PASTEL PAINTS FROM BARRY M

If there was one thing I had to say about Spring beauty, I would probably express my love for the pretty pastel nail polishes, but when routing through my collection, I noticed that I was lacking in a powder blue colour, and so I was straight to the Barry M counter after hearing about their new pastels in the Gelly Hi-Shine collection.

In Boots there was a buy one get one half price offer on, and I picked Huckleberry and Sugar Apple from the collection. There is also Rose Hip in the collection which is a pale pink, but they didn't have any left of those.

Huckleberry is literally my perfect powder blue shade, and is just what I was looking for. Something which was literally a slightly darker than off-white colour (you can barely see the swatch on the nail wheel), and this is that. As always with the Gelly Hi Shine Range, the formulation is incredible, thick and glossy which makes for the perfect speedy manicure.

Sugar Apple is a mint green, which a lot of people say is a good substitute for Essie Mint Candy Apple. This one looks like it'll be replacing my (rather stodgy, well loved) GOSH Miss Minty now, which I am very happy about as that one needed a replacement anyway.

I can tell that the two of these polishes will be ruling my collection in the upcoming months, so expect them to feature a few more times here...

THE SPRING POLISH PICKS

As Autumn and Winter leave us, and as Spring looks as if it is just around the corner, I have been ditching the vampy plums and reaching for the dainty pastels when it comes to polishes. There are definitely a few more types of colours I am looking to purchase, like pastel blues and pinks that are almost off whites - the L'Oreal new releases look promising. But, for now I have been enjoying using my current lineup.

An old favourite is the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Greenberry. If it was possible to have a pastel mint green, with a hint of neon about it, this would be it. The formula scores full marks from me too - glossy and opaque. Stunning.
Who can resist a bubblegum pink? I certainly can't and Ciaté Candyfloss is the one I am loving. There's something about this milky pink that stands out among the rest of my collection of polishes that makes me want to paint it on my nails every day.
Another offering from Ciaté is Chinchilla, a powdery pale blue which looks really nice on my skin tone. The formula of this one isn't quite as good as my other Ciaté polishes, but I still love it nonetheless.

One that I never stop banging on about is the Revlon Colourstay in Provence, a dusty, slightly grey pale lilac, which I slap on my nails if I can't decide what to wear - it's basically my go-to.
I don't really like how oranges look on my nails, but GOSH Peachy* is slightly more pastel and muted, so I feel like it is one of the only oranges I enjoy wearing. I'm not sure if this is still available anywhere, but if it is, I recommend picking it up.
Finally, what would this post be without a true mint. This is the Rimmel Salon Pro polish is Peppermint, and it is the perfect blue-mint which has a great thick formula and I seriously don't understand why I haven't purchased more from the line because they really to rule.

So, that's what my pointers have been loving, but leave your suggestions of what to get for when Spring hits hard so I have my fair share of pastel lacquers...

P.S - This is my 200th post! *applause*

MY PICKS FROM THE CIATÉ MINI MANI MONTH

I thought I had resisted the whole 'beauty advent calendar' thing, but when I went to the Clothes Show Live on the 9th, the Ciaté stand were selling off the Mini Mani Month for £10. Yep, a tenner. I couldn't resist, and now I think I have enabled an annual tradition for me... Oops.

24 mini polishes are included, ranging from caviar, glitter, sequin, pastels, brights, and dark colours, and I will be sharing my favourites of the bunch with you.

L-R: Dallas Dolly, Snowglobe, Twinkle Toes, Pink Caviar

Starting with the 'effect' ones, my favourites have to be the Sequin in Dallas Dolly, which is just full on festive, with a range of glitters in gold, red, and olive-green tones. Another I like, but am yet to try is the Glitter in Twinkle Toes, a holographic glitter, which would be messy, but I think would be worth it for a New Year's Eve accent nail. The caviar ones are still waiting for my seal of approval, I like the effect, but they didn't last long. One I do like is a topcoat, which is called Snow Globe full of iridescent flecks and flakes, almost a pastel version of Gosh Rainbow.

L-R: Sugar Plum, Pepperminty, Hoopla, Candy Floss, Chinchilla

The pastels basically owned it in this calendar, and they will be getting a lot of wear throughout spring. I am slightly obsessed with mint green, so Pepperminty got me very excited when I opened the door. Hoopla is such a cute colour. It is peachy, pinky and just incredible. I don't even know how to explain it, I just love it. Another one is Sugar Plum, which is a pastel, pale, lilac-purple colour, which adore. The other 2 pastels are also stunning, and go by the name of Chinchilla and Candy Floss.

L-R: Playdate, Hopscotch, Main Stage

Onto the brights, and there are only 3 I would class as all that 'bright'. The first is Hopscotch, which is a true orange, and believe it or not, I don't actually own any of those (I have an OPI, but it is slightly more red I believe), so this will be worn a lot in the summer. Another is Main Stage, which isn't even all that bright, but I included it in this section anyway. It is a nice medium-dark pink/fuchsia colour, and is Playdate which is a bright, slightly red pink, which is just so summery, and I want to slather it all on my nails now. 

L-R: Starlet, Tweed and Tails, Encore!, Boudoir

Onto the dark colours from the bunch. First up, is Starlet a duochrome bottle of magical-ness. You think it's purple, then it is slightly olive, then it is full on emerald - love. Boudoir is just a classic red, which suits me really well (sadly a rare occurrence for me and red polishes), and is just so classy. Tweed and Tails is something completely original in my collection, being what I would describe as a dusty khaki, and is so Autumnal. Finally, we have Encore! which is a slightly darkened and muted orange, which is another autumnal one, although you could definitely make it work all year round. 

It seems I've been bitten by the beauty advent calendar bug, but I guess we will have to wait another year to find out if I buy one..

THE ONE-DOT MANICURE

It would appear that it has gone a bit nail focus crazy on the blog recently, but I just had to share this with you all. I didn't think of this idea myself, I saw it on a DailyMix video where Lily Pebbles  demonstrated how a dot to each nail can make a difference to any nail colour.

I started with Revlon Colorstay Nail Colour in 'Provence' all over the nails, which is a dusty grey-lilac kind of colour, which I love. I prefer to use a pale colour for the base, and a darker one for the dots (black looks great), but you can do the reverse it you decide to, or even go one way on all the nails, and then the opposite on all the others - ooh, I know what I'm doing later. 

Then I took Revlon Top Speed in 'Black Star' on the bottom of a broken bobby pin, and simply did a dot on each nail in the centre at the bottom. Black star is a black polish with a hint of silver shimmer running through it, and so it looked a little softer, and complemented the lilac colour really well.

This is such an easy nail art design, and even the people who have had no experience whatsoever with nails can probably complete this too, and I think it is a new favourite of mine now.