Hello again!
I was lucky enough to win a competition on the Barry M Facebook page a while back. I thought I had just won their new 'Lash Vegas' mascara, so you can imagine how happy I was when I received a parcel containing all of their 2013 spring launches, including a mascara, three gel eyeliners, four gelly nail paints and four of the new textured nail effects nail paints.
Okay, first up-the 'Lash Vegas' mascara, which retails at £6.49. Barry M clam that it "has been specifically designed to separate, define and reach the smallest of lashes giving exceptional length and unrivalled definition". The brush is quite small, meaning you can get close to the roots of your lashes and its definitely great for creating long, fluttery lashes. The only downside is that you do need quite a few coats of this in order to build volume, so unfortunately I won't be straying from my beloved Maybelline One by One Volum' Express mascara just yet. ;)
Barry M's new range of gel waterproof liners are available in black, silver and champagne and retail for £5.49. I've never really been one for liquid or gel liner, purely because i'm awful at applying it! However, after trying out the black gel liner I was actually very pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to apply. The brush, which comes in the lid, clips back in place to the lid of the pot, meaning the brush is a reasonable length, giving you far more control than the silly little mini brushes most drugstore gel liners come with. The liner is very well pigmented, stayed on all day and i'm actually really excited to try out the other colours.
(l-r Black, Champagne, Silver)
The gelly nail paints were probably the thing I was most excited about as i'd been wanting to try them out for ages but had never got around to actually buying some. The nail paints, which retail for £3.99 are already available in an array of colours, but Barry M brought out four new colours for spring; Papaya (a lovely orangey coral), Dragon Fruit (the only way I can describe it is 'Barbie' pink!), Lychee (beigey nude) and Greenberry (a vivid mint green). I recommend using two coats for maximum opacity but you don't need to use a topcoat as they really are incredibly shiny. I wore lychee for over 5 days before my nails started to chip, which is amazing for a £3.99 nail varnish. I really am extremely impressed with these nail varnishes and will continue to wear them way after spring has ended (Papaya in particular will look great in summer with a tan!)
(l-r Dragon Fruit, Papaya, Greenberry, Lychee)
Finally, perhaps the most exciting things I received were the new textured nail effects nail paints. I struggled to come up with a way of describing the textures of these polishes, which i've heard are Barry M's attempt at OPI's liquid sand polishes, but Barry M describe it pretty accurately as a "grainy, matte formula". These nail paints are also £3.99 and are nostalgically "named after famous haunts where Mr Barry Mero began his early working days in the markets of South and East London". The colours are all great spring pastel shades; Atlantic Road (a pale baby blue), Ridley Road (a very pale mint green), Station Road (spring yellow with flecks of gold glitter) and Kingsland Road (ballet/baby pink). I've found that using a clear base coat and then two coats of this polish creates the best effect. The texture won't be to everyone's taste, but personally I think its great and makes a nice change to crackle or croc skin effect polishes.
(l-r Ridley Road, Station Road, Atlantic Road, Kingsland Road)
(I painted my nails quickly in Atlantic Road to show you the texture.)
PHEW, longest blog post ever!
Hopefully you liked some of these products, they're all available now at
http://www.barrym.com/ and most Boots/Superdrug stores.
Talk to you soon xoxo
