Late Summer Sparkle

Today I am making the last of the sunny weather before it turns truly into autumn weather.  This is design I did quickly, and I think that it is a perfect combination that can be worn on these last days of sun before the grey clouds begin to roll in.  

This design is using colours that I have previously mentioned on this blog a few times, but I think they are so versatile and simple to bung on your nails and they still look really pretty and put together.  The purple and the green combination is girly and feminine whilst also not being a pale baby pink, which I prefer to wear.

I have used this combination a lot over the summer and loved the pastel shades of lilac and mint together.  The 2 colours I have used are Ciate Purple Sherbet which I have done a separate review on so if you want to find out more you can do see HERE, but if you were just wondering what the polish is like, it is a light lilac shade which is incredibly creamy, lasts a lifetime on your nails and is just generally a pleasure to apply.  

Unfortunately I got this product in a Marie Claire a few months ago so I am not sure if you can still buy it, but if you happen to see this then I would definitely recommend giving it a try as it is a new firm favourite of mine.  Also keep an eye out in Marie Claire as I recently picked up another Ciate polish that came with their magazine (review coming soon) so if you are interested in trying out a Ciate polish maybe check out Marie Claire incase they are giving away any in the near future!

For the minty green colour I have used Barry M's Mint Green which is number 304 and again a gorgeous shade which is a new firm spring/summer favourite of mine.  You can pick this up more easily in Boots, Superdrug or on the Barry M website for £2.99.  

I havent done a full review of this polish on here, but if you wanted me to do one then leave a comment below letting me know.  I can even do a comparison with another minty colour that I have used on HERE which is by NYC if you would be interested, but let me know.

This is a gorgeous colour and is a very wearable minty green colour, I say this because sometimes people ask how to wear minty colours and if they are hard to wear.  This is bright enough to be a pretty colour that is eye catching but not too over the top that you wouldn't feel comfortable wearing it!

I have added 2 coats of Models Own Ibiza Mix on top of these colours to give it a little bit of sparkle and this is perfect if you are heading to any late summer parties or even if there is a little bit of late summer sun, this polish can brighten up your day.  Again this is another favourite polishes that I have worn over the summer and I have done a review of this which if you want to know anything more about the colour and polish itself you can click HERE.  You can pick up Models Own from Boots and it retails for £5 but it is well worth the investment as the polish is gorgeous and you get so much for your money.

I hope you don't mind this summery post, I am well aware that it is the first day of September today but the late summer sun today has inspired me to go out wearing this combination.

Whats your favourite combination for this late summer sun?  Or what colour are you wearing this weekend?  Leave your answer in the comments below I would love to know.

Summer Blues...

At this time of the year I always find myself asking where has this summer gone?  With only a few days of August left before we enter into September and then into autumn and winter, I wonder why the summer has past so quickly this year, why I didn't have that many BBQs and dreading the thought of the cold, wet, darker days of the winter fast approaching.  Despite all these things autumn is actually my favourite time of the year, and I have lots of things I am looking forward to blog about, but I can't bear to part with the summer quite yet so I thought I would do a design for those of you that are hanging onto the last few days of summer.

Blue is one of my favourite colours, and in my opinion this time of year is the perfect time to wear it.  Transitioning through summer to autumn means you are likely to have a tan, well if not a tan slightly more colour than in the middle of December, and blue is a great way to make yourself look more tanned.  I have chosen 2 shade of blue for this design, a pastel blue and a sky blue, both lovely colours.

The darker of the 2 shades is this gorgeous sky blue colour that is not to vivid, or the dark but the perfect colour blue colour from Barry M called "Blueberry Ice Cream" number 306.  In my opinion the colour reminds me more of the colour of a blue smartie, so that will give you some indication of the true colour.  I have had this colour in my collection for ages now, and every time I wear it I wonder why I don't wear it more as I always get compliments on the colour.  You can pick this up quite cheaply from Superdrug in store/ Superdrug website, Boots in store/ Boots website or on the Barry M website.  I love Barry M as their nail paints come in such a range of colours, they apply beautifully and they are very cheap, £2.99 for 10ml.  It always amazes me how well this product applies, as it is q relatively thick consistency it means that it only needs 1 coat in my opinion, 2 if you are really concerned about the opacity.

For the other blue I have used Revlon's "Blue Lagoon" which is number 044, which I got last summer so although you can't get this in store you might be able to find it on the internet or on ebay somewhere.  I picked this colour up because of the light blue colour which I did not have in my collection.  What makes this unique is that it is a light blue colour with extremely finely milled glitter which doesn't even look like glitter but gives the colour a slight shiny appearance in the bottle.  This was very intriguing because I thought this would be a nice alternative to when I don't feel in the mood for a thick and chunky glitter polish.  But unfortunately the glitter is so finely milled that it is not really noticeable on the nails which is a shame but I still love the colour and it is a colour that comes out throughout spring and summer.  This polish requires a few more coats, I applied about 3 coats to create a more opaque colour.

The combination of the light blue and the sky blue I think are summery enough to last you through the last few full days of sunshine but also won't look out of place at the beginning of the autumnal season.

Let me know if you like to wear blue nails this time of year? Or what is your favourite colour to wear on your nails when the weather is becoming a bit more autumnal?

If you give this type of 2 toned blue nail design let me know, you can tweet me a picture me twitter name is @colourfulnails1, I would love to see you designs.

Summer Nail Challenge - Day 10

I'm back after a few technical glitches and today is Day 10 of Makeup Savvy's Nail Challenge and todays theme is gradient nails, if you don't know what I am talking about then you can see more info on, or if you want to get involved yourself you can find all the information HERE.  I also did the challenge on day 6 and 7 so if you want to see my glitter nail post then you can HERE or if you want to see my neon nails you can HERE.

This was quite a tricky theme for me because I did not want to do a design using glitter because I recently did a summery glitter design, and I am not to good with the gradual change of colour from dark to light on a single nail.  But at the same time I wanted to challenge myself and not just stick to a plain colour on a nail.  So whilst reading through some blogs last night I found this gorgeous design that Lacqueerisa created, it added some texture to her nails and the design was very eye catching, so I decided that I would have a go myself but using a light colour underneath a brighter shade, and when the design was completed I hoped it would give a different sort of gradient of colour.

10 nail polishes later this is the design I created and whilst it did not go quite to plan I think that it is a different technique that after a few goes will probably be a lot better, but in the mean time this has challenged me to try a new design I probably otherwise wouldn't have done, so its a learning curve.  If you want to see what inspired me to do this design, and how the design should look then you can see the lovely Lacqueerisa's design HERE.



So instead of giving you little reviews of the colours I have used for each nail I'm just going to explain how I did this design, as otherwise this would be a very long post.  Although, I have already done reviews for some of the polishes which I will link, but if you want to know anything about the colours I used then leave a comment below and I can always do some reviews if requested.

Okay so here we go... First of all I chose the base colours for my design which I wanted to be slightly lighter shades so that I could create the gradient effect that todays theme required.  I also tried to do a a gradient effect going along the nails starting with yellow and white right down to blues on my little finger.  To start with I painted my thumb a white colour to then be topped with yellow as I didn't have 2 shades of yellow, but actually in the end I quite liked the colour difference between the yellow and white.  This white was a basic white colour that I got in a Primark manicure set a couple of years ago.  



On my index finger I then used in colour 452 which is a peachy orange colour by Miss Sporty which is very pretty and summery colour that I have been wearing a lot this summer.  On my middle finger I have used this baby pink colour by 17 which is called Cupcake which I think is the perfect name for this extremely girly colour.  On my ring finger I have used this gorgeous light purple colour called Purple Sherbet from Ciaté which I have done a full review on which you can see HERE if you wish.  Finally on my little finger I have used this light blue colour from Barry M called Blueberry Ice Cream number 306.

After letting these colours dry I then chose colours that were similar but a shade or two darker so this would create the gradient effect that was required for todays theme.  For my thumb I chose this bright yellow colour by Miss Sporty number 453 which I also used in my neon nail challenge on day 6 and a few other reviews and designs.  On my index finger I used this bright neon orange from Miss Sporty number 303 which I also used on my neon themed nails on day 6.  On my middle finger I used this bright pink colour from 17 which again I used in my neon nails so if you want to know anything else about these 3 polishes you can see more on my Neon Nails post HERE.  




On my ring finger I used this bright purple colour from Barry M, suitably called Bright Purple number 303.  And finally on my little finger I have used another Miss Sporty polish in the colour 060 which is such a beautiful colour and has been a firm favourite of mine both last year and this year for summer, so I may be doing a review of this soon, so keep your eyes peeled.




Once I had painted my nails I waited for a few seconds so the polish begun to set on my nails before using a cocktail stick to create the textured pattern on the nails.  I ran the cocktail stick across my nails scratching some of the product away revealing the colour underneath.  This may have not worked perfectly on all the nails but I think that you can see some of the lighter colours coming through from underneath and so I think it does qualify as gradient I just wish it had worked as well as I thought it would.

Overall I am pleased that I have tried this design out and it is something that after a bit of practice will be something to do, that will be extremely eye catching and that people will ask how you have created the design so look out for some more designs from me using this technique as I love it!

If you have entered todays challenge feel free to leave a link to your blog in the comments section below, or feel free to email or tweet your photos to me, all information on how to contact me can be found on the right side of my blog.  If you haven't entered today feel free to head on over to Makeup Savvy's page to see tomorrows category HERE and see if you are up for the challenge on Day 11.

Jubilee Nails - A glittery twist

For this next design I have simply developed the first of my Jubilee designs so if you haven't seen that post yet then you can click HERE.  I have used the same base colours as previously but this time I have added a slight glittery touch to the nails to make design slightly different and a bit more fun than a simple red, white and blue pattern.




                                     On top of my Rimmel "Rapid Ruby" base I have added a coat of Barry M's polish number 150 which doesn't have a name but I would call it ruby slipper or something along those lines as the bottle is purely red glitter and reminds me of Dorothy's shoes.  This polish is amazing and unlike many glitter polishes that normally tend to have hardly any polish and you have to do about a million coats to get a vaguely opaque colour, this probably could have been done with a couple of coats.  I only used 1 coat though as I already had the red base underneath.  This adds a subtle touch of glitter and sparkle to your Jubilee design and is perfect if you are going to be going to any parties or even if you are just sitting in the garden having a BBQ with family and friends as the glitter will catch the light.


On top of the white polish I decided to use a clear polish with finely milled multi-coloured glitter, but from far away this looks relatively silver and just gives a sparkly touch to your nails and for this I used MaxFactors "Sheer Glitter" polish number 866.  I have to admit that I have had this polish for years and you can probably tell from the old bottle shape, but it is such a gorgeous polish that I still have it and still love to use it.  Although I doubt you can still get this exact shade there are bound to be many other glittery polishes out there so you can take your pick on the exact shade for your Jubilee nail designs.

Over the blue polish I chose to use NYC's polish "Lights, camera, glitter" number 105 which is a glittery polish that has finely milled silver glitter throughout with larger glitter pieces of blue.  This polish is amazing and so amazing, especially over a darker blue, or any other dark polish, because you can see how much silver glitter there is as well as the larger, more obvious chunks of blue.  Although I wouldn't want to use this completely on its own because I think that it would take a fair amount of coats to create an opaque finish, over another colour I think this polish is amazing.

Red glitter- Barry M 150, White glitter- MaxFactor- "Sheer Glitter" 866, Blue glitter- NYC "Lights, Camera, Glitter" 105

This simple addition of a glitter polish over the top of the basic red, white and blue design, makes this design more jazzy and good if you want to have a slight glittery appearance that is perfect for this time of year and the jubilee celebration.

Summery rainbow nails

Today I decided to create a bright and fun nail design that will cheer you up and is an eye catching design without using complicated designs.
The colours that I chose were a minty green, peachy orange, sky blue, candyfloss pink and banana yellow as I thought these were a nice variation on the traditional pastel or ice cream shades out this spring/summer.


The first colour I used which is really popular at the moment was the mint green colour from Barry M number 304 called "Mint Green" which is a beautiful colour as it is not too wishy washy and after 2 coats is completely opaque.  You can pick up Barry M in Boots and Superdrug and with a price of £2.99 how can you not afford to pick it up.  It is fresh and very appropriate for spring/summer and is a very versatile polish that I know will last me all throughout the summer time.


Another Barry M polish that I used is the sky blue colour, number 306 called "Blueberry Ice Cream" which is a perfect blue that is brighter than a pastel blue such as a baby blue, but is still not as vivid as a turquoise.  It is the perfect summer colour that is great on toes as well as fingers and whenever I wear this I get complements on the colour, so for £2.99 why not pick yourself up one?

The pink colour on my nails is a 17 polish called "Fairy cake" which I bought a couple of years back but is currently part of the Candy Collection from Boots.  This is a little brighter, again, than a traditional baby pink however, it is a very girly pink that is not fluorescent and so is a very flattering shade. I would say it is more of a candy floss pink which I prefer because sometimes some pinks can look a bit young and childish on.


The peachy orange shade that I used on my index finger is by Miss Sporty and is number 452, which is a very unusual peachy colour.  I searched up and down the aisles to find the perfect peachy shade that was not too pink or too orange and I think I finally may have found it.  Although in the bottle the polish looks to be more of a pastel peach shade when applied it turns out slightly darker than I expected however, I think that is still a gorgeous colour and I think I will have a lot of wear out of this shade and for £1.99 I can hardly complain!

The final shade of my rainbow nails is the banana yellow on my little finger again by Miss Sport number 453.  I would describe this colour as more of a banana or sunshine yellow than a strictly lemon or pastel yellow but I think this shade of yellow is very summery.  This colour would also probably look amazing as the summer goes on and your skin starts to get a bit of a tan, so at just £1.99 these are definitely something to buy up and if you are not confident enough at the moment maybe you could bring it out as we head further into the summer months.


I think these polishes are very pretty and summery without being over the top or too bright for the duller days that still occur in summer.  It is a very easy combination that looks very interesting and can be redone in any colour combination, even different shades of the same colour would make an interesting gradient rainbow effect.

Thumb - Barry M 304 Mint Green, Index finger- Miss Sporty 452, Middle finger- Barry M 306 Blueberry Ice Cream, Ring Finger- 17 Fairy Cake, Little finger- Miss Sporty 453