Monday Monochrome

Happy Monday!

Just a quick post to share a nail look I rocked this weekend - Barry M black polish with 17's black and white graffiti top coat over the top. I've been so busy using this polish over different colour nails I didn't even think to put it over black!

I love the simplicity of this look - do you like it too?

Rimmel Matte Polish and Model's Own Splash Polish Reviews

In  a previous blog post I mentioned picking up the very pretty mermaid tears polish from the Model's Own Splash Collection.

I was so excited to use it; Revlon's Moon Candy in Dark Green is one of my favourite polishes and I hoped for the same effect. The overall effect of the Model's Own polish is really pretty and more or less the same as the Revlon version but in a big bottle!

For the base I used a berry red polish from Barry M for a contrast.


Every time my nails caught the light the different colours in the splash polish came through.

But...It was a bit of a pain to apply compared to Revlon's, and I either had no chunks of the foil particles or far too many on one nail. It meant my nails had A LOT of polish on to get the effect right, which then sadly meant they smudged, really, really quickly (as you can see in the pic!) - despite me waiting aaaaaaaages in between each coat and the final top coat. The other downfall is even with a top coat the foil pieces can catch easily and if you like to pick at your polish...well this ain't gonna last more than 2 days. It's a great look for an occasion, not so ideal for every day wear. I probably wouldn't buy more in the range, as even though the colours look different I imagine they all deliver a similar effect when used as a top coat over other polishes.

The next newbie was actually a Rimmel discontinued find in Sainsburys! Barry M recently brought out a matte polish range which for once I skipped on as the colours were too similar to polishes I already own. The Rimmel polish is a top coat so it can go over any polish, hurray! I'm a big fan of effect top coats that can be used like this - much better value for money in the long run!

In my excitement I slapped it on over a range of polishes to see what colours worked best. The only polish it struggled with was black, which is a shame as matte black looks great - but I will retry with a thinner coat of black. I used it over a few of Barry M's high shine gelly polishes to really put the matte coat to the test and was really impressed! 

Before the matte coat...

After....

It makes a nice change, in the end I settled for using it with Barry M's Cappucino Polish (probably my favourite polish ever - it's not quite purple, not quite mink) and it looked really chic. I think over all I like it best with the more muted colours. My nails still felt nice and smooth and it just changes up old polish! 

I prefer the muted shades with
the matte polish

Do you like matte nails or want all out shine?