Barry M Speedy Quick Dry Collection – Swatches, Review & Comparisons

Hello! I have a treat for you today 🙂 it comes in the form of a new, 9-strong Barry M collection. Yep – nine – so this is going to be a looooong post! Barry M were kind enough to send me the full collection. As always, I’ve included comparisons with other Barry M nail paints, so grab a cuppa and settle in 🙂

The new collection is the “Speedy Nail Paint Collection” for Spring 2015. So-called because the nail polishes are quick-dry colours. Rather aptly for spring, they are all pastel colours (or muted variations of brights!).

I do love themed packaging, and this collection doesn’t disappoint! The caps are Speedway flag-style checkerboard black and white – and incredibly eye-catching.

New brush:

With this new collection Barry M are bringing us a new “flat control-flow brush”. On the right you can see it compared with the usual Barry M brush – this particular one is a Gelly. I have quite broad nails so often find a flatter, wider brush benefits my application (though I can’t speak for people with narrower nails than I!) – this brush is very flat, and the bristles are rounded which makes neatness by the cuticle easier. I hadn’t noticed before, but after using this one and going back to do the comparison swatches I actually found the normal Barry M brush to be a bit of a pain! I think it depends on the person really. What’s nice is it doesn’t pick up too much polish, unlike the Rimmel pro-wide brushes – I think this is due in part to the amount of bristles (which are fewer in the Barry Ms).

Edited to add: I don’t think the brush is new across-the-board, I think it specific only to this collection!

Application:

I found the application to be pretty consistent across the board with this collection (yay!). All were streaky on the first coat, but evened out by the 2nd coat. All the swatches are at 2 coats. They self-level quite well. They aren’t thick, but they do dry quite quickly so it’s important to use as few strokes as possible, or it may drag. On the drying – I expect this is interchangeable depending on the thickness of the coats you apply, and what basecoat you use, etc. For me they were dry in under a minute, and within 5 minutes they were pretty indestructible. The finish is shiny, but could benefit from a topcoat for extra glossiness.

So, onto swatches!

Pole Position

Pole Position is a muted pistachio green creme. It’s totally unique to my collection (hence no comparison swatch). I expected to hate this against my skin tone, as yellow-toned nail polish always clashes with my pink-toned skin. But this is actually quite flattering (the clashiness looks worse in the photo than it does in real life!). This ended up being one of my favourites, surprisingly!

Road Rage

Road Rage is a soft seafoam green creme. I am totally smitten with this colour 🙂 I feel like this is flattering on everyone.

Left to right: Barry M Sugar Apple Gelly, Barry M Road Rage Speedy, Barry M Mint Green, Barry M Road Rage Speedy.

Sugar Apple is lighter, and brighter – definitely more of a pastel. Mint Green is surprisingly darker, and takes 3 coats for opacity where the others are 2. No dupes here!

Eat My Dust

This is a very soft powder blue creme – what I like about Eat My Dust is that (despite the name!) it’s dainty and pretty, and while many pastel blues can appear chalky or stark, this one certainly doesn’t. I never really clicked with ‘Huckleberry Gelly’ for that reason, but I imagine I will be wearing this one a lot this spring!

Left to right: Barry M Blue Moon, Barry M Huckleberry Gelly, Barry M Eat My Dust Speedy, Barry M Elderberry Gelly.

It certainly feels like Barry M have brought out their fair share of pale blues, but thankfully they are all quite different. If I was to be picky, I’d say Blue Moon and Huckleberry are slightly yellow-toned, while Eat My Dust appears almost a little lilac by comparison. Blue Moon also requires 3 coats for opacity, while the others are all 2 coats.

Pit Stop

This is somewhere between a nude and a grey creme – I like this a lot. This is the type of colour I’d wear for interviews (which I will probably be doing a lot of in the next month or so!), as it’s modest but pretty, and a bit more interesting than a nude.

Left to right: Barry M Vanilla Matte, Barry M Pit Stop Speedy, Barry M Almond Gelly, Barry M Pit Stop Speedy.

When I first saw Pit Stop, I did think Barry M had actually brought out yet another dupe of Vanilla Matte, but I was pleasantly surprised to find they are a good few shades apart. My favourite is Pit Stop. All 2 coats.

Lap of Honour

This is a dusty mauve creme. I like that the purple is quite apparent despite it being quite neutral-toned – usually I dislike muted purples but this is just bright enough for me to love it 🙂

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

No dupes here, Berry Ice Cream and Fondant are both too vibrant – a little sweeter, if a colour can be such a thing! I will have a review of Fondant Gelly, and the other two new Barry M Gellies up hopefully tomorrow – just FYI! 🙂

Kiss Me Quick

This is a bright baby pink. Not really my kind of colour, but still pretty! I love it in the bottle but I can never keep it on for long (unless I cover it up with some nail art!).

Left to right: Barry M Rose Hip Gelly, Barry M Kiss Me Quick Speedy, Barry M Strawberry Milkshake, Barry M Kiss Me Quick Speedy.

All of these are quite different – I think Kiss Me Quick is quite a classic milkshake pink, while Rose Hip is much paler. Strawberry Ice Cream is more red-toned and more of a jelly – it takes 3 coats for opacity, while the other two were 2 coats.

In A Heart Beat

This is a classic salmon pink. I really like salmon pinks and this is no exception. Very flattering! Although this one is slightly muted, so not as bright as you might envisage when I call it salmon. When I first saw it I couldn’t decide if its dupes might lie in the orange colour family or with the purer pinks, so I’ve done two sets of comparisons. Hope you don’t mind ;).

Left to right: Barry M Papaya Gelly, Barry M In a Heart Beat Speedy, Barry M Peach Melba, Barry M In a Heart Beat Speedy. 

Well none of these are similar at all! In my mind Papaya was more pink-toned but next to these two it’s looking pretty orange. All 2 coats.

Left to right: Barry M Pink Flamingo, Barry M In a Heart Beat Speedy, Barry M Miami Matte, Barry M In a Heart Beat Speedy.

Again, none of these are similar, but it should give you an idea of how much it’s not a true pink. Haha. All 2 coats.

Full Throttle 

This is a middle-orange, quite muted creme. I think this is the only colour in the collection that I actually dislike – it’s really not me and clashes a lot with my pink skin. I would still have bought it though – if only to keep my collection of Barry Ms complete (yes, really!). You can see how unhappy it makes my skin colour look!!

Left to right: Barry M Papaya Gelly, Barry M Full Throttle Speedy, Barry M Peach Melba, Barry M Full Throttle Speedy.

Nothing quite close here – this time, Papaya and Peach Melba are more pink-toned. If you’re wondering if Barry M Mango Gelly is similar – it’s much more vibrant and rich than Full Throttle, and is a good few tones apart. In all honesty I forgot about it until now! All these are 2 coats.

Stop The Clock

This is a very yellow-toned nude, or a nude-toned pastel yellow creme (I can’t decide!). In theory I should hate this – in general I really dislike pale yellows on my nails as they really do clash a LOT with my skin tone, but this one somehow looks okay on me. And there’s something about it that I actually really like – I just can’t place why!

Left to right: Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, Barry M Stop the Clock Speedy, Barry M Lychee Gelly, Barry M Stop the Clock Speedy.

In my mind Lemon Ice Cream has always been a pastel yellow (or at least pale!), but looking here, it’s so *not* pastel it’s unreal! What was I thinking! Anyway, this at least gives you an idea of the yellowness of Stop The Clock. I don’t think I have anything like it. All 2 coats.

Overall:

I love half of the collection, but if it wasn’t Barry M I probably would have left Full Throttle, In A Heart Beat, and Kiss Me Quick on the shelf. Mainly because they don’t look great on me or I have other similar colours in my collection. But I absolutely love the other 6 in the collection, which really isn’t bad going. I liked the formulas a lot, and I am a big fan of any collection which has a consistent formula throughout.

The Barry M Speedy Nail Paint Collection is launching in Superdrug tomorrow (11th February), and into Boots on 18th February. They will be £3.99 each. 

What do you think of this collection? Which ones will you be picking up? 🙂 What do you think of Barry M’s move to the new brush for the Speedys? I’m a fan! Remember to look out for my post with the new Barry M Spring 2015 Gellys which should be up tomorrow 🙂

As a side note – apologies for the state of my hands and cuticles, they are pretty dry as I’ve been trying out some gels to review, and soaked them off with acetone the night before swatching these, which seems to have dried my fingers, nails, the lot!