This weekend I’m headed to Sandusky, Ohio, home of the world’s greatest amusement park, Cedar Point.  And I’m not just saying that because I worked there and it’s in my home state. The park has been awarded that title nine times in a row.  With 17 roller coasters, it’s a thrill seeker’s nirvana. The reason for my trip, a mini-reunion with some of my friends I used to work with back in the day.  Seriously, if you know any college students looking for a summer job, this is the place.  It’s so much fun.  They recruit from all over the world and provide housing.  It’s like college without all the books and classes. Anywho, I wanted to do something fun with my nails and ever since I first tried an Ombre Multi-Colored Manicure, I’ve been meaning to do it again.  Only this time, instead of mixing my colors, I chose to use five existing shades to create the effect.

I spent a good thirty minutes hunting through my light blue polish drawer to find the right color combination.  I knew I wanted to keep it relatively light and bright so I decided to work from lightest to darkest.  OPI What’s With The Cattitude? was an easy first choice and China Glaze Bahamian Escape was sitting right next to it in the drawer. It’s like they knew what I was up to.  Choosing one Shrek color made it easy for me to pull OPI Ogre-The-Top-Blue but the last two shades were more of a challenge.

To help me decide, I swatched the colors on a piece of paper and started placing other shades next to the grouping until I found the right mix.  Some of the colors I considered; Orly Calypso Breeze, OPI Just Groovy, SpaRitual Crystal Eyes, Essie Shelter Island and Misa Pour Me Something Tall & Strong and OPI Dating A Royal.  None of them seemed to fit as well as OPI No Room For The Blues and Barry M Cobalt Blue.

The overall effect is exactly what I wanted.  A bright, fun manicure with noticeable differences between each shade but nothing over-the-top.  Excuse the slight color variance of this pic.  I had to use my old point-n-shoot to fit my hand in front of the camera and the quality isn’t as good as my DSLR.  Though how cute is my Hello Kitty ring?  I picked that up for $26 at the Sanrio store in the Fashion Show Mall in Vegas.  Score!

I seriously don’t know how some girls can photograph all their fingers while holding a bottle of polish.  It feels so awkward and my thumb just doesn’t bend that way. So here’s the best closeup up I could contort my hand to take.

Are you feeling my multi-colored mani? What do you think of my color choices? Do you have a suggestion for a color that would have made it better?  Have any of you been to Cedar Point? Back me up on how incredible the park is.

You know what I love about Barry M’s Nail Paints? The names! I LU-ove the simplicity of their naming system. Tangerine, Racing Green, Red Wine, Orchid, etc. Don’t get me wrong; fun, tongue-in-cheek names are great too but when I have to rack my brain to remember what the actual polish color is because the cutesy name has nothing to do with the color, it’s frustrating. There’s nothing hard in remembering Coral. So recently Barry M released some new Nail Paint shades; Mint Green, Bright Purple, Fuchsia, Block Orange, Acid Yellow. After hearing about Mint Green being a dupe for one of the season’s must-have but sold out shades, MAC Peppermint Patti, I had to see for myself. Check it out, along with Bright Purple and Cyan Blue, after the jump!

As I said the last time I reviewed Barry M, the formula is thick with pigment but it flows evenly on the nail. Mint Green did need a third coat but the others were perfect in two.

Mint Green isn’t a dead on MAC P.P. dupe but it’s close enough that you’d have be looking for the differences to notice. For me, it’s actually better than P.P. because of the formula. Mint Green applies like a dream which makes it the winner in my book.
Cyan Blue is exactly as the name implies, it’s the shade on the outside of the cyan printer refill box. I went looking for an existing polish that’s even remotely close and came up empty handed. If you took China Glaze Aqua baby and added a bit of white and a drop or two of blue, like OPI Just Groovy, you may come close. To make a long story short, I LOVE IT!
Bright Purple is a vivid, Barney-esque hue, only without the annoying songs and children following it around. It’s uber glossy, perfect for summer toes and a great addition to my collection.

Nail Paints by Barry M retail for £2.95 and can be purchased online directly from BarryM.com. The £8 US Shipping charge is a bit prohibitive but get a group order going or save up for a major haul and it’s worth it. Trust!

Have any of you tried Barry M since I first reviewed them? What do you think?

I’m always on the hunt for new polish brands to try and I love getting rec’s from readers and friends. So when my girl K from Pumps and Gloss recommended I check out Nail Paint by Barry M, I got to it. Barry M is a UK based cosmetic brand with a diverse lineup of lacquers that were voted Best Inexpensive Nail Polish Range by InStyle UK. Check out my thoughts and swatches, after the jump!

I was impressed so see that the cremes lacquers spread out evenly on the nail. You know how sometimes you put on a thick creme and you see like ridges from your brush strokes. Not necessarily streaks but just general unevenness? Well you’ll have none of that here.

Also, the three lacquers I tested were all nicely pigmented requiring only two coats. And they dry to a high gloss shine making a top coat practically unnecessary. I put Cobalt Blue through the five day wear test and it held up very well. No chipping. Just average tip wear when worn with CND Stickey and Seche Vite.

Note: I remember someone asking if I had abandoned Poshe for Seche Vite. I haven’t, I just have so many bottles of Seche Vite in the house, I can’t justify running out to replace my used up Poshe. It’s still a winner in my book.

Spring Green reminds me a lot of Pop Beauty Grass that I showed you a few weeks back. Only Spring Green isn’t neon. It’s vibrant but not loud.

Grey is the color of dark wet cement. Unlike some other grays I own that have a lot of brown or blue in their base, this one looks to be pretty pure. Me likey!

Cobalt Blue is just wow. Like seriously WOW!! It puts all my other royal/cobalt cremes to shame. It’s so vivid yet it’s dark enough to not be all in your face about it. I wasn’t as excited when I saw it in the bottle but on the nail… HOT DAMN! Can you tell I like? Just a bit.

Nail Paints by Barry M retail for £2.95 and can be purchased online directly from BarryM.com. I’m not gonna lie, shipping to the US isn’t cheap, £8, but if you plan to purchase a number of polishes it’s worth it.

So what are we thinking? Have you tried Barry M? What colors are your must haves?