Swatch & Review: Barry M Spring Silks collection

Barry M Silks Spring 2014

I’m finally able to bring you the Spring release for Barry M! Woo! Not really a huge surprise then that we have pastels for spring, but I’ve got to say, the finish was definitely a surprise for me. Termed ‘silks’, these polishes immediately conjured up images of old school frosts. Those pain in the bum, brush stroke nightmares of yesteryear. I really was skeptical, which is why you should read on and see what I thought of these pretty pastels once I got them on my nails.

First up is ‘Mist’, a delicate baby blue that is opaque with two coats.

Barry M Silks ‘Mist’

Barry M Silks ‘Mist’

Barry M Silks ‘Mist’

‘Heather’ is a soft lilac shade. Now this is just a personal quirk of mine, butI’m really glad they called it heather and not lavender, purely because lavender gives me a headache so even though these aren’t smelly polishes (thank goodness because I really don’t understand the whole scented polish thing) it would have just irked me had it been called lavender. Either way though, it’s a pretty colour. This was two coats.

Barry M Silks ‘Heather’

Barry M Silks ‘Heather’

Barry M Silks ‘Heather’

Barry M Silks ‘Heather’

‘Pearl’ needed three coats to be opaque enough for my liking. It’s very much a snow white – the shimmer prevents it from being like Tippex, but it’s not grey leaning or at all beige.

Barry M Silks ‘Pearl’

Barry M Silks ‘Pearl’

Barry M Silks ‘Pearl’

‘Truffle’ was one of the ones I was the least keen to try. I’m really not a brown person (copper yes, brown less so), but in real life it transforms a little to less of a brown and more of a grown up “can’t quite describe it but still very grown up and sophisticated” colour. This definitely felt more brown in the bottle to me than it did in the light box or on my nails.

Barry M Silks ‘Truffle’

Barry M Silks ‘Truffle’

Barry M Silks ‘Truffle’

The requisite pink of a spring collection is ‘Blossom’. This was another three coater for me but in all honesty I think I could have gotten away with two quite easily. Another really pretty and soft shade.

Barry M Silks ‘Blossom’

Barry M Silks ‘Blossom’

Barry M Silks ‘Blossom’

Barry M Silks ‘Blossom’

Lastly there’s ‘Meadow’, a sea-green as opposed to a grass green based pastel. Two coats, and I really quite liked this shade.

Barry M Silks ‘Meadow’

Barry M Silks ‘Meadow’

Barry M Silks ‘Meadow’

Overall I have to confess that I was quite pleasantly surprised by these polishes. To get the slight let downs out of the way, for me ‘Pearl’ is just too old-fashioned. I think it would look brilliant beside a striking red creme in some nail art, but alone it felt a bit like the kind of polish you would ignore during a dusty hunt. The big surprise for me was ‘Truffle’, though this is partly down to my expectations of this colour to be so much lower than the rest. It turned out to be quite a nice colour on the nail.

‘Heather’, ‘Blossom’, ‘Meadow’ and ‘Mist’ were all a bit more predictable in that colour wise they came out looking pretty mush spot on according to the bottle. All six (less so for ‘Pearl’ but this still applies to some extent) were a little surprising for me. I expected painful brush strokes and old fashioned frosts but these feel more like a new generation of frosts. The shimmer just seems to settle better, and you really don’t need to be overly cautious in order to avoid the brush-stroke issues. The finish is a sort of luxurious satin, but with a touch more glossiness than other satin polishes. I realise that’s not a perfect description but they’re worth trying to find out for yourself!

All of the above swatches were without top coat to show the natural silk finish, but what about adding topcoats? The image below shows the natural finish, next to a true matte and a high gloss. The shimmer in these polishes seemed to make the differences in top coat effects less dramatic than you’d see on other polishes – I don’t know how, magic perhaps? But you can certainly see enough of a difference to give some appreciation for the uniqueness of the silk finish.

Barry M Silks without topcoat, with Butter London Matte, and with HK Girl Gloss.

Finally, if you’re not going in for the whole collection, I’d recommend ‘Heather’ and ‘Meadow’ to give you some lovely and wearable spring options.

Important Bits:

Product/s sent for review.