Barry M Blue Glitter

Ok, I swear that I intended to do a red mani. I swear! It's getting so close to Christmas, and I really felt like doing something to try to get into the spirit. I have bottles of Barry M Blue Glitter and Red Glitter right next to each other. I went to pull out Red Glitter, but I didn't know what the coverage was like or what to use as underwear. I was still wearing Sally Hansen Chrome Turquoise, so I decided to try Blue Glitter over that to see how the glitter would build. Well. Before I knew it, I was putting that on instead of red! But I think you'll forgive me when you see what Blue Glitter looks like.

This is two coats over my previous mani. O.O

I mean... seriously. O.O

Fantastic formula. I didn't have to do cleanup at all. I have no idea how many coats this would take to be opaque on its own, but if layering it over another polish looks like this... who cares? ^.~

I used two coats of top coat to smooth out the grittiness. I am just astonished by how amazing this is. I must use my red one soon!

Where to find: Barry M is a brand based in the UK, but I believe they ship worldwide. They definitely ship to the US, as I've ordered from them before. A few months ago one of my friends ran into some problems ordering from their site - it took forever to ship and I believe a broken bottle was involved when it did arrive. That said, I've not had problems when I've ordered from them, so maybe it was a one off problem. But I just thought it was right to share that information. I believe there are also some eBay sellers that handle Barry M. I have about eight of them in my collection now, and I really love them.

Hope the countdown to the holidays is going well for you all, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Barry M Blue Moon - Farewell, Chanel Riva Lemming

Full disclosure:  I don't buy Chanel polishes. They chip on me within hours. At Chanel's price point, they're not something I would buy often anyway. But if they lasted on me, I could save here and there and budget for one occasionally. But I'm not even gonna do that if they're just gonna chip off. So given that, I try really hard to ignore most Chanels. But occasionally, one will worm its way into my brain and just not let go. That happened to me with Paradoxal, and it happened with Riva.

This polish has been haunting me for months now. It's different than your typical pale blue. It has this squishy, milky quality to it that just called to me. But still, I flatly refused to buy it. I just knew it would chip on me, plus I kept hearing stories about how the formula wasn't very good. I knew that if I caved, I would just be disappointed because it wouldn't really be what I wanted it to be.

Then a few weeks ago, I caught wind somewhere in the blogosphere that Barry M had duped Riva. My ears immediately perked up because the Barry M dupe of Paradoxal was what killed that particular Chanel lemming for me. I hemmed and hawed for a couple of days, then went ahead and ordered it. It's a little pricy to order from the Barry M site, but eh... I still paid less for two Barry Ms than I would have for one Chanel, so I was okay with that. While I was waiting for them to arrive, my friend KarenD posted this comparison of Riva and Blue Moon. I was hopping up and down, I was so excited! Mine arrived yesterday, and here it is.

It's completely perfect. It has that same milky, squishy finish as Riva. I didn't find it very streaky at all, especially for such a light color. This is three coats.

It even has the same hidden shimmer as Riva. You can't really see it indoors, but you can catch a glimpse of it when you're out in the sun.

I'm not joking when I say it's perfect. I felt my Riva lemming shrivel up and fade away as soon as I put it on. Sometimes dupes aren't good enough for me, and I'm not happy until I have the real thing. But when it comes to Chanel, I feel like dupes are my only hope. I had to wait a while for this dupe to appear, but it was totally worth it. No regrets. ♥

Barry M Dupe Check - Blueberry Ice Cream & Blue Moon

I ordered some Barry M polishes from the UK a few weeks ago, and they came in today. After I placed my order, I was concerned the Blueberry Ice Cream was too close to Zoya Robyn and Orly Blue Collar and their cousins. When the polishes came today, I was very happy to see that it wasn't close to Robyn at all, but it was suspiciously close to a couple of others I had. The contenders were China Glaze Bahamian Escape and Nicole by OPI Baby Blue.

They are all very similar in the bottles, but I was pleased to see at least some difference on my nails. Between two of them, at least. >.>

Nicole by OPI "Baby" Blue is quite a bit lighter than either of the others. But Bahamian Escape and Blueberry Ice Cream are virtually identical. Sure, if I squint and try to kid myself, I can pretend that the Barry M is darker. And it is, but only by a hair. I truly think that if I put both of them on in alternating skittles, by the end of the day even I wouldn't know which was which. The formulas on all three are very similar - two easy coats, very non-fussy. Now I have to figure out which one to keep and which to send to live with someone else. *sigh*

I fared much better in the dupe department with Blue Moon. The dupe contenders were Essie Sweet Talker (which I didn't really believe was a dupe, but it was worth comparing) and Hard Candy Sky. 

These actually even look more different in the bottles than the former ones did. On the nail, they are much different.

As I suspected, Sweet Talker was a good bit darker than the others. Sky is actually much brighter and more chalky than Blue Moon, and its formula is the pits. It's hard to work with. It's streaky in that way that lots of pastels are. Blue Moon is much, much better in that respect. Plus I bought Blue Moon to kill my lemming for Chanel Riva, and that's exactly what it did. (Stay tuned for pics of Blue Moon as a full mani as well!)

And that's all I have for tonight. Hope these comparisons help someone! As always, thanks for stopping by! =)

Some random swatches - Misa, Nicole by OPI, Barry M

We've been doing these nail polish theme weeks over on the nail boards at Makeup Alley, and this week we're showing swatches and bottle pictures of a variety of brands, including Misa, Nicole by OPI and Barry M. That was enough of an excuse to get me to swatch and photograph the ones I own, so here they are. Thanks for looking, as always! =)

Barry M Mint Green - 2 coats

Nicole by OPI You're S-teal the One - 3 coats

Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money - 2 coats

Barry M Dusky Mauve - 2 coats

Misa Touch the Rainbow - 2 coats

Nicole by OPI Fell from the Tree - 2 coats

Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus - 3 coats

Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver - 2 coats

Nicole by OPI Peas & Qs - 3 coats

Nicole by OPI - "Baby" Blue