OPI Gel Manicure

Recently I have decided to give the whole Gel manicure thing a go and tried the (not so) new OPI Gel colours. My choice was the classic OPI Big Apple Red and it looked beautiful. It lasted very well and was shiny and scratch-free for the whole time. People complimented me on the nails and the colour and it did not damage my nails in the slightest.

It is definitely pretty, long lasting and absolutely fuss free.

The only negative thing that I have to say about it is that after about 1,5 weeks it starts looking slightly weird as the nail is growing out and in my case nails grow fairly fast. Thus after 2 weeks I removed it. 

NOTD

I have spotted an absolutely incredible manicure on Pinterest and just had to recreate it. Since I am a nail varnish junky, I have picked up the varnish by Essie in Chinchilly. It is an absolutely beautiful greyish purply colour. Basically you take a matte polish, or alternatively just use a matte topcoat. Once everything is dry, you just go back in with a glossy one and just paint the french tips.

Back to nails

Today's post is super lazy, but the only thing I accomplished on this weekend, other than going out is painting my nails.

I have never really been into nude nail polishes and always liked more of a sheer-pinky tone but this weekend it did come over me so badly that I had to run to the store and buy a nude nail polish.

Here I am wearing the Sally Hansen complete salon manicure in "Choco-Latte". Unfortunately I had to take this picture with a flash because otherwise it looked really yellow.

Nail art

Yesterday I have been trying some nail art. I have to say that it took me a while to try it since I am normally quite sceptical when it comes to this particular matter. I usually find most of it quite tacky especially on fake and super long nails and it's really not my cup of tea. But after watching a few videos on Youtube I decided to give it a try and this is what I came up with:

I drew little flowers on a black background and sealed everything with a matte top coat because to me the motive is much better visible than on a glossy nail. However, to me this is probably as far as nail art goes. 

The nail issue

Many of you might have seen nail varnished by Barry M. on other blogs and I, for my part, also cannot avoid it. I bought these 2 things today and I have to say I really love it.

So the first varnish is in the shade Mushroom and it has been widely successful. It looks a little bit like OPI's You don't know Jacques and there is also a similar ESSIE version available, but I thought I give this one a chance since it's only £2.99.

It is obviously the glossy version so to achieve the matte effect I used Rimmel's Matte Finish top coat and I think it looks awesome.

I admit it takes a little of getting used to since it's my first excursion into matte territory, but I will definitely be using is, especially because with that you can transform all your favourite varnishes into fashionable matte versions!

I am actually so impressed with Barry M.'s colour range that I would just buy the whole collection if I could. Check them out here.