Review and swatches of A England Excalibur (new revamped version), comparison and nail art design!

*This post contains PR sample

Hello lovelies,

As you may know, A England has introduced some new shades apart from the recent Burne-Jones Dream collection. I'll show you one of them today. I'm talking about revamped version of Excalibur! I personally love the original metallic silver Excalibur, it is my favourite silver so I'm sad to see it going. The new one is also beautiful though...

Excalibur (revamped) - golden silver foil with coppery gold flakes. This colour is very hard to describe because it's not pure silver or pure gold but kind of a mix of both. The formula is excellent like with all other A England shades. It applied very well and two coats were enough for full coverage. There were no streaks despite the foil finish.

I've done a comparison for you of both A England Excaliburs and shades close to them. Btw would you like to see more  comparison pictures like the one below?

And I've also done some doodling over Excalibur using Barry M Nail Art Pen Black :)

*This post contains PR sample

White tribal nail art using Barry M Nail Art Pen White and Nicole By OPI mini neons

Hello lovelies,

A quick nailart post today featuring Nicole By OPI mini Neons and Barry M Nail Art Pen White. I've basically tried to do mixed patterns, each nail different. I've got not much else to say except everybody enjoy the weekend!

Morse code Nail Art Design using Barry M Nail Art Pen Black

Hello lovelies,

So since I've shown you swatches of the Nicole By OPI mini neons yesterday, I've done some nail art with them too. This manicure was kinda inspired by Morse code (which I used to know but probably have to think hard today about it :D)

I've used all polishes from the Nicole By OPI Notorious! Neons set and Barry M Nail Art Pen Black.

So what do you think? I liked it a lot and it was easy to do - just dots and dashes ;)

Nail art half moons with Barry M Nail Art Pen Black and Clinique Fizzy

Hello lovelies,

I'm still loving the Barry M Nail Art Pens so I've done some drawing with them again. This time it's half moon design. I've drawn over Clinique Fizzy (reviewed here) with the black nail art pen. It flows nicely but sometimes it's not fully opaque in the first coat, especially when filling bigger spaces. 

Holiday Clubbing manicure that glows under UV light! Featuring Illamasqua Paranormal collection polishes and Barry M Nail Art Pen White

Hello lovelies,

I've had to remove this manicure from the previous post as it was conflicting with the rules (entry for the Travel Supermarket contest) so here they are in a separate post :)

I've done this manicure on Friday for Saturday's nail blogger meet up in London and couldn't wait for sharing it with you! I call them a 'Holiday Clubbing' manicure. This would be a perfect mani for going out in the evening as it glows under UV/black light!

I have used Illamasqua Seance, Ouija and Omen as the UV glowing polishes and Barry M Nail Art Pen in White for the outline.

How to do this design:

Step 1: Paint your nails with Illamasqua Seance and let it dry properly.
Step 2: Start drawing triangles from the centre of the nail outwards with Barry M Nail Art Pen in White.
Step 3: Fill in some of the triangles with Ouija and Omen polishes using small brush.
Step 4: Draw the white triangles again with Barry M Nail Art Pen in White again for it to stand out.
Step 5: Seal with topcoat.

 Let the magic happen!

Barry M Nail Art Pen Silver over Darling Diva Catherine - Nail art, review and swatches

 *The nail polish and stud wheel were provided for a review

Hello lovelies,

This post will be a bit longer and picture heavy as it basically features three products. Yay for effectiveness :D

This particular manicure features Barry M Nail Art Pen in Silver which I've tested for the first time. The silver colour nicely opaque and flows well. It was actually very easy to work with and I hope I'll see some more shades of the nail art pens - but don't forget the need for excellent pigmentation, Barry M!

The Black and White pens are not fully opaque and it bothered me quite a bit as I needed to draw twice. But this one was better. I've done just an 'abstract cobweb' design over Darling Diva Catherine. The ring finger has been decorated with square metal studs from Born Pretty Store Stud wheel.

I've used the metal square studs from this particular Stud wheel and there will be many more manicures coming as there is a wide range of studs. You can choose from black, silver and gold finishes and from different shapes and sizes. I like the small studs the best as my nails are not wide and the big ones tend to stick out.

The second half of this post is dedicated to the Darling Diva Catherine because this polish deserves it!






Catherine - red-based holographic base with blue iridescent glitter.This polish is absolutely stunning and you need it if you like purples! it has a very good formula that applies easily and two coats were enough for good coverage. I needed topcoat to smooth out the surface but I would use the topcoat anyway. My pictures don't do it justice, it's much prettier in real life.

*This polish has been provided for a review

Picture taken in shade. The iridescent glitter really stands out in the shade, this polish is just pretty everywhere you go.

 *The nail polish and stud wheel were provided for a review

Review of Barry M Nail Art Pen Black feat. Nicole By OPI Still Into Pink

Hello lovelies,

By now, you've all heard about the new Barry M Nail Art Pens and I haven't missed them either! I've ran into my local Superdrug store and picked up Black, Silver and White Nail Art Pens. I wasn't excited about the pink one very much so I skipped that one..

This manicure is simple and with the Nail Art Pen quite easy to do. I've applied two coats of Nicole By OPI Still Into Pink and when it was dry enough I started drawing. So let's have a look what I've done with it...

The Nail Art Pen is like a shorter highlighter pen and feels sturdy. The nib has small holes on the outside of it and the paint flows from there. When I've used it for the first time, I'd had to press on the nib quite a few times until the paint was pumped out. I'm saying paint because it is not nail polish as we know it. It is more watery so it flows easily and it cracks when it's dry. That was my only problem with it really. You can see the cracking in the first pictures without topcoat. Once you apply topcoat the cracks are not that visible.

Before you start painting you need to make sure the polish is dry enough otherwise you might ruin it. I've tried applying topcoat to make the drying time shorter but the paint does not adhere to the topcoat very well. It slips and tends to shrink (tested over Seche Vite).

Following pictures are with topcoat...

Overall, I'm loving it even though the black could be a bit more pigmented (sometimes I've had to dab more colour or go over twice). It is easy to work with and with a bit of practice you could paint quite thin lines. I will be definitely repurchasing if I use up this one and I truly hope Barry M will bring more shades and they will all be a permanent line. Stay tuned for more shades!

You can purchase Barry M Nail Art Pens at Superdrug stores/online for £4.99 each (there's currently 3 for 2 offer). Alternatively, they are available at barrym.co.uk