Claire's - Pink Splatter

Hello!

Today I'm going to show off a polish I bought over the weekend. I knew that Claire's Accessories had some really good, on-trend polishes, including neons, unusual-shaped glitter, crackle, leather effect etc. But I'd not seen this one before. I loved how it looked quite 'indie like' - it's not often you find a polish on the high street that looks like this (except Barry M's sequin effect fails!) so I picked it up immediately. It cost £3.50 and is called Sprinkles. There was a similar one that was more of a peach shade, with a slightly different selection of glitters. I've just had a browse of their website, and apparently there's a third one, pale blue, that I didn't see in store. You can check out the listing on their website for the pink one here.

Sprinkles is a barbie-pink jelly base with big glitter hexes in blue, yellow and green and a scattering of green and pale (not sure if they're a colour!?) smaller glitter. It's so pretty, and so unusual!

I first tested it out on one nail, and found the pink base to be very jelly-like and see through. Despite this, you had to apply quite a thick coat for full coverage of the nail, so I didn't fancy applying 2-3 layers of this- I thought it might end up looking a bit gloopy. Instead, I decided to apply it over Kiss Chase, one of my Ciate Minis, which I thought was a similar shade. I applied two coats of Kiss Chase, and one coat of Sprinkles over the top, with a little bit of glitter placement needed to stop them bunching together. I finished off with a topcoat of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri.

I'd like to try it over black or white, to try and bring out the smaller glitters - it's hard to see them against such a bright base. I do love how pink they look though - like bubblegum!

Sorry about these pics, they're not the best - my nails look a bit patchy in some due to the base colour being brighter/stronger than the gelly shade of the Claire's polish. It's not noticeable in real life though! They also look much brighter and neon in real life - these pics are a little washed out :-(

I really like this polish, it's a lovely bright shade for spring/summer and reminds me of holidays and festivals! I'm really impressed with Claire's for bringing out this kind of polish, and I'd be interested to try some more of their more 'on trend' ones, including the peach version of this one, the neon glitter and some of the paler, chunky glitters like this one - I will have to wait until there's a sale or a 3-for-2 offer or something! 

Speckled Egg Gradient

Hello! Here are my nails today. Last week, I was lucky enough to win the full set of Speckled Egg polishes which are a new release from Models Own. As soon as I saw them I knew I'd have to treat myself to at least one to try, but I would never have bought all 5 as I couldn't justify the cost, so to win them all was amazing! <3 I won them through a twitter giveaway - they have lots there, and on Facebook and Instagram too so if you don't already follow them, you should!

As I mentioned, there are five shades in the collection which I reckon most of you have already seen! There's Goose (yellow) Dove (pink) and Swan (purple), as well as Duck (blue) and Magpie (green) that I have used today. They're so perfect for spring, and Easter! 

For this manicure, I first painted my nails with the green shade, which took three coats to get fully opaque. It's good because the multiple coats build up the 'depth' of the polish - I love how some of the speckles are partially hidden beneath the top layer! I then took the blue shade and dabbed it onto the mids-to-tips of my nails. I added a second coat once this was dry to just my tips, to add to the gradient effect. I finished off with a topcoat of Gelous to smooth it all out. 

I like how these have turned out - the gradient is quite subtle, but I like how the similarity of the two colours mean they blend really well! Love these polishes, and I'll definitely be using the other three soon :-)

£2 Speckle Gradient

Hello!

As you've probably seen in an earlier post, I got a handful of polishes from Claire's Accessories a few days ago due to them being £1 each! I pondered for ages over which to pick up, but as soon as I saw these two I had to have them. There was a blue as well, but it was similar to a speckle polish I already have. 

On the receipt they're just called Pink Speckle and Grey Speckle, even though I think the grey one is more brown. I was desperate to try them out together, so came up with this simple gradient. Both the colours are so pretty, and so perfect for spring/summer. I especially love the grey/brown shade. (apologies about my gross dry skin, I definitely need to make more time to moisturise! I have in the 2nd pic but not in the first...)

Lac Attack - Beauxbatons Academy

I acquired this polish during my week away from my fab friend Naileymabob. She raves about these polishes, and though I don't know much about them I've always admired the beautiful glittery combinations in them when she's posted swatches and reviews on her blog. I especially liked this one, and luckily she had a spare and we could do some negotiation!

Beauxbatons Academy is a beautiful mixture of white, blue and yellow glitter pieces of differing sizes in a whitish base. It looks gorgeous on! As with most glitters, it wasn't the easiest to take off, but I still love it. It makes up for the rubbishness of the white Barry M sequin effect.

In the pic I've just applied three thin coats to a bare nail. On my thumb, I tried it over pink - I think I'll experiment more with colours underneath next time I wear it!


Now I have to decide what to do with my nails today. I suddenly have about 6 polishes I want to try out, aaahh!

Week 14 - Inspired by Easter

Here are my Easter nails! They were inspired by this gorgeous mani. I didn't have much time to work on this, or I would have played with large and small speckles on the nail like Claire has done in the above link. When I saw she'd used w7s Salt N Pepper in a Jelly Sandwich, I knew I could try it cos I actually own that polish! I'd not thought of using it that way to create mini-egg nails, but I was definitely inspired. 

As well as w7's speckle polish, I used the following colours - the same ones I used in my bunny mani last week. I used one coat of each, then a thin coat of the speckle, then 1/2 coats on top of the pastel colour again, depending on the coverage of each polish.

I really liked the outcome, even though it was a bit rushed. I kept these nails on for all of Easter-day. When I got home from having a little party at my mum's, I had some free time so decided to try a gradient over the top of each nail. I wish I hadn't done it cos now it looks like way too much stuff going on, and also some of the colours don't really show up on top of the others. Here are some pics anyway, invaded by easter chicks...