Hello! Today presents the inception of the A to Z series! This is a little series that I’ll be doing with Charlie from Pocket Money Polishes, Anna from AnnaBean’s Nails, Sarah from Penny Pinching Polish and Kerrie from Pish Posh and Polish 🙂 what happens is we each choose a nail polish who’s name begins with the letter corresponding to that week – as such, today is A, and I have chosen Barry M Arabian, which is from the Barry M Aquarium Collection <—- click to see my reviews on other polishes in the collection! 😀
Hope that makes sense because my brain is well and truly all over the place today! I realised while trying to choose an ‘A’ polish, I don’t have a huge amount that begin with ‘a’ compared to some other letters – let me know some ideas!
Arabian is pretty similar to quite a few duochromes we’ve seen previously, so I’ve included a little comparison picture at the bottom of the post for your interest! It’s basically a golden-green foily shimmer with a flash of darker greeny-blue. It’s super pretty, although I do own at least one other polish that’s very similar. This is a perfect toenail colour (oh and I forgot to mention I’ve been wearing Barry M Caspian on my toes all week and my toes have never looked so elegant!).
Application:
This is totally opaque at 2 coats. It can be a little brush strokey so try to paint in straight lines from cuticle to tip. The foily nature of the nail varnish also means that it can drag the pigment easily and leave bald patches, particularly near the cuticle so be careful to use enough polish, and to not go over the same place too many times. I would leave a good 5 mins between coats to be on the safe side. This dries to a really lovely shimmery chrome-type finish, which doesn’t *need* topcoat but it does look fab with it – I’d say topcoat optional.
And as promised, here is a little comparison for you:
Left to right: 3 coats of Revlon Chroma Topaz, 2 coats of Barry M Arabian, 2 coats of Topshop Eclipse, 2 coats of Barry M Arabian.
I would say Barry M Arabian and Topshop Eclipse are fairly dead-on dupes… if you’re being fussy Eclipse is a teeny bit more gold. Revlon Chroma Topaz however is much thinnner and more watery – even at 3 coats it doesn’t have the opacity or the duochrome shift of the other two. I found application harder with the Revlon as it still drags but is more sheer than the other two. Definitely not a dupe!
Arabian, and all the other Barry M Aquarium Nail Effects cost just £3.99 from Boots, Superdrug and Barry M (and they’re often on offer so keep an eye out!). Remember to check out the other girls’ posts for their ‘A’ polishes! 😀
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