Review : BarryM 'Gelly' nail paint

I have been a fan of BarryM nail polish from a young age due to its vast collection of colours at an affordable price. However, there was always one thing that seemed to disappoint me - not just with BarryM but also with many other brands - and that was how my nail varnish always seemed to chip after one day of wear. I have got to admit that the chipping seemed increase more after a busy day of hands-on work, but I can't just walk around avoiding chores just to make sure my nails stay in perfect condition.

During one of my holiday preparation shopping trips, I found myself wandering the aisles in Superdrug where I was delighted to find that BarryM had a newish line of nail polishes. These polishes happen to be their hi-shine gelly range, which are produced to provide an -

"Extra glossy finish in just one coat. Highly-pigmented, chip resistant formula- Gives a glossy, gel-like finish with a single coat.".

Because of this description, I was sure that this would be a cure to my past disappointment with nail varnish. But boy was I wrong.

Each one of the varnishes I brought went against their description and chipped just like the rest of my varnish collection. It was fair to say that I was gutted. And what made these nail varnishes even worse was that each colour did need more than one coating. I suppose multiple coatings are quite a normal occurrence with nail varnish, but why advertise that your nail polishes will only need to be used for a single coat when clearly they need at least two? However, after coating all nails appropriately I suppose I should say that they did seem to look pretty glossy and shiny. At least that's one thing they advertised right!

Overall, seeing that these Gelly nail varnishes are £3.99 (£1 more than the normal BarryM polishes), I would advise you save your one pound and try and find a similar colour in the normal range of BarryM, as you would only be paying that pound extra for a slightly shinier coat.

Altogether I brought four different colours:

• Prickly Pea - This varnish is simply just un-wearable with one coat. It is such a thin paint that it needs at least three coats. However, the colour is pretty for this summer weather.
• Watermelon - This varnish looks good in the bottle, but on nails it is such a dark colour. It does need more than one coat, but unfortunately after applying a second coat the colour actually looked off-black.
• Lychee - This is my favourite colour of all four selected, but I did find it to be a bit thick when applying to my nails.
• Blood Orange - This colour had the best results. I have got to admit that you could get away with just using one coat with this specific colour, but I would rather be on the safe side and use two. This also had a good consistency so I was able to apply this easily and quickly to the nail.

BarryM website - www.barrym.com

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