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Posts tagged Turquoise
Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paint in Greenberry
12
4 years
by Naomi in Nails
Last week Barry M launched four more Gelly Nail Paint shades as part of their Spring collection – Lychee (nude), Dragon Fruit (pink), Greenberry (green) and Papaya (orange). When I saw the new colours advertised on their Facebook page I instantly fell in love with Greenberry, and since I’d never tried a Gelly before I made a special trip into town to pick this up not long after the launch. Barry M’s Gellies are supposed to have a gel effect finish which is highly glossy. I find Barry M’s standard Nail Paints are already very shiny, so I couldn’t wait to put the Gelly to the test to see whether it lives up to its name.
Barry M’s Gelly varnish has a thick but creamy consistency, which applies extremely smoothly with no streakiness. However, if you have too much varnish on the brush it can apply a bit too thickly, so its best to apply as thin a coat as possible and build up from there. I made the mistake of applying fairly thick coats at first so the coverage was instantly completely opaque, but I applied a thinner second coat over the top for good measure. As with all Barry M Nail Paints, the Gelly dries to the touch rather quickly. I put this on not long before I went to bed, but I didn’t wake up with fabric imprints on my nails, which is always a good sign with me!
Greenberry is an extremely beautiful greeny turquoise shade, and is delicately bright. It’s almost a pastel neon if that makes sense! It has a creme finish, and of course, an intense shine which you can almost see your reflection in. In my experience, it’s quite rare for a creme varnish to have such a shiny appearance, so it definitely lives up to its name. It doesn’t even need a top coat!
This Nail Paint lasts really well too. I first applied Greenberry on Sunday, without a top coat, and didn’t remove it until yesterday, and after four days of wear chipping was minimal. There were a few nicks at the ends of my nails on my right hand where I caught them on the zip of my bag, but other than that the varnish still looked as bright, shiny and smooth as it did when I first applied it – just like a gel manicure!
Overall, I am suitably impressed with Barry M’s Gelly Nail Paint as it looks great and lasts long, and to top it off Greenberry is a gorgeous colour. The Gellies cost £3.99 each in Boots and Superdrug, which is £1.00 more than most Barry M’s varnishes, but its well worth it for that extra shine and staying power.
Have you ever tried a Barry M Gelly? What did you think?
Naomi x
Ciate Mini Mani Month Round-Up: Part 3
6Hi everyone,
First off, I would like to wish my sister, Freya, a very Happy Birthday! Today she turns 21, an important age, but she’ll still always be my baby sister, wanting all my things. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FREYA!!
Now, down to business… Today I opened the door of Day 18 on my Ciate Mini Mani Month advent calendar, which means it’s time for another weekly round-up! This post will feature Day 13 up to Day 18, and I have swatches of all but one of the Paint Pots this time. I must admit, my feelings were mixed this week. There were a couple that I really liked, and one or two that I wasn’t keen on at all, but you can’t win them all as they say!
Day 13 – Glass Slipper and Day 14 – Speed Dial
On Day 13 I opened the door to Glass Slipper, a lovely blue glitter polish, and the first of the calendar’s three exclusive shades. The glitter is very fine and beautiful, and doesn’t feel too rough in texture, but it isn’t really dense enough to wear on its own (unless you’re willing to apply 3+ coats). It works perfectly as a top coat however, and is surprisingly easy to remove for a glitter.
Speed Dial is an unusual shade – it looks bright orange in the bottle, but I found it applies somewhere between a red and an orange. It is more orange in real life than it looks in the photo above though. I just can’t quite decide whether I like it or not! It definitely doesn’t look that good with Glass Slipper over the top, but with the right outfit I can see it working. Not one of my favourites, but not bad. It applied evenly and has a creamy formula at least!
Day 15 – Headliner
Headliner is my absolute favourite this week… I seem to have a thing for blues at the minute! It is a dark turquoise blue shade with a stunning creme finish and I love it! As you’d expect, the formula is great and, quite impressively, it only takes one coat to achieve a completely opaque finish (the photo above show two coats, however). Headliner got me a lot of compliments when I wore it, and without a doubt I’ll be wearing this one a lot!
Day 16 – Big Yellow Taxi
Ick, I’m not liking Big Yellow Taxi. I initially thought this looked okay as it appeared quite a creamy banana yellow in the bottle, but when I applied it I was soon disappointed. It has a really strange gloopy formula, so it went on very streaky, and no number of coats seemed to be able to even the finish out. The yellow shade is slightly too bright, and in all honestly it looks like tippex coloured in with yellow highlighter pen – not pretty! On the plus side, it doesn’t leave any stains behind at all. I don’t think I have the skin tone to pull this off, but it would probably look great against darker skin… I may use it for Batman nail art though!
Day 17 – Power Dressing
I haven’t tried Power Dressing yet so I can’t comment much on the formula and colour, but in the bottle it looks like a classic deep navy blue, and I imagine it will have a lovely shiny finish. I’m looking forward to using this!
Day 18 – Candy Shop Caviar Pearls
Candy Shop is the third out of four bottles of Caviar Pearls in the calendar, and so far they are my favourite. The beads are very small and coloured in three shades – turquoise blue, pink and orange. As with the other pearls that I have tried, these are very easy to apply (just pour over a wet nail, press down, and leave to set for 15 minutes), and look really striking against a bright varnish. The purple shade I chose to pair the pearls with is actually Cabaret, one of the shades I didn’t swatch in Part 1, so now you can see what it looks like.
So there you go, a mixed bag of mostly brights this week. Which is your favourite? Please vote below! Check back for Part 4 next Monday, on Christmas Eve, and if you want to see the previous shades in the Ciate Mini Mani Month, they are swatched in my Part 1 and Part 2 posts.
Naomi x
NEW MUA Gel Eyeliner in ‘Tribe’
22
5 years
by Naomi in Eyes
Last week, my favourite budget beauty brand – MUA – added various new items of bargain make up to their already impressive range, including Every Lash mascara, the Going For Gold palette and four gel eyeliners. I am a fan of MUA on Facebook and they’re very good at updating their fans about offers and new releases, so I always know in advance when something exciting is going to happen. So, on launch day, I rushed off to Superdrug to pick up this new Gel Eyeliner in the very vibrant shade of ‘Tribe’. I had been after a bluey gel eyeliner for a while so I was extremely pleased when MUA revealed this shade!
The eyeliner comes in a little pot with a brush which clicks into the lid. When I first opened the product I was wowed by how stunning the colour is. The top image of the gel doesn’t really show the true shade, but the bottom one does… It’s a gorgeous turquoise colour with a slight shimmer to it – just what I was after 
I’ll admit, I didn’t have very high expectations of the brush as every other free brush I’ve had with gel liners have been, quite frankly, rubbish. However, I should know by now not to judge MUA by the standards of other budget companies as they really are a cut above the rest, and I will go as far to say that their gel eyeliner brush is the best that I own. The bristles are very soft but they keep their shape, and since this product is so creamy, it glides on like a dream!
The creaminess of the gel and the shape of the brush make it very easy to create a smooth, neat line above the top lashline. The brush is narrow as well so you can easily draw delicate flicks on the outer corners without any mess. The product dries quickly too, so you can build up layers of colour in no time for a bolder, brighter look. Here is how I wore ‘Tribe’ yesterday. I usually try to steer clear of blue eye make up as my eyes are blue and colour matching can make them look grey, but I don’t think this looks too bad.
I can safely say that MUA’s Gel Eyeliner is also extremely long lasting. e.l.f.’s gel liner often needs reapplying after a few hours to keep it looking solid, as does Avon’s, but this one lasted a good 14 hours without smudging or losing its boldness. I didn’t reapply it once throughout the whole day, and it looked exactly the same when I took it off as it did when I put it on – AMAZING. You’d expect it to be difficult to remove after lasting so long without budging, but it really isn’t – it comes off as easy as anything with a bit of eye make up remover.
All in all, I am SO impressed with this product and I want to collect the whole range eventually. I use black gel eyeliner more often than any other colour so I think that will be next on my list, and it will most likely replace the black gel liner that I already use! Each gel eyeliner in this range costs just £3 from Superdrug, which is an absolute bargain. I hardly made a dent in the product after swatching and applying this and I can tell it will last for ages. I really can’t recommend this highly enough! I can’t wait to combine it with other colours to create exciting new looks.
Naomi x
*This product was purchased with my own money and this is an honest review. I am in no way affiliated with MUA or Superdrug*
Summer Sale Clothes Shopping Haul
5Hi all!
Today I decided to go clothes shopping for the first time in a long time. The summer sales have been on for a while now so I wasn’t expecting to find anything amazing, but I did manage to get a few pieces that I really love! I didn’t come home with a lot, but that just means I can buy more next time 😉 In fact, despite going in quite a few shops, I only bought things from two (H&M and Primark). Anyway, here is what I bought – apologies for the rubbish pictures…
Strawberry Print Dress from H&M. Was £12.99, bought for £5.
Floral Bodycon Dress from H&M. Was £12.99, bought for £7.
Purple and Mustard Boob Tube from Primark. Was £3, bought for £1.
Dark Purple Skinny Jeans with Silver Belt from Primark. £11.
Turquoise Skinny Jeans with Gold Belt from Primark. £11.
In total, this haul cost £35, saving me about £16 which isn’t bad. Hopefully I’ll be going back for more in the week when the shops are less busy. What have you bought in the summer sales so far?
Naomi x
NOTD: Models Own ‘Disco Mix’
15
5 years
by Naomi in Nails
I have been lusting after this Models Own nail polish shade since my birthday in February, and yesterday (after a very busy day) I decided that I deserved a treat, so I nipped into Boots and bought ‘Disco Mix’ for £5! I was so excited that I finally had it that I applied it as soon as I got home, and I wasn’t disappointed.
I have many Models Own nail polishes, but this is my first glitter polish by the brand. I have lots of glitter polishes by other brands though and, to be honest, most of them don’t give great coverage and are best layered over coloured polish. However, I applied ‘Disco Mix’ over a clear base coat and after three layers the coverage was surprisingly opaque! It has a nice consistency and applies smoothly like most Models Own polishes, despite the glitter. I added a single layer of Models Own top coat on top and it seemed to sink in between the glitter, making the coverage sturdier, but also leaving the nail surface feeling slightly gritty rather than smooth, but that’s to be expected with glitter.
The absolute best thing about this nail polish is the colour. My favourite colours are purple, turquoise and pink, and ‘Disco Mix’ combines turquoise and pink glitter to create a polish which looks purple at a distance. The glitter colours are SO bright and bold – I’ve already had several comments on how good my nails look and I’ve only been wearing it for a day! I can’t get enough of how pretty this is – I keep staring at my nails from all different angles haha.
I can’t really comment on the lasting power as I’ve not had it on for long enough, but there is already a little bit of wear at the tips – it’s hardly noticeable though, and other than that there has been no chipping or peeling so far. Looks promising! If other Models Own nail polishes are anything to go by, I imagine this will stay on for a good while (I’ll let you know!)
What do you think? Isn’t it pretty? I am very glad I finally invested in this and it is worth the fiver I paid. A definite repurchase once it runs out!
Naomi x
