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Gem's Spring Nails 2014

I am a nailpolishaholic. If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you will know I like to post obnoxious pictures of my painted nails on a regular basis…I do apologise πŸ™‚

So I trifled through my collection to talk about the nail polish colours that represent Spring in a nail polish bottle for me. By all means you can switch and change brands and shades, these are just what I own.I am a firm believer that if you have and use a good base coat and top coat, you can use any brand of coloured polish and it should last pretty well on your talons!

I have very recently downsized my collection in order to fit them onto myΒ  new acrylic wall rack. So I threw out all the polishes I was hoarding in boxes and only kept the ones I know I would actually use:

Nail Polish Acrylic Rack

So onto my picks for Spring:

My Spring Nail Polish Picks

Firstly I had to pick a hot pink. A hot pink is essential in Spring for me, it looks fab on your fingernails and your toenails and goes with everything, and helps accentuate a tan whether it be natural or from a bottle πŸ™‚

Nail Polish

I chose a BarryM colour. These polishes are so readily available in Boots and Superdrug, they are cheap and they have such a wide range of colours. I love them.

IMG_2662

Barry M Limited Edition 029

Barry M in Limited Edition 029

Next up I chose Peach. Peach is a colour that screams warmer weather to me. It’s the colour of icepops and sweets πŸ™‚ It’s a good colour to have for those, who do not want to go crazy with their nail colour as it can look quite subtle and clean on the nails. I chose another Barry M polish, shock horror, this was a cult buy for last summer within the blogosphere!

Spring Colours

 

 

Barry M Peach Melba

Barry M Peach Melba

Barry M Peach Melba 318

 

 

 

 

Next I chose… another Barry M pastel tone! I’m sorry but they’re lovely πŸ™‚ I have a good cross section of brands in my collection but Barry M are really good and the pastels are lovely and creamy. Two coats and you’re good to go! So I chose a pastel lilac tone.

Spring Nails

I love this colour and lilac is very on trend at the minute. Again, if you are afraid of colour, even use something like this on your accent nail for a touch of something different.

Barry M 308

Barry M 308 Barry I/C

Barry M 308 Barry I/C

I have a sky blue shade chosen for my next spring nail polish. I think this sort of shade looks great on all skin tones and looks really interesting on long and short nails alike. It can really jazz up a look without going too over board.

Spring Nail Colours

This is an Essie shade, I love Essie polish from the point of view that their colour selection is amazing and the polishes themselves are easy to apply and do not need much working with. However, I will say they don’t last aswell as some other brands of polishes and they cost a small fortune here in Ireland, if other brands do the same shade for cheaper I say get it!

Essie Polish

 

Essie Mint Candy Apple

Essie Mint Candy Apple

Lastly, I chose a shade that is not for the faint hearted. This shade of nearly apple green sums up Spring in a colour to me. If you’re someone like me who loves bright colours on their nails, rock the hell out of it, if not this would be a great accent colour on the ring finger or whichever finger you choose to be brave with:

Spring polish

This particular polish is a Revlon polish. Revlon do a great formula of polishes, I have a few of them and they are some of my firm favourites. I can’t wait to give their new perfumed range a go πŸ™‚

Revlon Polish

 

Revlon 510 Sassy

Revlon 510 Sassy

 

So there you have it, my spring nail wardrobe. I am rarely without nail polish, I don’t feel put together without it. Whether it is to compliment your look with a similar hue to your clothes or makeup or for it to contrast it, it all looks good in my book πŸ™‚

Thanks letting me ramble on,

Gemma

xxx

Selection of Pigments

Pigments? Scary…they are a bit I must admit, but they are so pretty! I haven’t many of them, but I wanted to share some of the ones I have accumulated over time. When alot of us think of pigments, we think of Mac, I know I do anyway. I cannot justify the money they ask for them, even if they are beautiful. So here are some more purse friendly ones and in my opinion just as pretty. There is one high end one thrown in for good luck, just because I couldn’t resist showing it off, hope you don’t mind πŸ™‚

makeup brushes

Pigments are fab to use just like shadows packed onto the lid with a flat stiff brush, as a light wash over shadows for a touch of sparkle or foiled onto the lid with some sort of mixing medium ie Mac Fix Plus, Inglot’s Duraline or even eye drops can be used to intensify the metal sheen or colour of the pigment.

I have some in my collection from Barry M which are readily available from Boots and Superdrug and come in all sorts of colours and finishes. They are priced at 5.99Euro. The others are from an American brand called Makeup Geek. Makeup Geek is owned by Marlena who is firstly a makeup artist. She started initially as a Youtuber and now has her own makeup line which is pretty fab. I own some her eyeshadows, lipsticks and of course pigments. The pigments are priced at 6.99 dollars from the website. Their shipping is pretty reasonable too.

First up is Barry M’s pigment in Number 4:

Barry M DazzleDust No 4No 4No 4

This is a really pretty silver pigment. It’s more of a chunky formula with silver glitter particles. I would definitely use a mixing medium like Mac’s Fix plus to adhere this to the eyelid as it will fall down and create a mess. I like to use this on my lower lash line for a pop of something extra. I wet a synthetic eyeliner brush with some fix plus and add the glitter carefully. I usually do this before I do my face makeup to ensure I only get glitter where I want it πŸ™‚

Mac Fix Plus

Next is probably one of my very favourites. This is Afterglow by Makeup Geek:

Afterglow Makeup GeekAfterglowAfterglow

It is a gorgeous shimmery champagne colour. This is a really finely milled pigment which is fab all over the lid for an everyday eye look, or as a pop of lightness in the middle of a smoky eye. It’s fab as an inner corner highlight also. A great all round colour I think.

Barry M’s No 98 is next:

Barry M Dazzledust No 98No 98No 98

This pigment has a black/blue base with really fine blue glitter through it. Perfect for an intense navy smoky look which looks great on a brown,green or hazel eyes. I rock this alot. I use a navy cream shadow underneath it and pack this on over the top. Love it πŸ™‚

Utopia By Makeup Geek is next:

Makeup Geek UtopiaUtopiaUtopia

Utopia is another chunkier pigment. In order to get the best pay off, I suggest again wetting the brush you use and foil the pigment onto the lid. You then get a fab dark brown base with gold glitter through it. This is a fab lid colour.

Barry M’s No 27 pigment is next:

Barry M no 27 DazzledustNo 27No 27

This is a lovely white pigment with a soft fleck of golden glitter running through it. I love this as an extreme inner corner highlight (for special occasions πŸ˜› ). It is fab over darker shadows to add a sheen or as a gradient colour on the inner lid into a darker shade.

Here I have Makeup Geek’s shade in Insomnia:

Makeup Geek Pigment InsomniaInsomniaInsomnia

This a really unusual shade. It is brown with green running through it, a two tone shade. It is really pigmented and blends very easily. This would be great for someone who isn’t great at blending colours as it is pretty much two shades in one, so it looks like you’ve spent loads of time adding different colours when you didn’t πŸ™‚

The last on is Illamasqua’s Beguile:

Beguileillamsqua Pigment in BeguileBeguile

This is the perfect going out glitter. I really couldn’t get a picture to do it justice. It’s a Barbie sparkle for all us grown ups out there. It’s fab over every kind of shadow or creams to bring a bit of glitter to your look. I love using this in the middle of my lid with a dark or light eye. The light catches it beautifully.

So there you have it, some pretty pigments. They can be underrated sometimes. I know I can leave them in a drawer and forget about them. They’re not as scary as you think though I promise, just don’t let it fall on the floor πŸ˜›

Thanks for reading.

Gemma

xxx

So pay day was last week, so I thought I would treat myself to some things I had my eye on whilst poor. Here’s my makeup haul πŸ™‚

 

irish beauty blog

So for everything pictured I headed into Boots to get. I got the oily gals version of the Bourjois Happy Light primer, the Happy Light Base Serum Matite, and their cream bronzing primer. I also picked up their Universal Illuminating powder to give it a go aswell, as it’s been compared to the Hourglass powders by some and is a quarter of the price and Bourjois was on 3 for 3 happy days.Β I got a Barry M eye Kohl in No 28 I really like their liners and they’re cheap too. Oh and some E45 moisturiser cos ya gots to keep your skin in check!

And I couldn’t walk by the Sleek stand without having a nosey. So got their new eye shadow palette in Garden of Eden, some amazing green and brown shades in this, roll on Paddy’s day πŸ™‚ I also got a Matte Me Lip Cream in No 431 Fandango Purple and since Sleek is on 3 for two at the minute like Bourjois I was able to grab a Blush By 3 Palette in No 369 Pink Lemonade too.

I also bought the Ben Nye Cameo Powder online and am loving it!

Ben Nye Cameo Powder

My cheeky Zara purchase came on this miserable Monday too to make me feel a bit better:

Zara Spring Bag 2014

This is a little bag perfect for a night out from Zara’s new Spring range for 2014. It’s navy “leather” with square studs and has a flap over to close.Is it really bad that I bought this bag to match my Louboutins, that are still in the box and I’m afraid to wear? Maybe having this might entice me to get them out of the box and bring them for a test drive…

So quick little makeup haul for you of my weekend purchases, don’t judge πŸ™‚

Thanks for reading.

Gemma

xxx