Barry M Nail Effects

I seem to be really slow on the band wagon for this one, but better late than never eh?

You might remember that I blogged about this nail polish back in October, when I asked if it was the most elusive nail polish in Britain, because I just could not find it anywhere. It has officially taken me four months to get my hands on a bottle of this stuff, because for a while even the Barry M website was out-of-stock!

But, I now have it, I can now review it and I need to find a new fad to get excited about!

Why I wanted this polish so badly: I first heard about this nail polish on the Barry M website, where there was a video for this amazing new nail polish that gave you nail art nails in seconds. And I sat there, mouth wide open as the design kind of transformed on her nails.

How did they do that? I just had to know! But, as you all know, I couldn't find it anywhere!

And, as you can imagine, the fact that I couldn't get my hands on this stuff made it even more desirable to me. It's like in that episode of Friends when Ross asks Joey not to hit on baby Emma's new nanny (ex-Home and Away starlet Melissa George). But, because Ross has made the Nanny "forbidden fruit", Joey wants it even more. And because I couldn't have this nail polish, I definitely wanted it even more.

But, eventually, I was too busy moving house and sorting stuff out that I did eventually forget about it. So, when I spied a Barry M stand in Boots recently, I remember to have a look, and evidently, the excitement has died down, and I am probably one of the last beauty bloggers to review it!

First Impressions: Initially, I tried the Nail Effects over the nail varnish that I was wearing at the time, which was Rimmel's 810 Blue My Mind, which anyone who owns it will know is a bluey/purple colour. But, this just showed me that the Nail Effects just does not look good with dark shades, which is  shame, because I prefer darker nail polishes, and I don't currently have a huge collection of polishes at my flat, at the moment.

So, I decided to try it with the one other nail polish that I have, which is Maxfactor's Disco Pink that came with my Maxfactor Gift Bag.

At first, I only put a thin layer of Nail Effects on top of the pink polish, but I found that it worked better if the layer was a bit thicker. Unfortunately, this led to a little too much polish being applied to the pinkie finger of my left hand, and it took absolutely ages for the polish to react. But, I have to say that it did react eventually. So, I guess the key there is to remember to give your nails time to react.

After I'd done it, I have to say I was again impressed, and curious as to how it works. I can only guess that the Nail Effects liquid some how reacts with the coat of paint underneath, because I noted that it doesn't do anything if appled to a bare nail.

At first, I really couldn't decide if I liked the effect or not. It's very bold, and very different from other types of nail art that I've used in the past. I kinda want to describe the kind of effect it creates as being like leopard print, but it's somehow not.

Overall: A few people have asked Barry M to bring out further shades of the polish, but for me, this is probably the only shade that I would use, although a lighter shade to wear over dark base coats might be nice.

I love the fact that the effect is that every nail is completely unique, and every time you do it is just different. And, it's just intriguing to watch!

The look has grown on me a lot, and I will certainly be using it again. Well, I would, except I've leant it to my mum to try!