Franken-free Friday: British Invasion!

Happy Friday!
Today I have a few colors to show you from across the pond. I recently received these pretties from my friend Vikki in the U.K., and had to wear them all immediately. These are all 2 coats.

First up, Barry M Berry Ice Cream, a beautiful light purple creme.

I think out of all the non-U.S. brands I own, I have the most Barry M’s. I have a huge collection of them, because they are AWESOME. The application is always perfect, and I love their color range.

Here is another of the newer colors, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, a light blue cream that is bright, but not neon. I’ve seen this one pop up on a few other blogs lately, and I can see why it is so popular!

I thought it might be useful to include some comparisons for this one, so here are a few other blues. Thumb to pinky: Orly Snowcone, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue Blast, Zoya Robyn, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, and OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui. None of them are exact dupes, but the SH Insta-Dri is very close. Snowcone has much more purple in it, Robyn is more neon, and SSFS isn’t really close at all, but I included it anyway for reference!

Another nice U.K. brand is Boots No. 7. Although I only own a couple of these, I’ve had good luck with this brand and no complaints. Here’s Totally Teal, a dark jelly-ish teal. I have never considered teal to be a vampy color, but this sure does a good job of convincing me:

And lately for today…Boots Violetta, a dark purple creme.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a TON of Barry M’s as well as other U.K. and foreign brands…so I may have those for you next Friday! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend! 🙂

Franken-free Friday: Sally Hansens and some nail art!

Happy Friday!

Today I have a few of the newer Sally Hansens to show you, as well as my attempt at some nail art. Nothing fancy, just playing around…but I figured I would post the pics anyway!

As you all may know, Sally Hansen recently revamped their entire “Salon” polish line…new colors, new brushes, and new bottle design. While I don’t particularly like the new bottles (I’m a square lover!), I do really love the brush. It’s bigger and has a rounded shape, similar to the Insta-Dri style. The rounded shape works excellent for getting a nice “gap”, and the bigger brush covers more of my nail, so I can paint faster!

First up, Lavender Cloud! Pretty name, even prettier color! It’s a clean, crisp pale white-lavender. I was really impressed at how smooth this went on. No streaks, no runny mess. I did 2 coats, and it was completely opaque:

Next, of course, the green! Grass Slipper (which I think is a hilarious name) is a green creme, and also applied nicely and covered great in 2 coats:

I jazzed this up a little by using french mani guides to make a diagonal design. The pink is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rose Rush. I love these Insta-Dri colors because they cover completely in only one coat, so I didn’t need to put much effort into this.

And lastly, one of the new Salon colors that I think has been greatly overlooked. Calypso Blue, which honestly doesn’t look like much in the bottle, is really gorgeous. It is an electric shimmery blue, and not the least bit sheer. 2 thin coats and I was good to go.

I snazzed this one up after a few days, using my new stencils from SmARTnails. After seeing a post about these on the nail board, I decided to order a few to try out. This is the “Small Teeth” design, and I used another Insta-Dri, Sea Breeze, as an accent color. It’s subtle, but that’s what I was going for. And I was a bit nervous about screwing up, I admit. These were foolproof, and not messy at all.

That’s all for today…I hope you all have a great Memorial weekend! 🙂