Galaxy nails

This manicure is a bit like cheating. In one of my previous posts, one of the commenter said my nails looked like galaxy. I thought, what a brilliant idea! The next day I took out my supplies and added some extras to make my nails look like proper space.

Galaxy nails with Revlon Cobalt, Barielle Jillian's Jammin', OPI Unfor-Greta-Blye Blue,Zoya Aurora, No7 Galaxy and H&M Jo Is In The House.

Polishes I used:

• Misa I Will Survive - black crème background.
• Revlon Cobalt, Barielle Jillian's Jammin' and OPI Unfor-Greta-Blye Blue for the blue elements.
• Zoya Aurora and No7 Galaxy for the purple and holo shimmer.
• H&M Jo Is In The House for the coarse holo glitter.

Galaxy nails - sparkle!

I simply sponged dabs of the purples onto my previous blue mani, and then added tiny dots of the coarse holographic glitter with a small dotting tool. I was considering adding some white dots for extra stars, but in the end I prefer the less obvious holographic particle effect.

Galaxy nails - all photos in natural daylight, and cloudy skies.

A day later, I mattified it with Orly Matte Top coat. I love how the purple pops in this satin finish.

Galaxy nails with Orly Matte Top.

Thanks for looking!

January Polish Party - Blue

I just joined in a great twitter group that does a a monthly themed polish challenge - The Polish Party. The theme for January is blue, which means you're getting a second blue mani this week!


Since my last design was very light, I decided to go with a darker colour palette for a change. In this manicure I used:

• Misa I Will Survive  - black crème base
• OPI Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue - a blackened blue shimmer
• Barielle Jillian's Jammin' - a blue-purple duochrome shimmer in a green jelly base
• Revlon Cobalt - a cobalt blue shimmer

 

Sponged mani - OPI Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue, Barielle Jillian's Jammin and Revlon Cobalt over Misa I Will Survive.

I started with an easy one coat of Misa, and then sponged random blotches of the three blue shimmers with a tiny cosmetic sponge.The effect is fairly subtle, and next time I might try out a more varied colour palette - but I really like how it looks.

The colour shift from blue to purple or green, courtesy of Barielle Jillian's Jammin.

I'm looking forward to the next month's theme!

A blue skittle

The blog name suggest a plethora of blue nail polish waiting to happen, and seeing that my first post was nowhere near that end of the colour spectrum, I felt like I had to ovecompensate. Hence, 4 blue nail polishes! Technicaly, 5 but my thumb had a serious nail break and I'm not showing it to anyone.

Today I'm wearing a pale blue, wintery skittle with 4 different brands of crème polishes.

Wintery skittle manicure, with a Tiger 62 bottle.

 

From left to right you can see:

• Color Club Evolution (part of the Kaleidoscope collection)
• Nails Inc York Street
• Tiger Color Cosmetic in 62
• Barry M Cyan

Skittle with Color Club Evolution, Nails Inc York Street, Tiger 62 and BarryM Cyan, all with a coat of Seche Vite on top.

All the polishes required 2 coats, although if I weren't taking any photographs, I would have probably left Barry M Cyan with one coat. It's that perfect.

Color Club Evolution is a very pretty, slightly warm toned, pale powdery blue. It's also very hard to apply - it's gloopy and hard to steer. Good thing it cleans up easily.

Nails Inc York Street is slightly less saturated, and slightly cooler toned than Evolution. I had a very hard time capturing the subtle difference between these two, and I would say that you don't need them both. York Street applies much better, even with the mini brush. I got this colour for my birthday, and I had to use it!

Tiger Color Cosmetic in 62 is the budget brand. Tiger store is like a cheap Ikea, and we have one in Edinburgh St James shopping centre. They have a lot of Scandinavian named items, and some cosmetics to boot. The nail polish selection has around 20 shades, and they are all £1 for 11ml. What do you get for this price? The brush is actually very nice - flattened and easy to handle. The polish itself has a very weird smell, not like anything I've encountered before, and decidedly unpleasant. It covered in two coats, with the first one being very patchy, and the second one offering full coverage. It's not self-leveling at all, so it requires careful application. Finally, the drying time for this one is very long. Even with a coat of Seche it takes a while to be budge-proof. The colour itself is lovely - a more saturated and bright cousin of the previous two, but again, the difference is subtle. If you're looking for a cheap light blue, there are worse choices to make.

Finally, BarryM Cyan - intense medium blue, saturated and glossy on its own. It stands out as the darkest and most vivid of these, but I ran out of really pale blue colours to show, and I thought it would be an easy comparison point for the others. I am very impressed with this polish - it goes on like a dream and with careful application can cover in one coat.

My rightly unseen thumb is sporting a coat of Orly Snowflake, which is a purple-toned light blue, pretty much a cornflower shade.

Birthday nail art

It was my birthday last week, and today is the party! I am a geeky person (as the blog title will attest), and the party has a suitable video game theme. I will be dressing up as a splicer from the Bioshock game, and I wanted my nails to be suitably dark, bloody and shiny with the unholy powers of ADAM.

I also just received my birthday order of nail polish from the amazing Nail and Beauty Link, and I had just the colours I needed. I have to digress here to tell you about the store - the prices listed without VAT are confusing, and you need an account to see the prices for some of the polishes, but their customer service is ace and the shipping super speedy. Most importantly, the prices are low.

In the end, I went with a glitter gradient of Zoya Chyna over Misa I Will Survive, generously topped with Seche Vite, since for this manicure I prefer my red to be fresh and sparkly.

Zoya Chyna over Misa I Will Survive.

This is the first time I've used Zoya, and I must say I am super impressed. The insane sparkle, the excellent consistency and the great brush make for a top quality polish, even if I went a bit overboard with the layering and ended up with slightly lumpy tips. I can't wait to wear it on its own, with the sand texture intact.

Below is a shot of Misa I Will Survive over OPI Nail Envy. It's an amazing black creme, which covers in one easy coat and is a pleasure to apply.

Misa I Will Survive, natural daylight.

I got another two Misa polishes with my order, and I am really looking forward to trying them out.

Newbie nail blog

Yes, it's another newbie nail blog.

There are hundreds of those, and dozens of professional blogs as well - so what am I doing here, trying to add another blurry image of my claws to the internet?

I guess I just want to document what has become my hobby, and which started with a bottle of cheap blue nail polish in late 2012. A year later I own 260 bottles of polish. I am trying to learn new nail art techniques - and what better way to keep myself motivated and connected than have a blog about it?

What can you expect here? I am based in the UK, so this already sets a limit on the types of polish I will be showcasing. I love the posh, pricey varnish like everyone else, but I also have a substantial stash of cheap drug-store or discount store polishes that are rarely swatched at all. So I will be chronicling my nail art, and my adventures with what I find in Poundland or B&M. Hopefully, it's a niche I can fit into!