Nimy Nails: glitter

Barry M's Four New Molten Metal Polishes

Today I have swatches of Barry M's four latest polishes in the Molten Metal collection. If you've read any of my previous swatch posts for the Molten Metal polishes, you'll know that it's one of my all-time favourite nail polish collections. So I'm always excited when Barry M releases new shades.

First is Pink Luxe, the polish has a pink jelly base and is packed full of gold glitter flakes. It is a really pretty shade, that is subtle and elegant - a great spring/summer shades. The lightest colour if the four, the polish would make a beautiful base for nail art designs.

I needed three coats of Pink Luxe. It looked opaque in person after just two, but my nail line was really visible in pictures, so I added a third and then it was fully opaque.

Next is Antique Gold, which has a burgundy/maroon jelly base, full of gold glitter - similar to Pink Luxe. The maroon/burgundy and gold combination makes for a perfect autumn polish shade, perfect this time of year. This, like Pink Luxe, needed three coats for me. But it was mostly me being fussy and you could probably get away with just two coats.

The next polish is Crystal Blue, which is my favourite of the four. If you're a regular reader of my blog posts then this won't come as a surprise to you. The polish just screams ocean/mermaid to me. The polish has a bright, vibrant blue jelly base, packed with green and gold glitter flakes. The combination of the base shade and glitter creates a stunning turquoise colour. The polish only needed two coats to be opaque. It's a perfect shade for the summer months and would definitely be a great polish to use for oceany themed designs.

The final polish is Celestial Silver, which has a grey/silver base with a purple duochrome effect. It's full of holographic silver flakes and also has slightly larger holo flakes scattered throughout it. The glittery density is less for this polish than the other three, the slightly different formula gives it a glossier finish and makes it the easiest of the three to remove.

I love all four of these polishes and I think they're great additions to the Molten Metal collection. I think that all four of the polishes are great for any time of year, but I could totally see each of these being best for a different season.

Pink Luxe - Spring

Crystal Blue - Summer

Antique Gold - Autumn

Celestial Silver - Winter

As with all of the Molten Metal polishes - and pretty much every glitter polish - they are a bit of a hassle to remove. I recommend a peel-off base coat - my favourite is Barry M's Peel It! Or a strong polish remover, made specifically for glitter polishes - like Essence's Strong & Clean, Extra Power nail polish remover.

These polishes each retail for £3.99 from Barry M or at Superdrug. In my opinion, they are definitely worth picking up, especially if you love the Molten Metal polishes like I do.

I can't wait to see what shades - if any - Barry M add to this collection in the future.

- N :)

September 12, 2018
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Born Pretty Chameleon Holographic Flakes // Swatch & Review + Demo Video

born pretty

Recently, I was sent these Chameleon Holographic Flakes from Born Pretty Store to try out. I got them in shade number 3, but there are 6 different colours to choose from on their store.

These flakes are so pretty, and when I opened the little gar they came in, I was completely mesmerised by the sparkly-ness.

So the Born Pretty Store website's instructions all include using gel polish and curing the base, but I don't use gel polishes, so I am used regular polishes. The instructions also described a couple different ways to use the flakes, being a mirror finish and a matte finish, the way I'm using them in the video and the swatches is the matte finish.

I knew from the get-go that these were going to be a nightmare to remove with polish remover, so I started out with a peel off base coat. I then painted my nails alternating black and white, because I wanted to test the difference in the flakes effects on dark vs light. I applied two coats of polish to each nail and then added a layer of fast drying top coat (which isn't really necessary)

The flakes come with a small eyeshadow brush to use in applying them. They are so simple to apply, I literally just scooped some flakes out of the pot with the brush and patted them onto my nail. The stuck pretty well to the nail, but I did find that I was being a little fussy with the placement of the flakes, as the brush did occasional pick up some of the flakes back off the nail. But they were super quick to apply even with my faffing around.

For the clean up, and this is the only thing that I hate about doing my nails, especially when glitters or powders are involved. I started by dusting off as much excessive as I could with a q tip in between coats. After finishing my nails I washed my hands with soap and water before taking the final swatch photos, and the excess did come of my hand pretty easily, but you may end up with some glitter on your clothes or the surface you have your hands on.

So I did one layer of the flakes and then after dusting them off, I did a second, I didn't apply any top coat between layers but you totally could to avoid moving any flakes from the previous layer. And finished off the nails with a glossy top coat.

I think the final result is absolutely stunning. The flakes are so pretty and reflect so many colours, which I think looks much better over darker polish than lighter polish, but it does have a nice subtler look over lighter polish.