This week's nails - Barry M 'Damson'

This week's nail post is about the second Barry M polish I picked up a while ago in my drugstore haul...

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in 'Damson'

'Damson' is a gorgeous bright, royal blue shade that's perfect for perking up an outfit!  I love the glossy effect you get from the Gelly range of polishes, and this particular shade dries super fast and is opaque in two coats.  It does have a rather strong plastic-y smell though, which may be offputting for some but I tend to do my nails in the evening so by morning the scent has faded enough that it's not much of a bother.

I'm one of those people that tends to stick to more neutral nail colours, so there's not too much going on if I'm wearing a bright lip or piece of clothing, but something about this shade just keeps me coming back (I've already painted my nails with it several times in succession...)  Definitely one to check out if you're in the market for a budget friendly blue nail polish!

xxx

Last week's nails - Barry M 'Eat My Dust'

I picked up a couple of new nail polishes last week, which I talked about in my drugstore haul - but now I've tested them out I thought I'd let you guys know what I thought of them!

Barry M Speedy Quick Dry Nail paint in 'Eat My Dust'
£3.99 from Boots

The shade I used first, and am going to talk about here is 'Eat My Dust' from their Speedy Quick Dry range.  Applied over a base coat, it only takes a couple of coats for pretty much full opacity, and it dries fast (but not much faster than the Gelly polishes to be honest!)  I did test it out on its own to start with, sans base, but within a few hours it all began to peel off which wasn't great - so I'd definitely recommend using a base coat with this range even if you're in a rush!  The colour is beautiful though - a  creamy pastel blue with a hint of lilac.  However I did find that after a day or so the lilac tint disappeared and it became a true sky blue on the nails (as you can see in the swatches) and lasted chip free for about five days with my usual Sally Hansen Insta-Dry top coat.

For comparison I've popped it next to the shade 'Almond,' from their Gelly range, in the picture below.  Unlike 'Almond', 'Eat My Dust' hasn't got that greige-y nude thing going on, and is much lighter in colour which is perfect for springtime!  Also, compared to the Gelly range these polishes have a great sized brush, that's similar to the sort you get from Essie.  This makes doing your manicure a bit less fiddly!

All in all, I'm really glad I picked this shade up and really want to give the mint green from the range a go!
Next nail post I'll be reviewing the other Barry M polish from my haul, so keep an eye out for that in a week or so's time...

xxx

Huge drugstore makeup haul!

This time last week, I decided I'd head into town for a little shopping pick-me-up.  And ended up going a little bonkers in the aisles of Boots and Superdrug!  I thought It'd be fun to share them with you, as I don't often purchase this many items in one go - oops...

It's been at least a couple of months since I purchased any lip products, and since I absolutely love the Revlon Balm Stain in 'Honey' I thought I'd try out some other shades from the range.  In a post last week I mentioned I had a gap in my lipstick stash for a bright pink and an orange lip colour - so when I was in Boots I picked out 'Lovesick' and 'Rendezvous'.  They both look gorgeous, so fingers crossed the wear time is just as good as 'Honey'!  I also happened to wander past the Barry M stand, and I ended up grabbing a couple of their polishes - who can resist, right?  'Eat my dust' is a gorgeous pale, pastel blue that pulls a tiny bit lilac, and it's from their Speedy Quick Dry range which I was curious to try.  'Damson' is the most stunning bright blue shade, from the Gelly Hi-Shine range (which I've been super impressed with before).  Plus, they were buy one get one half price, so it was a win-win situation!

In Superdrug, there's also a 3 for 2 on currently but across all brands.  I'd heard a lot about the Max Factor Creme Puff blushes, and how they have a very similar glow-y effect to the Hourglass ones but at a fraction of the price.  Since I love Rimmel 'Santa Rose' as it's the perfect natural blush for my skintone, I thought I'd give '10 Nude Mauve' a go - which is very similar but adds a little more dimension to the face as it's not totally matte (I've already tried this out aswell, and it's super soft with very little fallout so applies like a dream!)  I also decided to try out Rimmel's (relatively new) foundation, which is the Nude version of their Lasting Finish formulation.  As I have a tiny bit more colour in my skin post-holiday, I think '010 Light Porcelain' should be a pretty good shade match - thankyou drugstore brands for finally catering to us super pale people!  Finally, I knew that my Benefit Roller Lash was on it's last legs so I was on the market for a new mascara.  In the end, the lovely counter staff pointed out that Max Factor's False Lash Effect had several pounds off, making it cheaper than the other two products which meant I got it for free!  I'd seen Suzie from Hello October talk about this, and since her lashes always look amazing I thought it was definitely worth a go.  Plus, the packaging is super pretty (I think part of the profits go to the Marie Curie trust, which is awesome too).

And just as a little add on at the end, whilst I was in Wilko (getting ice cube trays if you must know!) I stopped off at the Essence stand and chose one of their Longlasting Lipsticks in the shade '01 Coral Calling' It's a lovely, bright peachy coral and was only a couple of pounds.  It has a similar scent to their lipliners - slightly chemically woody cherry but isn't strong at all (or that offensive to be honest!)

xxx

Counting up the corals...

I know for a fact that I've got so many sheer, pinky-coral lip products that they're practically coming out of my ears!  I'd never really lined them all up before though - so I thought I'd share my somewhat messy armful of swatches with you in case anyone else would find the colour comparisons useful...

From L-R: Soap and Glory Gloss Stick 'Fuchsiaristic', YSL Glossy Stain '111', Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil 'Red Square', Dior Lip Glow '4 Coral', Korres Lip Butter 'Mango', Nyx Butter Gloss '6 Peach Cobbler', Revlon Lip Butter 'Juicy Papaya', Barry M Gloss '11'

The most long lasting of the bunch are the YSL and Nyx, which really don't shift unless you eat something oily.  Rather surprisingly these are followed by Barry M's offering.  Despite it being extremely sheer, it really sticks around for a good few hours!  'Red Square' is a bit of an odd one out - not a coral at all - I just scribbled a bit on my arm to see how orangey it really was, and honestly it pulls a lot cooler than you'd think.

I use the Korres Lip Butter almost constantly, as it's so ridiculously hydrating - and then I'll usually top it up with the Dior Lip Glow as that feels pretty much the same but in stick form.  The Dior does change from an almost orange colour to a light fuchsia after a while, but is still quite a bit more pigmented than the original version.  The Revlon is pretty good as a budget dupe, but I do find that it needs quite a bit of building up to get the colour payoff you can see in the swatch and is a little waxier in texture.

Last of the bunch there's Soap and Glory's Sexy Motherpucker Gloss Stick, which is a very sheer hot pink.  Looks gorgeous, but for some reason I haven't used it lots.  'Nudist' gets a heck of a lot more love (and tbh is looking rather battered) - possibly because it's a bit more unique?  I might start popping this in my bag more so it gets a bit more use, perhaps as a slightly brighter alternative to my beloved Revlon 'Honey'!

All in all, having lined them up I feel there's a place for a more pigmented orange and maybe even a hot pink for the spring/summer?!  I've had my eye on a couple of Revlon products for a while, shall keep you updated with what I end up picking up...

xxx

Chic nails by Barry M...

The other day, I saw a fellow blogger wearing this polish and fell in love.  Long story short, I ended up popping into Boots to get it on Saturday - and applied it as soon as I returned home...

Barry M Gelly Nail Polish in 'Almond'

'Almond' is a gorgeous grey-nude colour with some lavender undertones.  In some lights it looks pure grey, and then as if by magic it will change to a dusky purple!  I absolutely love it on the fingernails - not sure about toes (might be a little too grey for them) - and as it's supposed to mimic a gel manicure it should last a long time on the nails too.

I used a base coat as advised on the bottle, and applied two coats of the polish.  It was almost opaque in one, but was a little streaky so a second was required to smooth it all out.  I also applied a top-coat out of habit, and also as we're going away for the week I didn't want it to need any touch-ups! (At some point I'll also do a top-coatless test to see the longevity of the polish alone.)

And here's the finished product! 

You can find it here for £3.99.  All the Barry M polishes are buy one get one half price in Boots at the moment, so I may or may not have slipped the shade 'Elderberry' into my basket too...that's next on my list to try out!

xxx