Oh hello glitter...

I've never been a fan of glitter nail varnish. It reminds me of when I was young and I used to play with my cousins nail varnishes when she was baby sitting me. I haven't owned one for years, and never really had the desire to. That is until I saw a recent picture of Katy Perry and her new husband at an awards bash, and she had the most fabulous red glitter on her nails. It was so sparkley and festive that it was hard to not to fall in love with instantly.

So what with all the snow we've had recently, I couldn't think of a better way to get me more in the christmas spirit than bagging my own bottle.

When I went to my local superdrug however, I was surprised by the lack of glitteriness I saw. There were lots of shimmer and sparkle varnishes, but I was looking for full on GLITTER.

I saw that the oh so reliable Barry M had the red glitter I was looking for, but the not so reliable superdrug had sold out. So I settled for the only other glitter varnish I could find. The Barry M 297 Blue Glitter.

The Nail Varnish itself is a vived blue, not one for the faint hearted. I was very surprised about how easily it glided onto my nails - I was expecting it to feel like sand paper. The varnish does need at least 2 coats - I put on three - but I found that after every coat that went on the colour intensified rapidly - a lot more than I was expecting and I would say more than your average varnish.

I would say the colour had more greeny tones than that in the picture. It does have a very course finish, as you would expect of any varnish of this nature, but after a slick of top coat, I was good to go and extremely pleased with the end result. I will definitely be purchasing the red glitter next time it is available. All I can say is Barry M - Bring out more! <3

While in superdrug, I wanted to take full advantage of the 3 for 2 on all cosmetics that they have running at the moment.

I decided to go for the Bourjois Fan Effect Brush in a shimmer pink colour, as I have always wanted to test out the brush and see what difference it made. Firstly the colour intensity was fabulous - you could definitely get away with just one coat of this stuff if you are in a rush.

But this was nothing compared to the brush. It was AH-MAZE-ING! It made painting my nails so quick and easy, and worked on every nail no matter how big it was. It gave each nail a ful even coat, and really did only take a second to do each nail as it says on the bottle. By far the best brush I have ever used. I was a little disappointed with the lack of choice on the colour front, but there is no doubt in my mind that I will be buying more of this nail varnish.

The third purchase I decided to go for was the new Barry M Instant Nail Effects varnish. This was bought as an experiment, and, although it is very different, I think I like it!

The idea is that you paint your nails as normal with a chosen colour - I used the Bourjois pink shimmer from above, but before putting putting on a top coat, you slick on a layer of this black varnish. As it instantly dries, it starts to crack, leaving a black pattern over your nail colour. It's a bit scary to use at first, and the amount that you put on can effect the outcome, but onces you find the correct consistancy, it looks really effective, and is also really fun trying it out with different colours. 

These pictures don't justify how good my nail looks, but it gives you an idea of the effect you get. I would highly recommend having a play about with it.

Stay safe in the weather :)

Lola Rose...x