piCture pOlish; Bette Swatches

Well, it's been a long time... again. I've been so bad at keeping up with my blog since I got my first job. Recently I've been so busy, whilst fighting off a horrible cold, that blogging has been the last thing on my mind. Put that on top of the fact that I've slowly broken all of my nails down to little nubs from one thing and another and you'll see that blogging just hasn't been easy to get to.
Today, however, I have returned. Hopefully with some kind of regularity. Maybe. Anyway, today's my birthday and somehow (believe me, I'm not really sure how) I have turned 20. Of course on my birthday list were a couple of nail polish's that I've been eyeing up recently. I was ecstatic to open up a gift from my parents this morning to discover Bette from piCture pOlish. I am a huge lover of Bette Davis Eyes so this polish is already a winner with me for that, but I also have quite the fondness for blues so naturally this is a winner. Follow the jump to see the beautiful swatches...

Gradient Nails; Sparkling Sea

Recently I've had a thing for gradients and sparkles. While out shopping, I finally picked up China Glaze's Fairy Dust, a beautiful holo glitter, perfect for topping of a gradient. I then got this idea in my head to create a sparkly gradient. I ended up with three different shades of blue and a mint green and, lo, the sparkly sea gradient was born.

Barry M Silks AW14; Poppy

It's no secret that my favourite Barry M release this year was their stunning Silk collection back in the Spring. So you can imagine my delight while out shopping this morning when I came across three new deep jewel toned shades added to the collection in Superdrug. Now, I could have so very easily grabbed all three, however, Boots currently have a buy one get one half price offer on. Sadly they didn't have it in store yet so their website is my BFF. I couldn't resist picking at least one and this shade captured my heart completely.

Barry M AW14 Gellys; Spicy Stripes

Last week, whilst in transition between nail colours, I wanted to make my Barry M Chilli mani last a little bit longer. I ended up with this idea in my head of combining it with Mustard using striping tape to create this Autumn "spicy" mani.

Barry M AW14 Gellys; Chilli, Cardamom, Mustard

Ello' all. I apolgise for my recent absence, I've been all over the place recently and only last week started feeling a bit more like myself. The only problem is I then got quite sick over the weekend and so have only just got back to actually write up some posts. I have such a backlog of swatch pictures and nail art that they'll probably last for a good few weeks before I need any more. Also just a heads up, these swatches were taken over the course of about a week. In that week after I swatched Chilli first, I started borrowing my sisters desk lamp as a lighting set up for my pictures. They've turned out so well but I never got chance to go back and redo Chilli so they don't look quite the same standard.

Recently Barry M released their Autumn/Winter Gelly collection and boy are the lovely. It's no secret that I adore Autumn. Not only was I born in Autumn but I love the colours related with it and the colours of the trees, the lovely warm clothes without needing to layer up to the point of looking like a huge blob and that slight chill in the air that calls for pretty scarves. So naturally when these colours popped up I was immediately drawn in. I've only picked up three of the six colours but there is definitely the temptation to grab some more. So onto the swatches:

First up is Chilli, a spicey red with brown undertones. This is two coats with top coat. Without the top coat it's still super shiny but as a rule of thumb I always use top coat.

Next is Carmadom, a gorgeous kind of wintery green. This one is super unique in my collection. Again this is two coats with top coat.

Finally I have Mustard which is, of course, a deep mustard yellow. I'm still really suprised how much I like this colour and for the first yellow in the Gelly collection it's a beauty.

So far I'm loving these colours plus they wear really well with minimum chipping.
To purchase the Autumn/Winter 2014 Gelly Collection go to Boots or Superdrug.

Barry M Summer 2014 Mattes; Rhossili

Every so often I come across a polish that isn't necessarily what I would normally wear but completely fall in love with. This was definitely the case with Rhossili, one of the new summer mattes from Barry M. I will mention, this one was an absolute pig to photograph and kind of drove me up the wall. Also read to the end for a bonus picture ;)

Purple Pears?; Barry M Gelly - Prickly Pear

I do love a good Barry M polish and just recently I seem to have rediscovered my love for them. After eyeing it up for some time I finally got my hands on Prickly Pear, a lovely lavender colour. Yes. A purple. Called Prickly Pear. I'm a little confused by it but there is probably a good reason for the name. Either way I still love it. I love it so much that I wore it till it started to chip and then reapplied it and wore it for a bit longer.

Barry M Summer 2014 Matte Collection; Miami

Today I have another Summer Matte from Barry M. Normally I really don't go for pinks as I find they just don't look right on me but found myself intrigued by Miami. It's strange, when I was wearing it I really didn't like my skin tone next it but now looking at the pictures (which, colour wise, are quite accurate) I actually rather like it.

Miami is a super fun soft pink with a slight pop to it, almost like a hint of a neon quality but softer. It's difficult to describe but looks super pretty and isn't too bright for me. The more I look at it the more I love it.

Also, being a part of the Matte Collection, Miami is, naturally, a matte finish. I used two coats here with no topcoat for than reason.

You can find Miami and any other Barry M Matte polishes at Boots and Superdrug.

Quack!; Models Own Speckled Egg - Duck

It feels like ages since my last post on here, it's just been so difficult to motivate myself to write up the text to go with the images. I have about four sets of different swatches ready to go but so far no actual posts to attach them to. Add in the ridiculous heat from the past few weeks and my continued downess and I'm left feeling a little stuck. Anyway, onto today's post; I have one of the Models Own Speckled Egg polishes. My mum and I searched high and low for these polishes and finally found them tucked away on a lone display stand in Superdrug. Being on 2 for £8 at the time we both decided to get two each. After much debate I went for Swan, the purple, and Duck, today's swatch.

Shooting Stars?; Sally Hansen Shoot the Moon

Today I have another favourites post for you. Today's little gem is from the Sally Hansen range. This is my first polish from Sally Hansen and was given to me by my parents last Christmas. Naturally I tried it out as soon as (after tons of Christmas dinner, of course!) and fell in love.

Pretty Pastel Gradients; Pearl and Huckleberry

I'm on a roll with posts at the moment. That's only because I ended up with tons of pictures and no actually posts to go with them so now I'm catching up. Anyways, the other week I wanted to try something a bit different for me. Now, I love a good gradient and a good pastel so naturally I decided to put the two together. 

So I started with two coats of Barry M Silk Effects in Pearl and waited for it to dry completely before continuing. I then used a make up wedge to gradually sponge Barry M Gelly in Huckleberry onto the tips of the nails. Once all of that was dry I applied Look Beauty Sequin Effect which is basically a flakie top coat. I sealed everything in with Sally Hansen Quick Drying Top Coat.

 I rather like the combination of the different textures in this. I was also pretty impressed with my gradient considering I've not tried it very often. This was also the first time I used Huckleberry from Barry M and I love it! I'm yet to wear it solidly on it's own but I can't wait to give it a go.

You can find all of the polishes used at either Superdrug or Boots.

Barry M Matte Polish; Copa, Copacabaaaaana!

'Ello all. I found this beauty at one of my local Superdrugs about a week and a half before the new mattes release date and completely fell in love with it. You may have seen that Barry M have been throwing new products into the mix just recently for their Summer collection. Obviously I've been paroosing the new nail polishes and the Summer 2014 Matte collection really got my attention. So far I have four of the shades in Cancun, Miami, Rhosilli and the shade I have for you today, Copacabana. I've been meaning to get this post written and out for the past two weeks but my brain has been in sleep mode as far as blogging is concerned but, hey, better late than never.

A Firm Favourite; China Glaze Fast Track

The other week I was having a hard time choosing a nail polish to wear and I, once again, found myself going back to one of my all time favourite polishes; Fast Track from China Glaze. I remember back when this one came out as part of their Capitol Colours collection for The Hunger Games and I completely fell in love with the whole collection. Fast Track was one of those ones that didn't really catch my eye particularly in the promotional images but then I started seeing swatches and I fell in love.

Barry M Limited Edition; Promenade

Once again Barry M has released a set of Limited Edition polishes. Two of the colours are exclusive to Superdrug and two to Boots. Today I'm bringing you Promenade, one the shades from Superdrug.

Quest for Opal

Opals, to me, are by far the most beautiful and magical gemstone to have formed here on this little Earth of ours. There's something so intriguing about the fire bursting from within that makes my heart sing. Perhaps it's my overactive imagination and obsession with all things sci-fi, fantasy and magical but Opals look like they've just been pulled from a fantasy world.

As some of you may know if you read my blog regularly, my Grandad passed away last January. A few months later my sister and I were presented with some inheritance he had left us. For a while I didn't know what to do with it. Heck, I didn't even want it, I just wanted him back. Eventually I decided I wanted something that would be sentimental, something that I could keep with me forever and remind me of him. I wanted an Opal ring. It may sound strange but in some ways I see my Grandad in opal stones. He had a fire in him, a stubborn fire at that, but a fire no less so it felt rather fitting.

I spent a long time searching for my opal ring. Every time I was out shopping I would stop everything if we went near a jewelers and scour every last corner searching for that perfect ring. Fast forward about 10 months or so and I found myself in York with my family. The number of jeweler shops around York is astonishing but none had what I was looking for. I then came across Bradley's Jewelers, a family business with a few shops dotted here and there across the country. The two ladies working there were so lovely and gave me a lot of advice on what to look out for when looking at rings, I even found out about opal doublets and triplets. I then spied a little beauty in the window and fell in love.

I always thought that I would find my ring when I tried one on and couldn't imagine ever taking it off. I'd tried several up to this point and none were right. This one though, this was right. My mum and I discussed the ring with the women in the shop, explaining the sentimentality behind the moment and that's when things got a bit teary. My mum started, then I started, it was a bit emotional but it was lovely and worth it. I'm so glad I found my ring and I can't help but stare at it at least once a day.

I know this may seem like somewhat of a random post, but I felt that I just wanted to write it down and share it. If you have any stories like this you want to share please leave me a comment, I'd love to hear it.

Until next time...
Abigail

Revlon Graffiti Top Coat

I recently took advantage of a 3 for 2 on Revlon at Superdrug as they were also offering their Gold Coin polish in a special 50th Anniversary if you bought two items. So naturally I went for a polish as well as one of their amazing lip butters. I've had my eye in their red Graffiti Top Coat for some time now so I finally picked it up. I've been pondering what to wear it with for a while and the other day I decided to go neutral underneath. Enter this simple yet beauty of a combo! Follow the jump to see more...

Golden Plums; Nail Striping

I must say, these past few weeks I've been quite uninspired by my nail polish collection. For that reason I kept piCture pOlish's Majesty on for about two weeks before I finally switched out to something different. After a great deal of thought I decided to try out some nail striping. I've done a bit in the past, keeping it very simple, and so I thought I would go for something a little different yet still simple. I'm afraid I only have one picture for you today as I took some snaps and then removed the polish a day or so later to do something new. The problem there, however, was I hadn't checked the shots and, of course, I only had one I was barely happy with. So, yes, just one lonely shot for today:

To create this one I painted all my nails with China Glaze Goldie But Goodie as a base colour. I then arranged my striping tape where I wanted the gold to show through. On my pointer and pinkie fingers I created a criss-cross pattern and on my ring finger and thumb I placed one strip across the nail. I left my middle finger clear. Using China Glaze Purr-fect Plum I then painted a relatively thick coat over each nail, apart from my middle finger, and immediately removed the tape before it could dry. For the ring finger and thumb I painted up to the striping tape without going over onto the other side to create the half and half design. I then applied Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Topcoat to seal everything in and that's it! Once you get the hang of striping tape it's quite simple but to start with it can be super fiddly. 

I've got another nail post coming up soon as well as some photography and a special find so check back over the next few days for those.

Until then...

Abigail

The Chronicles of Duck Feeding; Photography

It's been such a long time since I last posted some photographs, it makes me somewhat sad. My parents and I took a trip last week to Bempton to see the sea birds on the cliff side with my new 300ml lens in tow. I think in the end I had about 200 pictures to show for our little journey. It was only when I checked through them the other day that I realised most pictures were completely out of focus. I spoke to my Dad about it, showing him the photographs and we both agreed that something wasn't right with the lens. So naturally we're returning it tomorrow in the hope that we can swap it; fingers crossed! So instead of some glorious puffins I bring you another chapter in my mum and I's Mere visits. Follow the jump for more...

piCture pOlish; Majesty by Sahrish Adeel

It's been so long since my last post went up (bad blogger, I know) but Easter week was packed full for me this year. I went out with my family Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday so as you can imagine I had very little time to do any blogging. I did, however, get out with my camera and have some snaps to share in another post. I also couldn't help myself and picked up a few nail polishes while out in Sheffield so I'll be swatching those at a later date. For today I'm bringing you my second piCture pOlish purchase, Majesty. My first was Aurora (which you can see here) and I was absolutely blown away by the quality, colour and long wearing formula (I wore it for two weeks straight with no chipping!) so naturally I was super excited to try Majesty. I finally managed to bring myself to remove Aurora yesterday and boy am I glad I did because this one is another beauty! Click the jump for the pictures!

WOWZA; Aurora by piCture pOlish

A month or two back I discovered the incredible piCture pOlish, a nail polish brand based in Australia. I fell head over heels in love with Majesty, but at the time couldn't spend the money on it. Soon after I noticed a lot of bloggers losing their minds over a little gem name Aurora, a limited edition colour shifting polish. When I saw the swatches for it I knew I had to have it (you'll see why in a second). But of course life went a little wrong and due to circumstances I won't go into, by the time I was able to purchase it, it was out of stock. So you can imagine my delight when, a couple of weeks ago, piCture pOlish restocked their limited editions with the final stock they had. So on release day I was sat at my computer eagerly awaiting the polishes to go live again. So I guess long story short is, I finally have my hands on Aurora! I have quite a picture heavy post for you today but I think it's worth it. Follow the jump to see this beauty in action!

The Final Three: Barry M Silk Effects; Truffle, Meadow & Pearl

I feel like I haven't posted here for ages somehow and yet, funnily enough, I think it was only a few days ago. Perhaps it's because everything I've posted in the past week and a half has been drafted up in advanced. Anyways, I'm back again with the final three Barry M Silk Effects from my collection. Today I'm bringing you Truffle, Meadow and Pearl. I must say I liked these shades more than I anticipated. I was a little skeptical about Pearl, the white of the collection, and when I started applying Truffle, a pale brown/tan colour, I wondered if I had made a mistake. Read on to see how pleasantly surprised I was...

Book of the Week; Wicked

So I was sat here at my laptop editing my last nail polish post thinking about what I could use to split up all the swatch posts. I then sat back in my chair and began looking at my hundred strong book collection. It took me a while to realise that the answer was quite literally staring me in the face. So, yes, I have decided to try and do a book of the week each week. This could include a recent finish but will more than likely come from my massive list of already read books as I don't think I could complete reading a book every week. So of course I then had to come up with a book to talk about. It didn't take much thinking about as my mind immediately went to one of my most recent finishes, Wicked, written by Gregory Maquire. Follow the jump for a, hopefully, spoiler free post!

Silk Number Two; Barry M Silk Effects: Heather

Round 2

I'm here with my second round of Barry M Silk Effect polishes however, this time I've got Heather to show you. I have a serious obsession with these polishes. For every new colour I swatch I fall even more in love with them. I think it's the uniqueness of them and my nails feel so fresh in the pretty spring colours. Follow the jump for more...

Barry M Silk Effects in Heather

Something Different; Barry M Silk Nail Effects: Mist

So far here in my little pocket of Wonderland I've stuck very much to posting my photographs and rambling about the goings on in my life. I had the idea last year to also use my blog as a way of talking about different things such as my rather large collection of nail polishes, music and films I love or books I have particularly enjoyed. It's quite obviously taken me a while to put my plan into action but it's better late than never. So I thought to kicks things off I would rave about a nail polish I bought I few weeks back.

Barry M Silk Effect in Mist

Follow the jump for more

Spring has Sprung

So it's been over a week since my return post and, I know, I stated that I would be back with more posts and hopefully with more consistency. Over a week later I'm finally here with a second post. (Once again, bad, bad blogger) Regardless I've finally figured out what this post would be a couple of days ago whilst out in amongst nature with my camera. If you've seen some of my older posts you'll know that I enjoy photography a great deal however to say my inspiration had run dry over the past few months would be a serious understatement. I seemed to be going out with camera in tow, only to find that nothing caught my interest and I would return home with very little to show for my little adventure. However these past few weeks seem to have seen the very slow return of inspiration and so I've felt more inclined to take my camera out with me on my daily walks with my mum. So I guess what I'm trying to say with this incredibly long story is that I have some photographs to bring to you today.

My Oh My Who Could This Be?

Looking Back...

It's amazing, really, how much can change in just two years. I've been sat here at my laptop for the past 20 minutes thinking about the two years that have past since I last waffled on about god-knows-what here on this blog. I feel like, as an individual, I have changed a lot out of necessity for the sake of my own state of mind. I pushed myself through two years of Sixth Form and passed my A Levels, of course ending those two years thinking, "What the hell do I do now?" I developed an obsession with nail polish, racking up a rather large collection of pretty colours relatively quickly. I still read and buy far too many books and still refuse to appologise for it. I turned 18 in 2012 and became a tattooed fiend. I've also become a lot more closed off, talking less about how I feel and keeping that more to myself. I've grown cynical out of disappointment and heartache and yet still act like a wonder struck little kid because that's just who I am at heart.

tattooed//my to-read pile//yesterdays nail polish haul