Barry M Sunset Daylight Curing Collection – Swatches & Review

Hello everyone! Eeeek – it’s been three whole weeks since my last post! I’ve obviously now broken my new year goal of posting at least once a week… oops! I’ve just started a new job temping, which always takes a little time to adjust to the new routine, especially as I’ve been working from home for 8 months and unemployed for a further month, lol. So that’s why I’ve been slacking on the blog front! In this time I have been very kindly sent the new Barry M Sunset Daylight Curing collection to swatch and review for you all, so today I am doing just that.

What are Daylight Curing nail paints? Barry M say they are “professional nails without the lamp”. So in theory they’re somewhere between normal nail polish and a UV soak-off gel system.  The nail polish cures in daylight (and artificial light too, actually) and you remove it with normal nail polish remover, so in many ways it seems just like normal nail polish. The finish is somewhat like a gel polish though, and they are supposed to last up to 10 days. More on that later. There seems to be quite a trend for these ‘no UV’ nail polishes around at the moment!

FYI – these all have the new Barry M brush which is flat and rounded – I’ve put a picture below and you can also see it compared with the ‘old’ Barry M brush on this post.

Each Sunset Nail Paint comes with this little instruction booklet attached around the bottle neck. (As an aside, make sure you take this off before applying as I’ve dented a fair few nails by forgetting and putting the lid back on willy nilly haha.) The process is as follows;

1. Apply 2 thin coats of your chosen colour, leaving time for each coat to dry.
2. Apply a thin layer of Sunset Topcoat. This will dry in direct light within around 5 mins.

So… like a normal nail polish application it seems! Barry M have said that you shouldn’t use basecoat so that the polish bonds to the nail properly, but I’ve been using it on about half my manicures with these to prevent staining. I haven’t noticed any difference between the manicures with and those without basecoat in terms of longevity to be honest – I’ll go into how it lasts a bit further down.

Sunset Daylight Curing Topcoat

The topcoat comes in an opaque bottle. I don’t think you can use the nail polishes without this topcoat as they remain tacky and a little dull, so I think you do need this (or maybe just a quick dry topcoat!).

On the back of the topcoat it says “Use only with Sunset Nail Paint”. I confess, I’m a rebel at heart and I’ve been using it with all my manicures – it dries very quickly! I haven’t noticed any adverse effects from doing this so I don’t see it as a problem. It doesn’t smudge stamping either, which is great! It has a nice consistency – it’s quite unique and hard to explain but it’s runny but also thick? Lol. It covers glitter totally with one coat and leaves a shiny finish on everything! I’m quite in love with it, can you tell?!

Right, onto swatches.

Do It Like A Nude

This is a lovely pinky white nude colour. I’ve never been mad on nudes but I’ve been wearing this a lot since I received it – it’s absolutely gorgeous! You know when you get pale nudes that are the perfect colour in the bottle but never get totally opaque – this is THE ONE that goes totally opaque! Yay! It’s my favourite of the lot I think.

Application: This is opaque in 3 coats. Applies nicely, dries dull (topcoat needed!). No other problems though.

Peach For The Stars

This is for sure my other favourite. It’s a lovely bright peachy coral creme. It looks almost neon in some lights, and it’s definitely eye-catching. I’ve been wearing this a lot with grey outfits – they go really nicely!

Application: This was opaque in 2 coats – really nice application actually. Dries dull, so you need the topcoat.

You Drive Me Navy

These names! It seems like Barry M have been taking a leaf out of OPI’s cheesy naming book… This is a lovely medium navy creme. This one really looks like a gel when you wear it. I like that they included a dark in here as my favourite colours in gel are almost always dark!

Application: Opaque in 1 coat but add a 2nd otherwise it won’t have the ‘plump’ look of gel nails. It applies nicely but again dries dull – use topcoat! 🙂 This one stains your cuticles a little bit, but it comes off after an extra round of remover. I’d always use basecoat with it to be on the safe side.

The Way You Make Me Teal

This one is one of those colours that never looks *quite* accurate on camera. It’s a nice medium teal colour in person, so a touch more green than the above photo. Impossible! Very pretty though.

Application: Opaque in 2 coats, applies nicely, dries dull, use topcoat. This is one stains a tiny bit too, but that comes off after a few manicures. I would recommend using basecoat with it though.

I’ve Been Pinkin’

This is the perfect pink PVC colour! Again it’s a nice creme. Reminds me a bit of Barry M Bright Pink.

Application: Opaque in 2 coats. Easy to apply, dries dull, use topcoat! 🙂

Fuchsia Generation

This is another favourite for me – a lovely rich raspberry creme. This is a great staple colour for any collection methinks.

Application: Opaque in 1 coat, but again use 2 to get the nice gel-like finish. Applies nicely, dries dull, use topcoat 🙂 Stains a tiny bit so I’d use basecoat.

Can’t Get You Out Of My Red

This is a classic red jelly-ish creme. I wore this with a nice black and white polka dot dress, and felt like I was soooo 50s 🙂

Application: This actually took me 3 coats as my free edge ended up looking dark through the red for some reason so I needed the 3rd coat to cover that up. It applies nicely but is a little runny so be careful not to flood your cuticles. It dries dull so again use the topcoat! 🙂 It stains a little bit so I’d use basecoat.

Removal of all of these polishes was fine – I didn’t find it any different to removing a normal creme nail polish.

Wear Time

So, Barry M claim you can get up to 10 days wear with the Sunset Nail Paints. My personal experience so far is that my thumb and index nails have all chipped a little within 24hrs with the colours I’ve worn. Which obviously isn’t ideal. I have however only been applying these at night, in low lighting, so I suspect this could adversely affect the ‘bonding’ they speak of. Next time there’s some sun out I will try again and update this post with how it went. I’ve seen quite a few people on social media saying these have chipped quickly. But there have been others who’ve said it lasts 5-7ish days looking perfect, so that makes me wonder how much the wear time is affected by application. Barry M have been telling people to ensure they are painting very thin coats, so maybe!

For now, I’d advise you try to apply them in daylight at the least, so that it ‘cures’ effectively, I guess 🙂

Overall

The colours aren’t groundbreaking but I think the idea is that this collection may build up like the Gelly range. Nevertheless they are all nice and flattering, and sort of season-less so you can wear them year-round. There isn’t a single colour I dislike, so that’s good!

As I mentioned before, I am in LOVE with the topcoat and will probably need to get a second bottle soon, as I’ve been using it for everything! I’ve not sure about the polishes yet due to the longevity, but as I said it may be user error. Sometimes I change my nails daily anyway and chipping inside 24hrs is nothing new to me as a nail addict lol but I know it’s a pain for most people.

The Barry M Sunset Collection is available in Boots (where they are buy one get 2nd half price currently) and Superdrug (on 3 for 2 currently), and Barrym.com. Each bottle is £4.99. Don’t forget that if you buy a colour, you will need to buy a bottle of topcoat too.

My next question is – when will Barry M bring out some more shimmers and glitters! There have been so many cremes lately, hehe! Let me know what you think of these in the comments 🙂