Just to get this out of the way first: I am not affiliated with Barry M., I don’t get any compensation for this review, it’s all my very own opinion, my own photos, and I even paid for the little bottle of fun with my very own hard-earned money.
So, let’s jump right into my very first nail polish review!
As everybody who knows me is more than aware of, I am seriously addicted to nail polish. My toe nails haven’t been unpainted for the past 20-odd years, and as I have enough polish to paint my nails every day of the year and not use the same color twice, I usually sport painted finger nails as well.
Nail polish is basically a combination of the only make-up I use and the only accessory I wear, and as the tiny bottles don’t need much space, nail polish is also one of the best souvenirs ever. I have nail polish from most of the countries I’ve ever traveled to, and nowadays I never come back from a trip without at least one new bottle.
When we ended up stranded at Heathrow Airport in November, I needed some cheering up, so I decided to check out all the nail polish available in Terminal 3. Which was a lot. I ended up buying this cheap little bottle of Barry M. Nail Paint at Boots:
Retail therapy wasn’t going to cut it, so I dug out a nail polish remover wipe from my toiletry kit (I never travel without a couple of wipes, way more convenient than regular polish remover!) and made a beeline for the ladies’ room.
Of course I didn’t have any base or top coat handy but as I desperately needed new color on my paws, I decided to risk it – I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Worst case scenario would have been lack of shine, longer drying time, less resistance to my usual nail abuse, and – due to lack of base coat – ending up with smurfy stains on my nails. So what?
To make a long story short, none of this happened. The polish went on smoothly, and the three coats I used ended up dry to the touch in ten minutes flat. Unbelievable.
After our Heathrow Odyssey, my nails stayed nicely polished for almost a week (with only slight tip-wear and no chips whatsoever after five days or so), and when I finally removed the color, it all came off without the slightest trace of a stain. Lovely.
For the sake of this review and because I wanted to make sure I could recreate this nail polish success, I used it again without base and top coats:
Please excuse my dry, raggedy cuticles – winter is taking its toll and my hands are in desperate need of a good cuticle oil and some TLC. Oh well, maybe later, when I don’t end up oiling my keyboard ?
What makes this nail polish a perfect travel nail polish?
First, it works nicely on its own, without any base or top coat. Saves space and weight in the toiletry kit, which is always a good thing.
Second, it dries super fast. No kidding. Three coats are dry to the touch in ten minutes, and completely dried through in half an hour. Might not sound amazingly fast, but if you have ever woken up in the morning to sheet marks on your nails after painting them the afternoon before, you know that 30 min. to “undentable” is lightning fast.
Third, it’s a lovely color, bluish-purple with pink shimmer. It’s a color I love on fingers and toes, and all year round (but then again, I don’t do “seasonal colors” and I am partial to blue nail polish).
Fourth, it doesn’t stain your nails and can easily be removed with any remover wipe. When on vacation, I definitely don’t want to wrestle glitter off my nails, and sticking to creme polish all the time can become a tiny bit boring…
Fifth, the bottle is perfectly packable, small, no weird curves and shapes, and the flat, wide brush is easy to work with.
Color #514 Supersonic
All in all, for a trip without nail polish shopping opportunities and longer than a week, I’d almost certainly take this one with me.
As an added bonus, this nail polish made me realize that you can have a lot of fun painting your nails in an airport bathroom – definitely a conversation starter!
I ended up discussing nail polish quality with a cleaning lady and received several compliments on my color choice by random strangers.