Monthly Archives: February 2012

Barry M Neon Yellow

So this is rather a bright yellow! I’m talking fluorescent highlighter yellow:

Barry M Neon Yellow Nail Paint Shimmer Bright Highlighter UK polish fluorescent Summer gloss

Barry M Neon Yellow Nail Paint Shimmer Bright Highlighter UK polish fluorescent Summer gloss

Barry M Neon Yellow Nail Paint Shimmer Bright Highlighter UK polish fluorescent Summer gloss

Barry M Neon Yellow Nail Paint Shimmer Bright Highlighter UK polish fluorescent Summer gloss

So with most yellows, application can be a problem. Not here! This was opaque in 3 coats. Also, most neon polishes dry matte, however Neon Yellow dried to a relatively glossy finish. I think that can probably be attributed to the silvery shimmer running through it. My ring finger has no topcoat on. There’s definitely a rubbery element to the finish but it’s very definitely glossy. There’s also a greenish tinge to the yellow, which makes it look much better on my pink fingers than a pure yellow does. It’s much like a yellow highlighter, that’s the only way I can think to describe the colour!

Application:

The polish dried quickly and was opaque in 3 coats. It’s worth being aware that the polish is touch-dry a few minutes after application, but remains dentable for a good hour or so! I had to completely redo two nails as I was having a bit of an absent-brain-day. I used two coats of basecoat underneath as I was worried this polish would stain. Suffice to say, I did have to work that little bit harder to get the yellow out but the extra coat did the trick. My nails remain un-stained. I would definitely recommend you use an extra coat of basecoat to save your nails from staining!

It’s definitely a wildly eye-catching polish and not for the faint-hearted. There is just no way you can hide it when it’s on! It’s almost luminescent. This is yet another Barry M I’ve never seen in shops, and another one my mum kindly bought me for Christmas from Barry M online!

Have you tried this one? Would you wear such a bright polish or are you all about the darks? I guess it’s a really good polish for summer. I think it would probably look best on darker skin than mine, but I’m never going to get a tan as it’s England!

How is your week going? I have some  very exciting news: my Andy has launched his business online this week and it has so far been very successful! He’s monitoring the traffic at the moment so I won’t link it but I am very proud of him! He has worked so hard. I’m back at uni now and getting back into the swing of things.

x

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Barry M Lavender Hexograms

This is a lovely polish I coveted for a long time. I know it’s probably best used as a glitter topcoat but it looks very very pretty over bare nails, as long as you don’t have overly stained nails 😀 unless you’re looking closely, the free edge is barely visible as the glitter is so reflective.

Barry M Lavender Hexograms Square Glitter nail polish lilac purple top coat silver microglitter

Barry M Lavender Hexograms Square Glitter nail polish lilac purple top coat silver microglitter

Barry M Lavender Hexograms Square Glitter nail polish lilac purple top coat silver microglitter

Barry M Lavender Hexograms Square Glitter nail polish lilac purple top coat silver microglitter

These photos all showed 3 coats. Next is a photo showing the buildability of the polish 🙂

Barry M Lavender Hexograms Square Glitter nail polish lilac purple top coat silver microglitter

So, as you can see, it’s never really going to be ‘opaque’. However, as I mentioned before, it’s so reflective and sparkly that the nail beneath isn’t all that visible. Still, it makes a very pretty topcoat :). Lavender Hexograms is essentially a load of lilac square glitter along with silver microglitter, suspended in a clear nail polish. I love the silver microglitter, it gives such a nice touch. Not sure I understand where ‘hexograms’ came from in the name ;).

Application:

Lavender Hexograms dries at about the usual rate of a non-glitter polish. It did take a little bit longer than usual, but I have a feeling that this was due to the fact that I was pushing the squares around so the layers may have ended up quite thick. I don’t think it’s much of a problem at one or two coats, so it should be fine as a topcoat. I did notice that because the squares are quite large, they did need to be ‘aligned’, as the brush drags them to the end and off the nail as you polish. It’s not too much of a bother but worth knowing if you’re one of those people who doesn’t like the unevenness glitter topcoats can give you.

This is another one that my mum bought me directly from the Barry M website – I’ve never seen it before anywhere else.

This polish gets a huge thumbs up from me for it’s uniqueness – I’ve never seen a topcoat with square glitter and the purple makes it’s ever so pretty. What do you think?

x

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Revlon Grapefruit Fizz

This is another of the new Revlons that have crept into Boots and Superdrug. Both currently have an offer on Revlon nail polish. In Superdrug it’s 2 nail polishes for £9.99, and in Boots it’s 2 for £10.

Grapefruit Fizz would be a perfect Valentine’s Day polish, it’s a lovely subtle sweet pink with orangey-pink reflects. How was your Valentine’s Day? My Andy cooked me dinner and set up a candle-lit dinner table and bought me the most beautiful decorative rose I’ve ever seen. I love that I can look at it all year round and it won’t fade 😀

Revlon Grapefruit Fizz Scented Nail Polish Glass Fleck Pink Flakie Sheer UK Boots Superdrug

Revlon Grapefruit Fizz Scented Nail Polish Glass Fleck Pink Flakie Sheer UK Boots Superdrug

Revlon Grapefruit Fizz Scented Nail Polish Glass Fleck Pink Flakie Sheer UK Boots Superdrug

Revlon Grapefruit Fizz Scented Nail Polish Glass Fleck Pink Flakie Sheer UK Boots Superdrug

In the pictures, I have 4 coats of Grapefruit Fizz on all fingers except my ring finger, which has 3 coats. The polish is very sheer but also very buildable. I love love love the soft sugary pink and I personally am a fan of the sheerness, I feel like it makes my nails look very clean. You could still see the free edge of my nail in bright light, but this doesn’t bother me. If you don’t like visible nail line, I really wouldn’t recommend this polish unless you plan to use it for layering.

Grapefruit Fizz is a sheer jelly. The finish is a lovely glass-fleck, almost flakie-esque, and the polish somehow reflects orangey-pink in certain lights. This is one of those colours I wouldn’t like as a creme and probably not even as a shimmer, but there’s something about glass-fleck that is just irresistable!

The polish is scented – personally I wouldn’t call it a grapefruit scent, it smells very synthetic, I wouldn’t even call it an ester scent. Almost like sweets, perhaps, but very sickly ones! I’m not really a fan of the scentedness. It made me feel quite sick after a while.

Application:

Clearly, this is a very sheer polish, and required several layers to build opacity. However the coats did dry quickly so this wasn’t too much of an issue for me, and the polish applied nicely too. My only problem (personally) was with the scent, but I managed to defumigate with some candles 🙂

What do you guys think? This might just be one of my favourite polishes ever, it’s so delicate and elegant. Subtle enough for work, for sure. I’m loving my week off, and being able to wear nail polish again! I have a huge pile of ‘unblogged’ nail polishes to get through 😛

How was your Valentine’s Day? What did you do?

x

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Barry M Green Glitter

First off, I’ve been having a play around with my blog, as I’m sure my returning visitors will notice, pretty much everything but the content has changed! It’s likely to change more in the coming weeks, I’m not totally happy with it yet. I’ve made many adjustments to the original theme thanks to my Andy. I can’t pretend to be a computer whiz… Andy did pretty much everything, I managed to change the font coding on my own but that was it!!

Now this lovely glitter. It has won my heart! The best I can think to describe it is AstroTurf green. The texture kind of makes me think of AstroTurf too. I apologise in advance; the pictures all seem to either pull a little more aquamarine than in real life, or make the polish look paler/less dense than it really is. My camera doesn’t seem to want to play ball lately. I can assure you, it’s a very true green, no blue here!

Barry M Green Glitter nail polish dense fresh frog bel air opi clear base rich green forest astroturf fake grass dazzling bright
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Barbara Daly Starlight

This is the polish I wore underneath Barry M Croc Effects – it’s the perfect ensemble for a sophisticated do 🙂

Barbara Daly Starlight nail polish starlight gold champagne foil silver shimmer Christmas

Barbara Daly Starlight nail polish starlight gold champagne foil silver shimmer Christmas

Barbara Daly Starlight nail polish starlight gold champagne foil silver shimmer Christmas

Barbara Daly Starlight nail polish starlight gold champagne foil silver shimmer Christmas

The pictures show 2 coats, although I think if I had longer nails I would add a third for good measure. Starlight is a gorgeous champagney-silvery-gold foil. It’s subtle in that it doesn’t add a huge amount of colour to the nail but it does draw attention with its shimmery goodness! It’s a bit of a colour-changer too, in the first photo it looks quite a saturated gold, moving through to a very pale, silvery gold in the final photo. Very elegant.

Application:

I can’t really fault it, it glides on and dries quickly, and there were no bald patches.

I know there are dupes out there for this one, but perhaps not so accessible to us UK ladies as those of you in the US. Also I think MaxFactor do a very similar mini, but the Barbara Daly mini (7ml) costs £3 in Tesco, where the MaxFactor mini (4.5ml) costs £3.99. And Barbara Daly is often on 3 for 2 – who is the clear winner?

Have any of you tried Barbara Daly polishes? I have 5 now, all are very much cherished in my collection! I bought Starlight when I was feeling very festive right before Christmas

x

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.