Spring 2015 Nail Picks | BEAUTY

Hello!

"the colours I picked haven't 'gone-all-out', but there's a nice range that I think truly represents me"

It feels like forever since we've bought out the pastels, and now the time has come. The first day of Spring has sprung (ha!) so you can feel free to whip out those shades you put away about 6 months ago. Having said that, it is totally fine to wear whatever shade you want to in the autumn and winter - so if you were rocking pastels in the mist of November, GO YOU! :)

"the grey may still dominate"

Although it's Spring, the weather hasn't been wanting to change too much in London. Well, it did for about 3 days, and then went back to grey clouds. Maybe it's the weather that doesn't let the little nail-colour freak inside of me not want to pick out all the pastel shades, or maybe I'm just saving them for the summer. Either way, the colours I picked haven't 'gone-all-out', but there's a nice range that I think truly represents me.

From Left to Right:
Barry M Watermelon
Barry M Kiwi
Barry M Limited Edition 030
Barry M Cappuccino 
Barry M Aqua Glitter
Ciaté Pocket Money

"choosing the colours that make you feel comfortable"

As you can tell, there's a lot of Barry M going on here! With great formulas, an ever-growing shade range and their incredible price - where can one go wrong?

In the end, it's all about choosing the colours that make you feel comfortable. To me, these are the ones. I'll leave them lined up on the shelf near my nail polish box, so I can just pick and go! Having still being obsessed with grey's, I have a feeling it may be the most used this season, but I shall keep you updated!

"It feels like forever since we've bought out the pastels, and now the time has come."

As most of the colours on the runways for SS15 were bare/nude nails, it'd be wrong not to include Ciaté Pocket Money. Nonetheless, the grey may still dominate for me. It's not ALL about the trends now, is it?! :D

Tell me, what shade do you think will be on your nails a lot this Spring? 

Manicure Monday: Mint Sparkles

Hello!

"you've basically seen everything before - yet this time, it's completely different."

If you were ANYWHERE in the last few weeks, you would have read this. If you read that, you would recognise something on here today. You may recognise another something if you saw this post and hence meaning you've basically seen everything before - yet this time, it's completely different.

"can we agree that the overall finish is pretty?"

Well, after all that, can we agree that the overall finish is pretty? At first, the mint shade, called Kiwi, was thought to be uber lovely by itself as a perfect summer shade but when choosing a colour to go with my outfit I wore to a wedding last week (can you tell with the henna tattoo?!?!), this one was a perfect match and to make it more wedding-y, I added some sparkle! 

Overall, that's my mani Monday - what's yours? 

Nude at the Beach - ft. Ciate | Mani Monday

Hello!

Incase you didn't read the last two words of the title, it is a manicure monday - and just FYI I wasn't nude at the beach! :)

"The accent nail is a little added bonus bling"

I know this combination may not be your cup of tea, I was originally going for an orange and blue, but found I don't own the right orange so the next best was the nude - and I love it.

"I now can say it's my favourite nude"

Having owned the Ciate polish for a while now, I had only worn it once - this being the second time and I now can say it's my favourite nude. The accent nail is a little added bonus bling, creating correlations to the seaside - hence the idea of 'Nude at the Beach'!

"the next best was the nude - and I love it"

The perfect summer mani IMO, and I must say, the packing for Ciate is so gorgeous!

Have you tried Ciate, if so what's your favourite shade? 

Healthy Nails... it starts with a File.

Hello!

Happy Hump Day! With the trendy nail shades for this season being lovely, wouldn't it feel better to have nice, healthy nails to show them off in? Well, after trying out this product, you're 1 step closer - believe me!

I used to use the standard emery boards with a cute pink and yellow stripy pattern, crossing the board from one side to the other on my nails again and again until I get a nice shape. It did it's job but Crystal Nail files seem to do it better!

Excuse my cuticles at the moment, they're horrendous! Stress has a big impact on me, with brittle nails and spots all over my face, exams are not doing me much good right now! For a quick fix, I just shaped up my nails with the Healthy Nails file and it was so much quicker than the emery board! Literally! And the end result was a lot cleaner.

The Crystal Nail file I got was by Healthy Nails and came with a little case! It's so much better to keep in your bag, and is neat and tidy (plus the pointy end won't hurt you). 

The pointy end may be a bit dangerous if you leave the file laying around but it does come in handy reaching the corners of your nail. This is perfect to achieve the trendy pointed nails out right now!

You can buy this one from Amazon and check out their website here.
Oh, and there's a fun little video created about the History of Nail Files, FYI:


Have you tried a Crystal Nail File yet? 

Mani Monday: Denim Blue

Hello!

After about 2 months, yes you read that right - 2 MONTHS, of having bare nails, I thought it was about time to paint them again. I had gotten used to seeing them bare, but couldn't bare it any longer! (see what I did there?! haha)

Being it Spring time, it's usually the time to whip out the denim. This, as well as the blue trend I mentioned in the last nail post, it was nice to take advantage.

I went with a blue from FCUK, and didn't realise how much I love nail polish!

What shade are you currently wearing, or are you bare like I was?!

Manicure Monday - Matte GunMetal

Hello! 

I love the look of freshly painted nails - it's a nice aspect to change as it is easy to do so and can make a difference! I swear I pick the colours of the polish depending on my mood!

Being a fan of the Matte Nail Polish trend, I again picked up the matte topcoat to paint my nails! I used Barry M 'Dusky Mauve'. I am in love with this polish. It is a Grey with Purple Shimmer.

Adding the Rimmel Matte Top Coat meant that the polish lost it's purple shimmer and is left with a gunmetal-y grey colour.

I've got to say I really like the way the matte topcoat turned out on this polish. It completely changed the look of it can I can't stop touching my nails. Others have mentioned how good it looks and feels (… yes people actually felt my nails!)...

Using the Matte Topcoat in the LAST Mani Monday was not as effective as it turned out this time. I am really pleased with it. Unfortunately last time my nails chipped quickly - having not enough experience with the Matte Topcoat, I'm not sure if it was that or another reason why the polish chipped so quickly, I'll keep you updated!

Are you in for the Matte Nails trend?

New Years Manicure Monday!

Hello!

Again with time flying by way to fast right now, there are a matter of hours before New Years Eve now - that means it's time for a Manicure Monday!!

So, I have been LOVING taupe right now and wanted to paint my nails that shade last week, yet due to Christmas I couldn't bring myself to NOT paint my nails red! Therefore, this means that New Years is going to be taupe!

Now, if you're anything like me, then New Years Eve is nothing without a bit of glitter - hence calling for an accent nail!

These shades are:
 Barry M Mushroom and Barry M Amethyst

What shade did you go for for New Years?!
 Oh, and I hope you have a fun and safe day, and will have a post up in 2014! Gosh, that's seems way weird to say! Oh my goodness, that rhymed! :O

Manicure Monday - Christmas Edition!

Hello!

Literally 2 days until Christmas Day!! Does it feel more festive-y now? I mean even on Saturday night did it feel like a normal weekend!

Anyway, so it being a Monday and having freshly painted nails obviously means it's time for a Manicure Monday! Taking advantage of the date, it had to be a Christmas-y one! I was debating on whether to write this post or not as I have written a similar one before! I had received so many compliments on that Mani, I thought I had to do it again…

So, I wasn't one for a legit nail art manicure this year, I'm more for the simple but glam ideology right now - therefore, red and gold glitter it was!

What is your Mani like for Christmas?

NOTD: Sparkles in the Dark

Hello!

Yet another NOTD is written on this blog, which is not long after my last one here. I had a (short) phase whereby I wasn't feeling very up for painting my nails but now I am more into it again! To be honest, I love wearing darker colours on my nails, and the winter means it is appropriate to do so, hereby bringing todays nail post!

I absolutely love the gold on black.

The gold Barry M topcoat looks amazing on many shades...

...and adds a bit of glamour!

What shade are you nailing at the moment?

Nail of the Day: Blue Bling Geometrics

Hello!

I come in peace... with a nail of the day post! (I don't know why I said that...) Anyway, so this time when I decided to paint my nails while catching up on Pretty Little Liars - which I am LOVING by the way - I found myself wanting to do some sort of nail art - talk about multi-tasking!

 I firstly decided on using the colour orange with a silver but went ahead with the turquoise and silver combination instead, and I'm so glad I did! I also found some blue rhinestones that I could use to bling up my nails. I usually go for an accent nail on my ring finger but wanted to try something different - so this time around I bling-ed out all of my nails, this way my pinkie and other nails don't feel left out!

 I love painting my nails while watching YouTube videos or a TV show as I find my hands don't fidget around much while the nails are drying, meaning less chance of smudging - don't you just hate it when you spend forever doing your nails and then you smudge it or get prints on the nail? After all that time and effort... gosh!

Anyway, I received quite a few compliments on the nails, even today while I was at the store the woman asked if I did them myself or got them done, to be honest I had forgotten I had done my nails like this and was surprised at the comment - it was obviously a nice comment so I wasn't disappointed!

The thing is, the look is so simple to achieve that literally no tools were required! I simply used the nail brush itself to create the triangles and then stuck the rhinestones on - actually to make the rhinestone step easier I used a steel nail file but could have surely used my hands for this.

So yes, a simple but nonetheless lovely look to try out this summer, you could mix and match the colour combination too! By the way, you may have noticed this nail look in my smoothies post, which was yummy by the way.

Alright, so let me know what you think and other simple nail art that you love!
xoxo,
BerryBloomXO

July's Top Nail Colour Picks

Hello!
I was browsing through the web to search for the 'ultimate' July Polish and I was faced with difficulty. On one hand there was the light, pale colours such as the milky, nearly-white, Pinks like this one:

And then completely on the opposite end of the spectrum are the deep, darker colours like this one:

Both of these kind of colours were spotted on celebrities, the lighter one being seen on Miranda Cosgrove and the blue on Aisha Tyler.

So, this means to say that there definitely isn't one set shade of colour for this month, like a coral or a mint that has previously been HUGE, so I went ahead and chose the top 3 colours I am likely to wear during this month!

So These are my Top Picks:
1. Hot, Candy Pinks
2. Orange-Red Shades
3. Pastel Shade, specifically Purple!

I LOVE PINK! Think of summer - what comes to mind? WATERMELONS! Watermelons are a lovely shade of pink that I love especially for July! (If you follow me on twitter, you might have seen the GIGANTIC watermelon we had in our Kitchen!) I feel pink is definitely a year round colour - I'm sure you girly girls would agree!

Red is a classic colour, it can be worn with your fav LBD* to give it a lovely pop - especially with the popular 1920's based films coming out recently, who wouldn't love that combination? Yet, sometimes I feel red is a little too much and to make it a little more fun and toned down for the Summer, I would go for the Orange-Red tone. It's a step aside from the CORAL colours that are pretty much always in for the summer, yet it's still trendy and nice for July.

Pastels are a MUST in Spring and Summer times, you see mints, corals, pastel blues and even the lilac. I went for the Lilac pastel shade because I like the look of it and it reminds me of Lavender. Hmmm... don't lavenders smell lovely? ;)

Anyway so those are my top 3 nail picks for July! I hope you enjoy and wait for another posts where I'll show you the next colour I decide to paint my nails for this month (HINT: It may be one of the above!) - take your guesses and leave me suggestions and YOUR FAVOURITE JULY POLISH!

Love you loads,
xoxo,
BerryBloomXO

*LBD = Little Black Dress

First photo from HERE
Second photo from HERE
3 Photos from: 1. 2. 3.

Nail of the Day: Summer, Christmas Blue?

Hello!
I'm back with a nail of the day post! Now that it's officially summer as of June 21st (Well, June 24th for me, which was my final exam and then the start of summer vacation!) I like to experiment with brighter colours that catch my eye when looking through my nail polish collection.

So, I was browsing through my collection and this colour caught my eye:

Maybe it was the bright lid that caught my attention or maybe the actual colour itself. It's a gorgeous blue colour with non-chunky glitter of gold and silver. It reminds me of the foil effect nail polishes too and I believe it was part of that line. This colour is a limited edition Barry M Nail Paint called 'Christmas Blue' (shade 247). What? Christmas Blue? You may be thinking that's silly of me to wear in the summer! However, to me, it looks more like a summery blue!

I guess it's a colour that could be used for both seasons but for me, it stood out for the summer, reminding me of the oceans and the glitter is just a fun touch! I don't really know, what do you think, is it more of a summer or winter colour?

*2 coats to achieve an opaque colour 

It is more of an icy blue, so I guess the idea of this being a winter shade comes from that, yet, for winter, I see myself wearing darker colours rather than light, so yes, in my opinion it's definitely more of a summer shade!

What do you think?

xoxo,
BerryBloomXO