Mani Monday: Barry M Crystal Rock Textured Nails!

 

Hi guys! Yes it's another Mani Monday, sorry not sorry! I got this Barry M Crystal Rock Textured Nail Paint from Priceline in a 40% off storewide sale and I'm just too excited to try it, so here we are. It was so hard to pick a colour, because they were all so pretty, but in the end I decided on Pink Tourmaline. Having a look at the Barry M website now, I'm thinking I should have picked up Amethyst, Emerald Green and Fluorite too lol!

So this textured finish means it will be an absolute bitch to remove, and if there's ever a time to apply a base coat, this would be it. However, I can't find my base, so I guess I'm royally fucked. The good news is at least you don't need a top coat. These paints are super glittery and meant to change as they dry. Pink Tourmaline applied really well, but was a bit thin after one coat, so I applied two. The rough texture finish means it would be more forgiving with smudges. I found that the paint can get a little gloopy/thick on the brush towards the end of an application, but this really wasn't a problem.

I will say that rough finish, non-shiny, colour-shift type polishes are a nightmare to photograph! I found it so hard to get good shots of both the bottle (especially since it also had gold font on the packaging) and my mani. The camera just doesn't pick up all the glittery shifty goodness. This was the best I could do.

I really love this look! The colour is so pretty and all the gold glittery particles as you move your nails are stunning. The non-smooth finish take a little getting used to, but I would definitely pick up more from the Crystal Rock collection from Barry M to try more colours.

I will now leave you with pics of my textured look nails. The last pic is of some of the Crystal Rock collection, taken from the Barry M website. Have a great week!

Credit: Barry M website

Mani Monday: Sally Hansen Mauve It

 

Hi guys! Hello to the start of a new month (I can't believe it's May aleady!) and another Mani Monday. This week I'm wearing Mauve It (213) from the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri range of polishes. How weird that up until now I've always thought it was Insta-Dry, only just noticing it is, in fact, Insta-Dri?!

Anyway I love this range because it's designed to dry very quickly, which is great if you're pushed for time or just can't be bothered spending long painting your nails. The bottle also features a flat, wide brush, making it much quicker and easier to cover the entire nail in polish in fewer strokes. I also like the smooth bottle design; the curved triangular shape fits really well in my hand for those mani shots!

I did a little bit of research and apparently Insta-Dri is formulated with a built in base and top coat for extended wear and full coverage, streak-free shine. I agree that this formula is impressive. Only one coat gives beautiful, smooth, even results. This is one of the nail polish ranges I reach for most often.

Mauve It is a really pretty pale pink shade that's flattering and easy to wear. It's kind of a pinky neutral/nude shade that's quite versatile. A classic colour! Also guys, side note - I have been super lucky with not really having a bad nail break in quite a while now. I hope I don't jinx it!

Mani Monday: Essie Island Hopping

 

Hi guys! I'm back with a quick Mani post today. I've gone off the glitters for now and have been wearing more neutral shades lately. I chose Island Hopping by Essie for an event I was going to, because I wanted a flattering, classic shade that would go with anything and look good in photos. This shade is a rich plum mauve that 'takes you anywhere you want to go. Villa today, spa tomorrow'. LOL how many of us are going from the villa to the spa I don't know... certainly not me! But anyway, it's a versatile shade, so it served its purpose and I like how it turned out.

Also, my nails are quite long at the moment, and I haven't had a major break in quite a while, so I'm happy with that, too. Fingers crossed I don't jinx myself haha.

Mani Monday: Frosty Cactus

 

Hi guys! I'm going to drop a #truthbomb and say I really wasn't feeling the blog last week. I wasn't motivated to write today's post and basically just opted for a manicure post because I can whip those up pretty quick. Blogging is one of my hobbies and it's meant to be fun for me. So I'll keep this one short and sweet and fingers crossed next week I'll be more excited about writing.

The shades I've chosen for this mani reflect my current mood: dark and kind of left of field but still sparkly 'cos I always like shiny things. I'm using Ghost Cactus from Julisa on most of my nails with my ring finger painted with Frosty from I Scream Nails as a feature nail. I had to do 3-4 coats of Frosty as it was way more see-through than I anticipated! I've applied two coats of Ghost Cactus.

Looking at the Julisa website now, my bottle must be quite old, because the current ones are completely redesigned and are no longer square. I like this fat, square bottle though. Ghost Cactus is a signature mermaid shade featuring a silvery blue opaque base with holographic glitter. To me it looks a bit green. I kind of wish it was more black. Still, magical!

Frosty from I Scream Nails is from one of their Christmas collections, and I'm guessing it's at least two years old as I can't find it on their website. I do tend to keep my polishes way longer than I should, so this makes sense. It's a silvery white shade with micro rainbow glitter as well as larger silver glitter pieces throughout.

Manicure: Bourjois 1 Seconde Gel in 07 Fuchsia

 

Hi guys! A quick look at my latest Mani today; it's shade 07 Fuchsia from Bourjois, a gorgeous quick drying gel texture nail polish. I actually surprised myself by trying a pale pink/white shade over Christmas, which is not my jam, although it did grow on me. I naturally gravitate towards bright colours, hot pinks, dark shades or reds so I'm proud of myself for stepping outside my comfort zone. Did you know that light coloured nails make your skin appear more tan? I didn't know this! Check out Essence Sugar Blush, from their gel nail colour range on my nails (pictured below).

Anyway, onto my current mani, Bourjois 07 Fuchsia. I am loving this! New year, new shade to shake things up, right? This is so bright and cheerful. A perfect way to start 2023 (although yes, we are already halfway through January lol). I did a massive nail polish declutter last year, so have a lot less shades to choose from, but still more than enough. It's really hard not to buy new nail polish! Click here to read about my huge nail polish declutter.

I used just one coat and didn't use a top coat because I can't currently locate it haha. I probably should buy a new one. Also when it appears this opaque after one coat I usually don't apply a second layer as my tendency to apply thick means the second coat will probably smudge and ruin the mani. I don't know how on earth people apply two coats and a top coat without it smudging! What do you think of this shade? Is it something you'd wear? 

Disclaimer: Essence Sugar Blush was PR gifted.

Essence Manicure: All-Time FavouRED

 

Hi guys! What is your go-to shade when it comes to nails? Personally I love dark red. There's just something cool, sexy and chic about deep red, and it makes me feel good. It's what I vibe with and the colour I reach for the most.

Recently I was sent a box of Essence cosmetics for review, so I just had to try the gel nail colour in All-Time FavouRED first. It's a stunning shade and it's wearing really well. It was easy to apply thanks to the broad double-touch brush and was opaque on me after just one coat. I love how it looks almost black, but you can see that it's actually dark red.

Other benefits are that it dries down really fast and being a gel polish is really long lasting. I'm loving that it's highly pigmented because a lot of the time I cannot be bothered with a second coat. Also, the finish is nice and shiny! Essence polishes have a vegan, clean beauty formula with a short list of ingredients.

I've left the best news 'til last. Essence nail polishes retail for only $4 each. What an absolute bargain for a long lasting gel polish! You can find them in Priceline and Target in Australia.

Don't miss a post!

Like Max The Unicorn on Facebook

Follow my beauty Instagram @shinyglitterbug

Follow my food Instagram @imhungrymax

Follow me on BlogLovin'

Follow me on Twitter @ShinyGlitterBug

Subscribe via email (right sidebar)

Disclaimer: Product was gifted for trial/review. All opinions are my own.

Winter Rainbow Mani!

 

Hi guys! August is nearly done which signals the end of Winter here in Australia. Which got me thinking, have I even done a Winter-themed mani yet this year? I don't think so! So before we step into Spring, I present to you my Winter Rainbow manicure. I think I've done something like this before, but I've since had a massive nailpolish de-clutter, so I had far less colours to choose from this time. Still, I hope you like it!

Products Used:

~ Essie  'Jump in my Jumpsuit' (pinkie finger)
~ Rimmel 60 Seconds 'Bluetiful' (ring finger)
~ Zoya 'Yara' (middle finger)
~ Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant '300' (pointer finger)
~ Bourjois 1 Seconde Gel '12' (thumb)

I really love how this turned out! I would've liked to include a burnt orange colour but I must have thrown anything resembling this out in my de-clutter. 

I'm currently trying to blog once a week, publishing on Mondays, let's see if I can keep it up! You can check out my last two posts Colourpop Haul and Binge It In A Day. Not to make excuses for future me, but September is my busiest month of the year, with two Birthdays, Father's Day, the Royal Show and my Wedding Anniversary. So I may not be able to keep up this schedule, but I'll do my best. Have a good week!

Nail Polish Declutter

 

Hi guys! In my ongoing efforts to declutter the house and reduce my possessions, I have embarked on (and completed!) an epic nail polish declutter. Do you like numbers? I do not like numbers, but nevertheless, here are some fun digits for you:

Number of nail polishes I owned pre-declutter: 340

Number of nail polishes I binned outright: 21

Number of nail polishes I'm getting rid of: 128

Number of nail polishes I'm keeping: 191 (lol, send help). Half of them are photographed below.....

Do I need 191 different bottles of nail polish? I mean, probably not. Maybe I'll go through my collection again and be a bit more strict at some point, but for now, I am done with this.

Here are the ones I binned outright....

The 21 I threw out were completely stuffed, like either super old, smelled off or really thick and just unusable. The 128 I'm getting rid of are still OK, they are just not my cup of tea. LOL imagine having 128 nail polishes that are not your jam. That's a lot. I don't know whether to bundle these in groups of 10 and sell them or just throw them out too. It's hard to know what to do because some are new, some are used, they're all variously aged, etc.

Anyway, I'm glad I decluttered my collection. I've come to realise that reds, dark shades and pretty hot pinks are my favourite shades, going by what I've kept. And that I have a lot of weird arse shit to get rid of, lol. Although I am keeping a few nudes, neutrals and light pinks because they don't require as much time and precision when applying. I need something for when I'm short on time!

Tell me in the comments, how do you store your nail polish collection? Just in a box? Is there a nice way to display the bottles? I'm open to suggestions!

Monday Mani: Furless BITCH

Hi guys. It's been a hot minute, but time for something dark, it's BITCH, a black lacquer from Furless Cosmetics. I looked them up on Instagram and apparently they've closed down, although they did reply to my Story, so I'm not sure what's happening. Let me know below if you know.

I'm loving this colour for something a bit edgier. What do you think of baby-faced Leo? We've been cleaning up and I found some vintage magazines. Hope you have a fun week.

You may be interested in Rimmel 60 Seconds Portobello Pink 

Linking up with Life This Week and Lovin' Life Linky

Don't miss a post!

Like Max The Unicorn on Facebook

Follow my beauty Instagram @shinyglitterbug 

Follow my foodie Instagram @imhungrymax

Follow me on Bloglovin'

Follow me on Twitter @ShinyGlitterBug

Subscribe via email (right sidebar)

What do you think of this colour?

Pretty Mani: Rimmel 60 Seconds Portobello Pink!

Hi guys! Long time, no blog. How is everyone going? I've been struggling with all the changes to our day-to-day lives as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, from general depression about all the people dying from it, to stress and anxiety about my family possibly becoming infected, frustration due to the lack of fucking toilet paper available (and related anger towards the panic-buyers!), sadness about having to #StayHome and many more emotions I'm sure we are all feeling right now. So I haven't felt very motivated to blog in the last month. But I thought I'd ease myself back in with this pretty in pink mani I recently performed (that cannot be the right word!) on myself. Strap yourself in, I literally have two photos of this.

I love this 60 Seconds line from Rimmel, although ironically, I kind of have all the time in the world right now? I mean I should be breaking out the Opallac Gel Nails at home machine. That was certainly a process, but the results were worth it. Anyway, back to the Portobello Pink manicure. This polish features the Xpress Flat Brush which kind of spreads out when you're applying, meaning less strokes and thus quicker application time. My cats like more strokes, not less haha. Looking at the Revlon website, it seems they have updated this range to the 60 Seconds Super Shine line, with a bunch of new shades.

This colour is not usual Di's cup of tea, but usual Di tapped out a few weeks ago and we are left with bonkers Di lol. It's feminine AF, happy and fun and it's cheering me up and that's all I care about right now. It contains tiny little silver sparkly bits that create a shiny, glossy finish, even without a top coat. Don't be lazy like me, always wear a top coat. Your future self will thank you.

You may be interested in Multi-Colour Autumn/Winter Nails

Linking up with Life This Week

Don't miss a post!

Like Max The Unicorn on Facebook

Follow my beauty Instagram @shinyglitterbug

Follow my foodie Instagram @imhungrymax

Follow me on Bloglovin'

Follow me on Twitter @ShinyGlitterBug

Subscribe via email (right sidebar)

Do you like this type of colour? What have you been doing to keep busy?

Mani Monday: Multi-Colour Autumn/Winter Nails!

Hi guys! I haven't done anything remotely interesting with my nails in such a long time, so when I saw the below photo in CityMag, I was inspired to put together an Autumn/Winter Mani! I thought this look was amazing and really wanted to re-create it. So I went through my nail polish collection looking for suitable shades, and this is what I came up with. It's slightly different but has the same vibe. I hope you enjoy!

Inspiration......

Photo Credit: Jessica Clark

I saw this photo in this CityMag article about the stylish looks found on Moonta Street in Adelaide. These gorgeous nails belong to Sia Tam, who is currently studying business. I am in love with this look!


My Re-Creation....

The Polishes I Used.....

~ The Body Shop Colour Crush in Red My Mind
~ Furless Lacquer in Freak*
~ Essie mini in Cocktail Bling
~ Sally Hansen Color Therapy in Unwine'd*
~ OPI Lacquer mini (shade not on bottle)
~ Essie mini in Good To Go (Top Coat)

I used Red My Mind from The Body Shop on my thumb nails. This polish is beautiful! To me this appears more orange than red. I'm crushing on the shade and the deliciously smooth and easy to apply formula. I even asked The Body Shop about it but they haven't made nail polishes in years! I remember I picked this up in a discount bin for around $2!

On my pointer fingers is Freak* by Furless. I love this shade. A few years ago I was kindly sent a bunch of polishes from their grunge-themed line. They're edgy and cool, and I'm yet to get sick of them! I don't think they sell nail polish anymore but you should check out the Furless Instagram page for make-up looks that are out of this world!

On my middle fingers is Cocktail Bling by Essie. This impressed me with its lovely formula. I'm so glad I picked this because I'm not usually into grey, so it forced me to try something different. I really like it!

~ I applied two coats of every polish, followed by the top coat, by the way! ~

I used one of my all-time favourite shades, Unwine'd* from the Sally Hansen Color Therapy range on my ring fingernails. Hooley Dooley, is this a gorgeous colour! Absolutely perfect for Winter, too. I was originally sent this as a press sample but I've bought at least one, if not two, bottles since. I wrote about it in my May/June Beauty Faves and you can read more about the Color Therapy range in my blog post here. Highly recommended!

I used the little yellow mini from OPI on my pinky fingers, and although there's no shade name on the bottle I feel like this was from a discontinued Shrek Forever After mini pack I won (released 2010, thanks Google). Ugh this is so bad and lets down the whole look in my opinion. The formula is thin, uneven and streaky AF. Maybe because it's 9 years old? Oh well, they can't all be winners!

As a top coat I used Essie Good To Go. It produced a super shiny finish, but has the tendency to 'pull off' the colour on the nail, so I had to be very careful when applying to just do the bare minimum amount of strokes to get it on there.

What do you think of this look? Are you a fan?

You may be interested in Mid-Week Mani: Rimmel Be Red-y!

Linking up with Life This Week and Mummy Mondays

Don't miss a post!

Like Max The Unicorn on Facebook

Follow me on beauty Instagram @shinyglitterbug

Follow me on foodie Instagram @imhungrymax

Follow me on Bloglovin'

Follow me on Twitter @ShinyGlitterBug

Subscribe via email (right sidebar)

Disclaimer: Products marked * were provided for editorial consideration. Reviews are my honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page for further information.

Would you rock this look? Have you ever been inspired to recreate something?