Nimy Nails

My Current Nail Polish Wishlist // 29 Polishes

October 04, 2017
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Peel It! Review // Barry M's New Peel Off Base Coat

I have been doing a lot of swatching recently, so when I saw that Barry M had released a peel-off base coat I thought it might come in handy for peeling off between swatches. I have never owned or even used a peel off base coat before, the reason: I CAN'T GET NAIL POLISH TO NOT PEEL OFF! Seriously, I swear I have one of the world's only set of nail polish repellent nails! Nail polish will completely peel off (whole) after 1-2 of wearing, I don't mind this so much because I like to change my nail colour a lot, but it is super annoying when I spend hours doing a beautiful design only to have the whole thing peel straight off after 24 hours.... and I have tried every long lasting base/top combo, buffing the nail down to create roughness to cling to, using acetone to get off oils.... everything.

Anyway, back to the Peel It! base coat, I tried this expecting some fun peel porn, give it a go a few times to try it out and then it would probably go on my polish shelf and sit there for the rest of time. Then something AMAZING happened...... my nail polish stayed on!! I mean stayed on for almost 4 days without a single peel or even a chip (It would have lasted longer but I peeled it off because I want to change my nail polish colour)! I'm still in shock. I have now found my favourite base coat of all time, my holy grail.

Now I suspect this is probably not going to be the case for most people, as I'm pretty sure that most people don't have stupid nails that rebel against nail products, but I do recommend it to anyone who struggles with their nail polish peeling off whole (I even had a bath in those few days and it didn't peel).

Pros:

Dries fast, not as fast as other base coats I own, but with the consistency I expected it to take longer than it did to dry.
Great way to get polishes like glitter off, instead of smearing glitter all over your finger with nail polish remover.
Cheap, only £2.99.
Looks white in the bottle, but dries completely clear.
Comes off easier if you pick at with your teeth, I am an ex-nail biter, and jeez was it satisfying to bit it off!!
Not sure if this is a pro, but while it's drying it does feel cold on the nails, which I found a fun experience, not sure why, think it's just odd for nails to feel temperature. Hehe

Cons:

Not the best for 'peel porn', on my nails it didn't peel off in one satisfying piece, rather lots of smaller pieces.
Polish struggled to peel off right at the tip of my nail.
Not the fastest drying base coat if you are in a rush

Quick tip: make sure to let the polish and top coat completely dry, before attempting to peel of the polish, I tried to peel my off too soon after applying the polish and it was a bit of a mess and I ended up after to use nail polish remover.

Final thoughts:

If you are in the market for a cheap peel of base coat, and you don't mind that it isn't going to be as good as more expensive ones on the market, then it is a good purchase. If you are an avid user of peel off base coats and need the satisfaction of a single, one piece, peel off, then I would look at other popular brands. If you are like me and have never experienced using a peel off base coat, then for only £2.99, if nothing else it's fun to sit and peel off and you never know you might have some crazy magical moment with it, like I did.

I am beyond glad I brought this base coat, I am going to stock up and don't think I will be using any other base coat any time soon.

October 02, 2017
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3 New Barry M Polishes // AW 2017

autumn

A couple of days I saw online that Barry M's had released three new polishes. I loved the look of all three so I went and brought them from Superdrug. The polishes are Blue Jade and Matcha, both part of the Gelly Hi-Shine collection, as well as Purple Frost, part of the Molten Metal collection. Each of these polishes costs £3.99 in Superdrug at the time of posting this.

Let's start with Blue Jade. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this colour, I don't have any other polishes similar to this so when I saw it online I knew I had to have it. It is a dark grey-blue colour, which I found likes more grey in artifcial light (indoors) and more blue in natural light (outside). This is a perfect winter colour in my opinion. Just like the rest of the Gelly collection it is super shiny and dries reletively fast depending on the thickest of the coat. Pictures are two coats, no top coat.

Next is Matcha. Now if this hadn't been released with Blue Jade then I might not have brought it, I don't usually go for darker olivey colours, but I thought it looked like it might go nicely when worn in combination with Blue Jade. And I was right! I'm actually really glad I got this polish, it's a much nicer colour than I expected. A lovely autumn colour. I don't feel this name quite matches the colour though, it's a dark, green khaki/olive colour rather than an acutal matcha colour, which is usually lighter and brighter. The pictures are two coats, no top coat.

These two polishes look great together and are a perfect autumn/winter duo. I will be wearing these two polishes together a lot this autumn/winter.

(both of these polishes are quite difficult to photograph, they tend to look slightly dark in photos)

The final of the three, is Purple Frost. The last in the Molten Metal collection, which is one of my all time favourite Barry M collections. (I like shiny things hehe). I own all of the other Molten Metal polishes, so of course I was going to buy this one. Was slightly random to just release one new colour to the collection, but very similar in release to the random Purple added to the Mermaid collection a few months after the originals launched. This is a beautiful, bright purple colour, and unlike the rest of the collection (which has packed tiny glitter particles), this has a mixture of size glitter, and larger silver flakes, which I love and wish there were more colours available like this (Barry M, please do a red like this, would be a perfect Christmas polish). Needs two coats to be oqaue, as the first is quite translucent, the polish give excellent coverage and distribution of the glitter particles. This polish would be a great one to wear for many of the upcoming holidays (espically Halloween and New Years).

Final thoughts:

I think all of these polishes are worth buying. I'm glad a brought all three of them, no regrets. The Gelly ones are definitely more seasonal colours, but Purple Frost is a great colour for any season.

You can find these polishes for £3.99 at Superdrug or on Barry M's website.
Blue Jade: https://www.superdrug.com/Make-Up/Nails/Nail-Polish/Gel-Effect-Nail-Polish/Barry-M-Gelly-Nail-Paint-Blue-Jade/p/743409?singleResultSearchPage=true
Matcha: https://www.superdrug.com/Make-Up/Nails/Nail-Polish/Gel-Effect-Nail-Polish/Barry-M-Gelly-Nail-Paint-Matcha/p/743410
Purple Frost: https://www.superdrug.com/Make-Up/Nails/Nail-Polish/Gel-Effect-Nail-Polish/Barry-M-Molten-Metal-Nail-Paint-Purple-Frost/p/743541?singleResultSearchPage=true

photos: all taken by me, swatches 1: flash 2: no flash.