Two New Barry M Speedy Nail Paints - One Blogger-Inspired, One Not So...

You'll know if you read these posts (here and here) how I've given the newly-launched Barry M Speedy Quick Dry nail range a solid thumbs up. Released sometime back in March, I was eager to give a colour from the line-up a try to see how its supposedly faster-drying formula compared to some of my other favourite lines they offer - such as my beloved Hi-Shine Gelly Effects. All in all, I was impressed with how the colour applied to my beds, with a brand-new wider and flatter brush than normal to help makes things even more easy peasy, and how things really did dry super quick so I could basically go back and apply another coat to my first nail by the time I'd done my last. All this without at all comprising on finish - two coats was more than enough - and they actually lasted pretty darn well too. *inserts round of applause for Barry M*.

So with that in mind, when I heard on the grapevine (a.k.a. Instagram) the other day how Barry M were adding a grand total of six more Summer-inspired shades to the range - you can imagine my excitement to go to my nearest drugstore (in this case Superdrug, as they'd launched them first) to suss the newbies out. And that I did - although I perhaps didn't just come away with a new shade...

Let's get the aforementioned 'not so new shade' out the way first, eh? If you're a regular reader of Anna's blog (Vivianna Does Makeup) you'll most likely know of her recent love for one of the original Spring shades - 'Eat My Dust'. For pretty much a whole month, in both blog posts and videos, she was raving about it and how it was basically all she wanted to wear on her nail beds at the moment. Having had my own success with one of the other shades, I could almost feel myself getting more and more enabled each time it appeared on her content, but each time I convinced myself I was either nowhere near my local Mothership or I simply tried to convince myself back out of it again by stating how 'I already had enough nail polish to last a lifetime'. Which may well be true, but that's beside the point. Anyway, whilst going to investigate the new shades, I may or may not have sneaked this into my basket finally, using the justification this time that 'I had to as there was an offer on where you buy one, get one half price'. Exact words right there. A pastel baby blue with the slightest grey tinge to it that just stops it looking too 'in yer face' bright - I am very excited to finally have this in my hands.

Moving onto what I actually went into Superdrug to pick up... Out of the six new additions Barry M have added a bright yellow, mid-toned purple, hot pink - all in the 'classic' formula - and a cobalt blue, bright coral and baby pink - all in a more shimmery format. Unlike the previous launch that comprised solely of the no-shimmer-allowed approach, this range gives more scope whether a glitter fan or not and I really like that. Despite this, I went for the purple in the simple shimmer-free set up as I actually don't think I own another shade at the moment like it. I know - has this ever happened before? (Don't worry, I haven't gone mad - I was also swaying over the hot pink before it occurred to me I already have about another 10 of the near-exact same hue.) The purple though is so gorgeous and just sits perfectly between the 'light' and 'dark' poles of the shade spectrum, meaning it's one that could easily be applied in the midst of a heat wave or even when the weather begins to cool down a little again. An ideal 'transition' polish, if you will - and one I can envisage me getting more than just a bit of mileage out of...