themed plates but the one that caught my eye the most was plate 6; a beautiful selection of different tile prints that can be layered. It's literally one of my dream plates (the ultimate is a layering plate just for monstera).

Here are the 6 plates they had on offer:

I ended up buying 01, 04 and 06. 01 is super cute; I just love those incredibly detailed images. 04 has some great negative space designs and 06 obviously is the best because now I can do all the bathroom tile nails.

I want to start off by saying, MoYou London plates are great. Their stamping polishes on the other hand are absolute garbage. The amount of times I had to re-do the design above and then I only took photos of the thumb because the others were horrendous. I just could not get a clean stamp using their polishes. I had to revert to Born Pretty and Twinkled T polishes which are way cheaper. I have to stop buying MoYou polishes.

I also ended up doing this look the other day but the base turned out a bit too dark or my liking.

This is also my first post back after a while; things have been a little hectic the past two weeks! I was trying to stick to a new schedule of 3 posts a week but I've decided to permanently move back to Blackpool. I've had to move things around and I bought 2 new desks and a ring light. I can now properly film nail art videos; the only thing stopping me is me. I'm very happy to back home with friends and family and the sea :) All I have to do now is haul my 1000+ nail polish collection back up the M6 😂

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