Crumpet's Choice - The 7 Barry M Nail Paints You Can't Live Without

Hi Goddesses

And welcome to an exciting new series on The Crumpet - Crumpet's Choice.   It basically gives me any and every excuse to walk you through my stash, my preferences, my polish loves and anything else that tickles my fancy.

We start with the awesomeness that is Barry and his M.  Originally, this post was going to draw from ALL his polishes, but as we have 5 new Gellies on the way, I thought I'd split it.  So today focuses on the cremes, the Nail Paints.

Barry M has many gorgeous colours, and many of his most popular shades - eg the Ice Creams - are not amongst my personal favourites.  What I have here though are the 7 I use the most, that I feel are the most unusual or to die for or unique, or that just provide a very specific balance to your collection.  If you're lucky enough to have 60 seconds to scoop up 7 Barry M polishes, these are the ones I'm suggesting you choose.

We start with Block Orange.  This is my most used Barry M.  It's just THE perfect orange, and it's also super glossy.  Worse, it started my orange obsession.  I never loved an orange until this polish, and I haven't found another orange since that's as pure or as perfect.




(YIKES!  super nubs!)

Next, Indigo.  This is just a stunning shade.  When I bought it, it was quite unique in the polish world, but lots of other brands have since attempted something similar - Miss Emo Shun All by Sation being the closest dupe.  This polish is just  soooooo dramatic and deep and intense. It's amazing, and again, I have no other purple that compares to it.

I think this next choice will surprise you - Lime Green.  We all know I am a hater of greens, and my skin particularly abhors warm greens, so how the hell does this make the cut?   Well, it's just so ugly that it's gorgeous.  It transfixes me ha ha.   I literally can't stop staring when I wear this one.   Admittedly, this colour is less unique in polish world, and it's also one of the thinnest Barry M polishes I've encountered - I usually need 3 coats for opacity - but I guess that also means it's one of the few Barry M's that will provide you with a jelly sammich.




(are those REALLY my nails???!!!  ugh!)

Shocking Pink.   To be fair, it's not that shocking, it could stand being dialled up a couple of notches, but this is a perfect pink.  For me, it just sits in the centre of the pink spectrum - not too blue, not too red; not too light, not too dark; not too white based, not too corally.   It's poised on the axis of perfection, and that's why I use it a lot.






And then we have 3 blues.  I always considered Barry M one of the best brands for blues - and blue probably appeared more times in his range than any other - but recently other brands have overtaken him here, namely KIKO.

Blue Moon however, is essential.  This is a super soft, super light baby blue with the teensiest bit of shimmer, and for a long time, it was unique in my stash.  Other brands are now catching up with it, but at a higher price.  This is probably my all time Number 2 Barry pick.

Next we have Blueberry Ice Cream, which is just lu-uh-ush.   This is probably the only ice cream shade I genuinely love, as (for me) the other colours can be a bit sickly.   This is just blue perfection.  It's also almost opaque in one coat.  I use this a lot as it's the perfect colour for the sky in nail art.  Just delicious.






And then we have Cyan Blue.  When I bought this, again, it was unique, and I think it may still be.  It's not quite turquoise, and it does lean darker than the bottle, but there are literally a million variations in this little niche of the blue spectrum.   Again, this is effortless application.  If you want a nice bright, summery blue, this is your polish.

And that's it, your 60 seconds is over!   Which was your favourite?   There are LOTS of Barry M swatches on this blog (just use the search box), and you can also click the logo in my sidebar to go directly to their website.  


You can also click on this post HERE to see pics of my Barry stash.  It's grown a bit since then, but it's got some pretty photos :)


Barry M have a really good price point, which is part of their appeal in the UK.  More importantly, they LAST.  They are more chip-resistant than most brands, and I'd say that was more valuable.  


In the US, you can pick them up at Ninja Polish.


Enjoy xx :)

Spring Challenge - Easter Egg Hunt

Hi Goddesses  

We're getting near the end of the Spring Challenge now.  Just another week or so to go, and then what will I do lol.   Luckily, the Summer Challenge is all written and looks very manilicious, so that's the next few months taken care of :)

Easter Egg Hunt.  It seemed so simple when I imagined it, but I've had a really hard job visualising it, and it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted.   Also, it took a SHITLOAD of polishes. Now, the nail room and nail desk is messy enough without needing a gazillion polishes to do just 1 manicure - :(

The sky is Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream which is ALWAYS my go to sky colour.    The greenery came from CG Glittering Garland, Barry M Lime Green and Revlon Toad (lol I LOVE that name).

The Easter Eggs were CG Lemon Fizz, OPI Planks A Lot, and there was some CG For Audrey for the patterns.  I then mixed SH White On with Planks for a lilac, and also added it to Nails Inc Malibu Cosmo for the pink eggs.

The collecting bucket is Malibu Cosmo au naturel :)  Finally, some of the fingers have "grass"  (read: fail) with Orly Ancient Jade.

Finally, here's a shot of them before I "hid" them :)

I'm a bit disappointed with this one - it could have been much cooler - but if I'm honest, I'm a bit psyched that I'm nearly at the end :)

Enjoy :) xxx

Spring Challenge - Mr Blue Sky

Hi Goddesses

I was a little stuck for this one, having done a sky mani that I absolutely loved once before - here.   I didn't want to just duplicate that, and thought about doing a picture that spread over all 5 nails.

In the end boredom / weariness set in, and I just went for something easy, doing a blue skittle and then different types of clouds.

To be honest, I thought I had more pale blues than this.  What I found though was that the ones that I had were too similar (that'll be you, CG Sea Spray) or were the wrong tone to fit the skittle (looking at you, Models Own Beth's Blue).

So what did I end up with ?

* thumb = Barry M Blue Moon

* index - Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream - my preferred sky blue

* middle - a-England Galahad, which had too much green in it next to these others (it amuses me how a skittle can completely change your perception of a colour)

* ring = Barry M Cyan Blue

* pinkie = Essie Smooth Sailing

I tried for different types of clouds, but they didn't all work.   I live in Lincolnshire in the UK where we have a lot of RAF bases - you constantly see plane streaks across the sky, and this is what I tried to do on the ring finger.

The index is my favourite.  All of these were done with a dotting tool and then smeared with a sponge, to give them a lighter look.

Enjoy xx :)

Stamping Sunday - 3 Colours

Hi Goddesses

I'm in Stamping Hell at the moment.  I STILL haven't played with all my new plates and then, to top it all, my Cheeky 2012 set arrived this week, along with 3 large Cheeky Plates (you can see them in my haul post here).   However, because I am brain deep in the Spring Challenge, I'm not getting chance to play with them, which means that when I DOOOOO, such as today, there are Too Many Ideas screaming in my head.  Arrrggghhh lol.

So today's challenge was 3 colours.  You can do anything you want, as long as it's 3 colours.    I did the perfect mani on Thursday - lovely gradient, then stamping - and then ruined it by adding a 4th polish, a glitter topcoat.  Hence why this post is so late.

All I could think of today was "colour clash" - some sort of sponging or combination that matched, yet also clashed.  Eventually I settled on a paleish blue and a dark pink - Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream which is *almost* opaque in 1 coat, and CG Its Poppin, a fabulous fuschia.

I sponged the Its Poppin on with an eyeshadow applicator, and love the "splodge" shape I ended up with, a bit like an ink blot.   Here's a shot of how it looked before the stamping (sorry for the bad lighting) - good enough that I would try this again.

I then used Cheeky Plate B and my trusty Barry M silver foil (of the crisp butter fame).  I wanted a stamping pattern that was pretty but which allowed the pattern of the pink to shine through - I think I got the balance just about right.

Loving this a lot actually, it's really vibrant.   Oh and the Cheeky plates ?  Awesome for big nails, awesome!   In fact, I love this so much I'd like to keep it on, but more Springery Challengery awaits.  More quality time with the pukey pastels.

Enjoy the vibrant colours while you can!   xxx :)

Barry M BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM + Clouds Tutorial

BARRY M – BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM

Hi Goddesses

Wow, what a surprise!  I did not expect to love this so much.  I don’t know what colour I imagine when I think of blueberry ice cream, but I’m pretty sure it’s not this.  This, however, is delicious, the colour of pure sky.

This is bright and cheerful and a lovely colour for those of you who like highly pigmented paler blues.  It’s also a great stash colour for any mani you want to do involving sky, such as …. CLOUDS !!

This is my total fave from all the ice creams that Barry does.  This one just rocked my world, and it’s not often a blue does that!

So playtime ….

CLOUDS tutorial

So, for those of you who wanted really basic nail art ideas, here’s a simple one.  Dotting tools are my best friend, personally I prefer them to nail art brushes, but I think that’s because I am not very exact in my ahem “artistry”.

Dotting tools usually come in packs of 5, and you can pick them up on eBay very cheaply (literally <£5 incl postage).  They are like pens, and have 2 “nibs”, 1 at each end, giving you 10 dotting sizes in total.  For this playtime, I have used the very widest dot.

The thing with clouds, is that they are irregular shapes, so you don’t have to worry about being too exact.  Start with the bottom of your cloud and work up – this will give you a better shape.

Then start extending your cloud up – this will then give you the basics of your cloud shape – and then colour in the middle.

I like fat clouds, but I have also seen some great wispy clouds.  You can dampen your fat cloud down with a make-up sponge to make it more “airy”, and you can then use what’s transferred to the sponge for some other wispier clouds.

Now, if you’re better than me, you can add the sun, a bird, a plane, a balloon, oh actually even I could probably do a balloon …. The trick is to start small with something you can do, rather than going for a masterpiece before you can walk.

Go on, go grab your dotting tools and have some fun J

Enjoy xx J

J

Top Tip – if you’re ever unsure what a nail colour looks like, go to Google images, which will give you plenty of contrasts and compares.