Hi Goddesses
Firstly, thank you. There was a FANTASTIC response to last week's first post in this series, and I'm delighted that so many of you are looking forward to future instalments. I'm going to try and make it a weekly thing, but as you can imagine, quite a lot of work goes into a post like this, so maybe you'll see it 2 weeks out of 3, or 3 out of 4, but it will be regular .. ish :)
There are some great brands beginning with B - Barielle, Butter London, Bettina and Barry. And his M. Ideally, I didn't want to do another British polish this week, but I have too many of the other brands that are unswatched lol. So here we go with some Barry and his M deliciousness. Just a word of caution - some of these polishes were swatched a year ago, and why I took the photos against a background of naff pink curtains I do not know. Please forgive ......
Barry M Cosmetics was created in London, Great Britain in 1982 by Barry Mero. In the early 80's Barry had a number of retail outlets around London selling beauty and cosmetic products. The fashion was for dramatic, outrageous make-up. However he found that no one was producing the exciting and vivid colours that his customers required. So in June 1982 he decided to put together the Barry M Cosmetic range.
The Barry M name soon became a cult name in the field of colour cosmetics and in those days if you were a new romantic, punk or gothic the chances are you would have been using Barry M to make your statement!
One of Barry's unsung strengths is the quality of his nail "paints" as he calls them. They really are quite durable. Now, these days I rarely leave a polish on long enough to find out how long it lasts, but in my previous life, this was definitely the most chip-resistant polish I found.
I thought the first thing I should do is photograph them all. I don't own EVERY single Barry M, but I do own most of them. I decided I didn't need some of his older glitters and such, but other than that, if he's released it, it's here. My Cobalt Blue seems to be hiding, but other that that, the Gang's all here:)
l to r - Blue Moon, Cyan Blue, Blueberry Ice Cream, Turquoise, Navy
l to r - Mint Green, Lime Green, Spring Green, Emerald Green, Racing Green
l to r - Lemon Ice Cream, Block Orange,Coral, Peach Melba, Tangerine, Yellow
l to r - Shocking Pink, Bright Pink, Magenta Glitter, Strawberry Ice Cream
l to r - Berry Ice Cream, Vivid, Purple, Indigo, Bright Purple
l to r, some of this summer's newbies - Denim, Teal, xxx Glitter, Chameleon Nail Paint in Blue
more of this summer's Newbies, Barry has been very busy! - Black glitter, Silver Multi Glitter and Jewel Britannia
Cappucino and Nude
this is all the "ice cream" polishes grouped together - Mint Green, Strawberry Ice Cream, Lemon Ice Cream, Peach Melba, Berry Ice Cream, Blueberry Ice Cream
this summer's Retro Collex in red, purple, blue and pink
Aw, I love Barry - there's something so cheerful about those colours! Aren't they lovely? So what makes Barry M so special? In the UK, it's an average priced "drugstore" brand. However, what it does have is creativity, quality, and an aura of trendiness. It's the UK brand most of my non-UK readers want to find out more about. In the UK, I can buy 3 Barrys, sometimes 4, for the full price of 1 OPI or Zoya or Essie.
Let's have a look at them in action - here are some assorted posts I've done over the months featuring Barry and his M, with a link to each one.
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/11/barry-m-bright-red-and-red-glitter.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/11/barry-m-blue-moon.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/11/barry-m-orange-to-yellow-spectrum.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/11/barry-m-blueberry-ice-cream-clouds.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/11/barry-and-his-m-grey.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/11/200th-post-barry-m-camo-skittle.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/11/200th-post-barry-m-camo-skittle.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/12/barry-m-bright-purple-goes-dotty.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/12/another-blue-barry-and-his-m-bring-you.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/12/barry-and-his-m-had-little-baby-pink.html
http://www.the-crumpet.com/2011/11/barry-m-dusky-mauve-perplex-dupe.html
And at the end of it all, which are my favourites ? Well, I have several. I totally blame Block Orange for being the polish that turned my onto oranges and showed me how stunning they could be. All the blues are stunning - each and every one. Oh and the stamping polishes - gold, silver and lilac foil. Peerless, absolutely peerless.
And do you know what excites me now? My new camera can photograph Indigo!!! Yup, so I can finally show you it when I'm wearing it :)
I'm not going to go into it here, but his other make-up is great too. His eyeshadow glitter pots are fab, loads of people love his lipsticks ... me, I won't use any other eyeliner than this, The Wink, THE perfect eyeliner.
I hope you've enjoyed - which are your favourites ? xx :)