Barry M Gelly Collection Spring 2015 Swatches, Review & Comparisons

Hey there! So I promised (stupidly) to get this post up last night, but had an unexpected visit from my mum’s partner – which was lovely! – but I ran out of time to write this review unfortunately. So I hope you will accept my profuse apologies 🙂

Today I have the new Barry M Spring 2015 Gelly Nail Paint collection to show you (thanks to the PR team at Barry M for sending me these to review 🙂 ). I am loving that the Gelly line has taken off, so much so that we are still seeing releases nearly 3 years after the first Gellies came out. Happy happy. I loved them back then, and I am still loving them now! Barry M have brought out some lovely spring shades this time – only three, but all are great staple shades.

As always I have swatched a couple of similar-looking shades to compare with the colours, so that you can be sure you aren’t buying dupes!

As an aside – I muchly apologise for my fingers looking oily, I have been religiously applying cuticle oil the last few days, since I dried my skin out big time using soak-off gels. Sorry!

Cotton Gelly

Okay everyone. The moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived. Here we have a white creme gelly. And this is basically, the perfect white creme. It may be a little off-white, but I really can’t tell. I am very happy to see a white Gelly Nail Paint – now we just need a pure dark green, a black and a bright yellow! Anyway…

Application: I have applied this about 3 times since receiving it. I am finding it hit and miss. One coat is nearly perfect opacity, but the second coat becomes problematic for me. I found if I didn’t leave it long enough (say 7-10 mins) I would get air bubbles in the polish, so you need to be careful of that. Also it is a little on the thick side, so be careful to paint only thin coats. Nevertheless, it dries relatively quickly, to a perfectly glossy shine and is totally opaque at 2 coats.

Left to right: Barry M Cotton Gelly, Barry M Coconut Gelly, Barry M Cotton Gelly, Barry M Matt White.

As you can see, Coconut Gelly is just a little more nude-toned than Cotton Gelly. I would say if you find pure white nail polish to be too stark or clashes too much with your skin tone, go for Coconut as a nice off-white. Matt White on the other hand is basically the perfect dupe for Cotton, in terms of colour. The formula is different though – you can probably get away with one coat of Cotton, while Matt White can be streaky. I’d choose Cotton, of the two.

Fondant Gelly

This is a sugary-sweet pinky-lilac. I thought I would like this more than I do, but it’s perhaps a little too pink-leaning to be a favourite, for me anyway. Despite that, it’s pretty and flattering, and I like it.

Application: This took 2 coats for full opacity. Again, be careful to use thin coats, to avoid bubbles, but other than that it was faultless. Applies nicely and dries relatively quickly, to a nice glossy finish.

Left to right: Barry M Berry Ice Cream, Barry M Fondant Gelly, Barry M Lap of Honour Speedy, Barry M Fondant Gelly.

As you can see, none of these are similar. Fondant Gelly is much lighter and brighter than the other two.

Sky Blue

This is my undoubted favourite of the three (unusual for me as blues aren’t always my thing) – this is a green-leaning blue creme. It’s too bright to be a pastel, but too light to be a bright. Haha. Anyway, I really love it!

Application: This one actually took me either two thick coats or three slightly thinner coats, as it’s a little bit more sheer than the other two. I think it will depend on the length & staining of your free edge as to how many coats you will need. It applies really nicely, dries fairly quickly and to a lovely glossy finish.

Left to right: Barry M Elderberry Gelly, Barry M Sky Blue, Barry M Sugar Apple Gelly, Barry M Huckleberry Gelly.

Surprisingly, Sugar Apple is pretty close to Sky Blue. In person, the difference is more definite (Sugar Apple is more mint green while Sky Blue is more turquoise) – unfortunately this doesn’t easily translate on camera. I would say they are different enough that you need both. Huckleberry is more pastel, while Elderberry is way out there!

Overall:

I really really love Sky Blue, Cotton is a must-have staple white, and I like Fondant a lot. If I had to leave one it would be Fondant, but I feel like it will grow on me. I’m not sure why but this time round I had a bit of trouble with air bubbles, which is abnormal in my experience of Gellies (but could just be me) but to err on the side of caution I would advise you apply thin coats where possible.

I think the three colours go perfectly together, so in many ways this is the perfect Spring collection.

The Barry M Spring 2015 Gellies are available in Superdrug now, and in Boots from 18th February, for £3.99 each.

What do you think of these? I am a big fan! Let me know in the comments 🙂