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Tuesday 29 January 2013

NOTD Barry M Black and MUA Nail Constellation in Libra

I was very lucky recently and won a giveaway from the lovely Jasmine at Oh So Flawless (thank you!) Included was one of the fairly new MUA Nail Constellations which are a high street dupe of the Ciaté Caviar manicures. They come in a few different colour mixes and I got Libra which contains mostly black beads with a few turquoise. I figured that it would look best over a plain black background and I found a Barry M one in my collection that I hadn't tried yet.


The Barry M Black was streaky on the first application but fully opaque on the second coat. It also dried fairly quickly which is great. The Nail Constellation managed to thoroughly confuse me. It literally couldn't figure out how to open the damn thing! I pulled off the tip and nothing came out... turns out I was being an absolute fool. The entire cap comes off (with a bit off effort) and there is a small piece of plastic sheeting covering the beads. Despite there being an applicator tube I decided it would be easiest to go for a dipping method and promptly poured some into a bowl. The hard part came later when I was trying to put the excess back in the bottle!


I decided to opt for an accent nail rather than a full manicure because it just seems so much easier to wear! The beads themselves stuck very well and I loved the black on black. I think the amount of turquoise beads wasn't very well thought out though. It's practically impossible to achieve even spacing so they just look a bit random and out of place. Not that the colour even mattered, because within a couple of hours the turquoise beads had turned silver. As soon as I got them wet the colour disappeared which is a bit disappointing. Despite the issues I actually really did like the look and they lasted much longer than I thought they would. I always imagined caviar manicures to be more of a one night deal but these lasted a good few days until I took them off (because the Barry M polish had chipped.) I did lose a few on the first day when I pulled something out of my pocket but they mostly stayed put when the polish solidified. I think this pot is going to last absolutely ages, you need hardly any for the look. I'm not sure if I'll buy any more though simply because I'm not sure how much I would wear them. I'm very happy that I got the chance to try them out though, thanks again Jasmine!

You can buy MUA Nail Constellation at Superdrug or on the MUA website for £3. (Bargain!)

Have you tried these or the Ciate manicures? Would love to know what you think!

Lauren

51 comments:

  1. Ciate is exactly the same, overnight mine lost their colour. They look lovely though :) xx

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    1. That's such a pity :( I'm just glad the black stayed black. I honestly think I would have preferred the beads to all be black, would have been very classy :) x

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  2. They look lovely but I have done them and they just wear off, however i prefer your one nail look to full nails and they are great for evenings out x

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    1. I can imagine a full mani would be a bit of a nightmare! I was irritated enough when I lost some off the tip of one finger haha. So glad you like it :) x

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  3. I saw these on the MUA stand but wasn't sure if its something I'd like but yours looks really pretty!
    It looks nice as an accent nail!
    hareem x

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    1. It's certainly pretty unique :) worth picking up one just to have a play with. I'm glad I got to try them out :) x

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  4. I never picked these up because of the reviews I'd seen, and I'm pretty glad I didn't! They just seem too much hassle! x

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    1. They definitely can be a bit fiddly haha. That's why I went for the heavy handed squishing method ;) x

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  5. This looks really cute!
    I was looking at these in superdrug the other day, but my natural nails are so tiny, I don't think they would really look that great on me.
    The black on black looks so classy, easily workable for everyday.
    x

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    1. I'm not sure to be honest. The beads are smaller than I thought they were, I did get quite a lot on one nail. Might be worth a try if they're on offer or something :)
      Have to agree! Very simple and elegant :) x

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  6. As much as I like this look I dont think I have the paitence to sit down and figure it out!
    It seems too much hassle! They do look lovely though :)
    Amber
    amberlee6309.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. haha I did have a bit of a time trying to pull the cap off with my drying manicure. Glad I didn't have an spectators to that show :| x

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  7. I think the accent nail looks amazing :) x

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  8. I love your nails. Sometimes it can be over done with the full set of nails dolled up, but one is just perfect :)

    Check out my lipstick giveaway including MAC and more.

    Mintyessence

    xx

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    1. Thank you! :)

      Ooh thanks for the link! I was already following but must have missed the giveaway. Will definitely enter! x

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  9. I love the thought of these types of nails but don't think I could handle how high maintenance they seem... I'd go absolutely nuts if even just one bead fell off haha :)

    Cassie
    thriftthick.blogspot.com

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    1. it's really not too bad! :) once they're fully set I didn't lose any. Although I couldn't stop feeling them and picking them because I liked the texture haha x

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  10. You're very welcome :* I'm so glad you like them! this nail look is so pretty. I hate having such short nails, I have to put fake ones on to do any time of cute nail combo but i'll definently be doing something similar soon xo

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  11. Ooh I do like the black-on-black! I've had some of these for a while and haven;t been able to figure out how to get into them either so Im glad its not just me! :)

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  12. These are lovely! I really need to pick up a MUA nail constellations!

    http://thefashiondistrictnlc.blogspot.co.uk/

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  13. I've got that MUA constellation ages ago and still haven't tries it, I need to finally give it a go x

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  14. These look so cool together and the nail polish is so glossy! xxx
    http://life-according-to-chloe.blogspot.co.uk/

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  15. These nails look so fun! Too much hassle for a full mani but i'll definitely try this on an accent nail. Thanks for posting!

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