Barry M Under The Sea Nail Paint in Butterflyfish and Jellyfish – Review

Urgh just a couple of days ago I had written half this blog post and popped out to see some people. Then come this afternoon I have come to continue with said post and it’s gone. It didn’t save and I have done everything I could possibly do to get it back, with zero luck. URRRRGH! So I am having to start again. Yuck.

As many of you may have seen on my February wish list that I’ve been eyeing up the new Barry M nail paints for quite some time now, in fact every since they announced their new Under The Sea range back a month ago via a live Instagram video. I watched a couple of times in awe of the new nail paints and knew I needed them  in my life.

When they finally came out a couple of weeks ago at the end of January/start of February I picked up two shades that I had been lusting after.

I’ve been using this on and off since then and it’s definitely something I will wear loads when the spring and summer months hit us! Of course I had to share my love of these through a review.

I picked these up on an offer in Superdrug. If you spent £7 you would get a free Strobe Cream. WOOHOO! Even though I don’t wear highlighter I’ll definitely use this over liquid lipsticks to give them a pop! Otherwise these cost me £3.99 each, which for a nail paint is a really good price in my mind.

Under The Sea nail paint is a duo chrome nail polish that shifts in colour in the light. There are currently four shades to choose from, I picked up two of them.

Butterflyfish on the left and Jellyfish on the right.

Butterflyfish

Butterflyfish not in direct light

Butterflyfish in direct light

Jellyfish

Jellyfish not in direct light

Jellyfish in direct light

There’s Angelfish (a pearly pink shade which shifts to silver), Pinktail (a pink shade which shifts to orange), Butterflyfish (a blue shade which shifts to pink) and Jellyfish (a purple shade which shifts to green). The latter two are the shades I picked up.

Before I talk about the shades themselves and how the formula works, I want to quickly touch on the design of the bottle lids. Barry M aren’t really OTT when it comes to their packaging designs for their nail paints and that isn’t exactly a bad thing. Good looking products are always a must, especially if you keep them in your handbag and show them off when out and about. But who takes nail paints out with them? 😛

These however are aesthetically pleasing to look at when they’re in your nail polish collections! They have a white lid with metallic blue sea designs on them, which includes seaweed, starfish, seahorses and fish. Very cute! It also makes them easy to find when looking in your collection for these to dig out and use!

Now that I’ve briefly spoken about the design of the nail paints themselves, I’ll go into the formula and look of the polishes when worn!

One thing I love about the Molten Metals collection is how thick the brushes are for them all and this is the same when it comes to the Under The Sea nail paints too! It means you don’t need to keep applying loads of little coats with a thinner brush. Instead you only need one or two strokes of colour applied, which is great! I have small nails so this means I only need two or three max.

The pigmentation of this isn’t anything “amazing” but it definitely does the job of being a lovely iridescent polish, no matter how sheer! The colour shift still works with one and two coats as well, although I do prefer three coats to give it a stronger pigmentation to the colour.

Butterflyfish – one coat

Jellyfish – one coat

I find with this polish that you can get away with one dip into the bottle to get a good finish all over, but due to how sheer it is on the first coat I found I dipped into the bottle a couple of times, just to ensure I had enough on the brush to give an even coat all over the nail. I found throughout all coats of polish that I had to keep dipping into the bottle to make sure I had enough on the brush to get enough on the nail. This was a tad disappointing, but so worth it!

Butterflyfish – two coats

Jellyfish – two coats

With a second coat you really start to get a good colour payoff and pigmentation! As I said before however, I do prefer three coats of polish when it comes to these polishes. I just love a strong look to the nail, especially now I can wear nail polish alllllll the time. 😛

Butteflyfish – three coats

Butterflyfish – three coats

Butterflyfish – showing the pink duo chrome effect

Jellyfish – three coats

Jellyfish – three coats

Jellyfish – showing the green duo chrome

I’ve seen people posting on Instagram of them using these polishes over different coloured polishes including black, white and shades with the same base shade(s) as the polish in use. For example people used a light blue cream shade with Butterflyfish over the top. It looked gorgeous! I’ll definitely be giving this a go myself with a black polish underneath!

NOW with the chip test! I never use a base or a top coat and this is for a few reasons… 1. I don’t own one right now and 2. Every time I ever do or have my polish never dries and doesn’t look good after a while.

I wore both of these shades to work and after four days they started to chip. This wasn’t a bad amount of days really considering I type loads at work, write a lot and do bits and pieces around the office. I also found that cleaning the bathroom after applying these polishes lasted REALLY WELL! I was pleasantly surprised!

Overall what do I think of these nail paints then? Well, they’re bloody stunning and I love them so much! They’re definitely going to do well throughout spring and summer this year and this type of finish with nail paints and polishes is on the rise!

Jellyfish on the left, Butterflyfish on the right.

I can’t decide which of the two shades I love the most though to be honest! Out of the two I love the look of Jellyfish the most, but when wearing them I feel like I look at Butterflyfish more! I couldn’t tell you really to be honest. I think they’re both gorgeous in different ways! Butterflyfish seems more shimmery to me, whilst Jellyfish is more metallic looking. Either way, they’re both gorgeous! Fuck it, I can’t pick one!

If you do want to pick one up for yourself, you can find them on Barry M Cosmetics official website!

What do you think? Have you given the Under The Sea nail paints a go, or do you want to? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time take care all and I hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend!

Bikini Wish List Wednesday

I know I usually schedule posts for every 3 days (unless like recently where I was a lazy bitch and left a new post for a week…) BUT I wanted to do another wish list Wednesday post before I go on holiday.

I’m in desperate need of a new bikini and whilst the Iron Fist one I currently own is amazing and does a great job when wearing it, I would like something new that reflects my personality… I know that sounds weird, but hear me out throughout the post as to what I mean!

I also wanted a new bikini because whilst I loved and felt comfortable wearing my Iron Fist one on holiday, I didn’t feel that it stood out and I really want one that will! Especially when going down to the beach, which I hope to do more of on this holiday.

There is a sort of theme around all the bikinis I’ve added to this list too, I am aware of that after putting the image together. 😛 Enjoy the wish list!

• Boux Avenue Cabaret Triangle Bikini Top – £28.00 (link)
• Boux Avenue Cabaret Bikini Briefs – £16.00 (link)

Sadly (as you can see) this bikini isn’t cheap. It’s actually quite expensive for what it looks like from the pictures, BUT IT’S PURPLE AND LOOKS ALMOST HOLOGRAPHIC! I also don’t see many bikini tops that allow you to buy your bra size as apposed to UK dress size or S, M or L. This would be a nice bikini to wear around the pool at my house, as apposed to the beach, but it would also be really nice to wear with a pair of shorts and a sheer jumper. It is expensive though for what it is and due to this I’d want to not only have a look at in person in one of their stores, but I’d also want to try it on before buying. I think I’ll wait for this to go in the sale though. £44.00 is a lot for a bikini in my mind…

• Soft Kitty Clothing Mermaid Bikini – £15.00 (link)

I really love the look of this bikini as it reminds me of Ariel from The Little Mermaid but again, it’s that mermaid print that I love so much appearing again. This is the cheapest bikini on this list and it looks really good quality too! The only thing that I don’t like about it is that it states not to swim in pools with chlorine, which I understand but at the same time that kind of sucks. I would wear the bikini top during sunbathing as it can be a bandeau but I don’t know that for sure. I can’t see this being a bikini I pick up, but if any of the ones on this list aren’t available before the holiday then this could be a last resort.

• River Island Mermaid Metallic Bandeau Bikini – £16.00 (link)

This is a bikini set I’ve had my eye on for a while now but it always seems to run out of stock or is sold out in sales. It’s only available on ASOS now but for £16.00 this is a decent price in my mind for a River Island bikini! I’ve been after a bandeau for a while to be honest for sunbathing in, as well as going out and about. As you can tell I have a metallic and holographic theme going on with these bikinis and this one is such a gorgeous petrol colour!

Missguided Blue Metallic Harness Bikini – £25.00 down to £12.50 (link)

There seems to be a trend this year with harnesses on bikinis and whilst I love it, I find it may also be impractical when tanning due to lines being left behind everywhere. I wouldn’t wear this for sunbathing in, it would definitely be one for going to the beach or shopping. I love the bottoms more than anything as they look so flattering and comfortable! These are so cheap in the sale that a part of me feels like ordering them now. 😛 But I won’t, I’ll wait to buy the bikini set I’m talking about last on this post.

• Boohoo Manhattan Hologram Triangle Tie Bikini – £18.00 (link)

I want a bog standard holographic bikini and this is probably the nicest one I have found, which is from Boohoo. They sell loads of stuff like this on eBay but I don’t trust the quality of eBay sellers stock. You can’t go wrong with Boohoo though and for £18.00 you can’t go wrong really. I’d wear this to go swimming in the pool, the beach and even to sunbathe in. So we shall see!

• Killstar Arabella Halter Top – £19.99 (link)
• Killstar Arabella Posing Shorts – £14.99 (link)

I’m saving my favourite item on this list until last! If there has been a bikini I have really fallen in love with, it’s definitely this one by Killstar. I was actually meant to order this and a dress with the same pattern when I got paid a couple of weeks ago, but I left it and bought a PS Vita instead… Priorities! 😛 BUT I will either be ordering this when I get paid next month, or September just before the holiday. Probably August though… 😛 I love mermaid printed things thanks to Black Milk Clothing and their gorgeous mermaid print leggings, which I own two pairs of (you can read and look at me wearing the one pair here) and love to death! I always take those with me whenever I’ve visited Fuerteventura, so why not wear a bikini with the same look to it? This one just looks sexy yet comfortable and flattering at the same time. I was worried this would actually cost more but when you compare the price of it alongside the Boux Avenue one, it’s a bargain really! This definitely isn’t a bikini I would wear when watching to catch the sun and tan and I’m sure you can see why! It’d be more something to wear on hot days whilst walking around with (again!) some shorts or even my Black Milk mermaid leggings. I just need this bikini in my life! 😛

So those are the bikinis I’m lusting after at the moment! There are so many things I want to buy and wear for the holiday and whilst I’m not low on funds at the moment, I don’t WANT to be low on funds either.

We shall see… I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing a haul of what goodies I get for the holiday.

Do you have your eye on any bikinis? If so please share them with me! 😀 Also, are you going on holiday this summer? Let me know where you’re going in the comments.

Until next time, take care all everyone and I hope you’re having a great week so far.

May Wish List ’17

I swear this months wish list should be called “holographic/metallic wish list!” as most of the items on here are just that. That and holiday related items too. As I mentioned in one of my posts recently, me and Dane are going on holiday this year which is super exciting! I didn’t mean to find so much holographic and holiday related stuff to be honest… I kind of just ended up stumbling upon stuff out of boredom last week… Oops! 😛 Oh well, it makes for some reading today for you guys. ^_^

• New Look Turquoise Metallic Lattice Longline Bikini Top – £16.99 (link)
• New Look Turquoise Metallic Tie Side Bikini Bottoms – £12.99 (link)

I discovered this bikini recently through a Google search whilst looking for holographic/metallic bikinis. I don’t really need a new bikini but I wouldn’t mind picking up a new one for my holiday in September. This is gorgeous and is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before to be honest. Not only does the design of this look unique and have a grunge style to it (which I LOVE!) but it’s also a beautiful turquoise metallic colour which is the perfect holiday and beach colour. Although this is gorgeous and probably my perfect bikini for Fuerteventura it’s kind of impractical for sunbathing in due to the lattice design. Due to this I’d probably use this mostly for popping down to the beach and on very hot days to the shops. Of course I would pick up both the top and bottoms. I’ll definitely be buying these on payday next week so I don’t miss out the chance of getting them!

• Your Lie in April Part 2 Limited Edition Blu-ray – £44.99 (link)

I LOVE Your Lie in April and especially around the start of the year when I first started watching the anime series, as well as reading the manga. Since then I’ve finished the manga and been awaiting part 2 of the blu-ray to come out and be added to my collection. I haven’t actually finished watching the anime yet as I wanted to binge watch it all on the blu-rays with Dane, so of course I am really excited to be able to finally do this!

• New Look Silver Holographic Mini Backpack – £17.99 (link)

I don’t NEEEEED a new backpack but it never hurts to add a new addition to your collection… Does it? I’ve owned backpacks similar to this from New Look before and they’re definitely some of the best ones I’ve owned to be honest. They’re comfortable, look great and are a bargain for how much wear you get from them. I really am on a holographic kick at the moment, like a holographic magpie so I couldn’t help but eye up this backpack. I’d love to try and pick it up in the sale (if it goes into sale obviously) before I go on holiday, but we’ll see what happens. I’d want to try and cutesy this bag up by popping a couple of badges on it and some cute Japanese gatchapon keyrings.

• Truffle Collection Truffle Flatform Holographic Sliders – £14.00 (link)

Again I was looking for some holiday ideas and the first thing I thought to search for was (yet again!) holographic themed items. I found this flatform sandals and I’m unsure what I think of them to be honest. I don’t love them enough to buy them as soon as possible for the holiday, but I don’t know if I hate them enough to not warrant myself buying them at all. I would love another pair of shoes to take with me to wear around the house, to the beach and in the evenings as something light but I have my flip flops to do that. I’m definitely more of a Vans slip on trainer and flip flop girl when it comes to going to Fuerteventura. If these went to a dirt cheap price I’d definitely pick them up as they’d be great to wear casual in the day and dressed up in the evening a little. I think what puts me off the most is that they’re white. Black would have been SOOOO much better!

• Forever 21 Holographic Windbreaker Jacket – £24.00 (link)

When I saw this jacket it just reminded me of the 90’s and of the style of jackets my mom and brother used to wear… But not holographic obviously. 😛 For the final time on this blog post I’ll be talking about something holographic… I do apologise about how much stuff there is on here that’s either that or metallic. Again due to the holiday I was having a look around to see what else I could find on Forever 21’s website to buy in the future and this jacket looks cool! I’d want to pick it up to wear over the summer, as well as for the holiday. As cool as the turquoise colour is I don’t know if the jacket itself would look good or even feel comfortable. I’d want to go in store and have a look at this first before buying it, or at least read a handful of reviews.

• Good Smile Company K-ON! Yui Hirasawa Nendoroid – Prices vary depending where you buy.

Finally we come to the last item on this list and it’s one that me and Dane both want to try and find next month! We were really naughty this month Nendoroid wise and bought quite a lot in one go. We’re part of a Nendoroid group on Facebook and someone on there was selling all of her K-ON! collection so erm… We bought all of the ones we needed. We picked up four out of five she was selling which means the only girl we need now is Yuki! She’s the main character of K-ON! and is Dane’s favourite character. We’ll try and keep our eyes peeled for someone else on that group to sell a Yui Nendoroid or we’ll end up buying a new or second hand one from Japan. These Nendoroid figures came out years ago, not long after they started being made so they’re not as easy to get a hold of now, but this being said they’re cheaper.

So that’s my wish list for this month! I really need to stop spending money now and put it in savings to have towards the holiday. I don’t really want anymore manga at the moment so I’ll definitely be saving money not buying those. I’ll also be saving money not buying much else too because besides the stuff on this list I don’t want anything. 😛

What items do you have on your wish lists? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time take care all and I hope you’re having a great week.