Barry M Prickly Pear Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint Review

Barry M has been one of my favourite nail polish brands for well over a decade now. They're purse friendly, have a very large selection of colours to choose from, and they give great long-lasting results; everything I look for in a nail polish.

I've worked my way through a large proportion of their nail polish range over the years from paints to glitters and effects, but until recently, I'd never tried anything from their Gelly range of gel polishes.

Last week I treated myself to a new polish, and came home with one of their Gelly Nail Paints; a lovely lilac colour called Prickly Pear.

Prickly Pear is a delicate cool-toned pastel lilac, and I'm pleased to say the colour translates identically on to the nails. 

The photo above is probably the best interpretation of the nail colour. I didn't alter any of my photos, but the colour varied a little from photo to photo. 

It's a really pretty shade, perfect for wearing with other soft pastels like lemon, and mint- so perfect for Spring time.

Barry M's Gelly Nail Paints are marketed as highly pigmented, with a chip-resistant formula, and designed to give a gel-like glossy finish with just one coat.

But did it live up to the hype??

I found I needed two coats to achieve an opaque nail, which is quite normal with Barry M nail paints, but I did three as my nails needed that extra coat to properly hide the green tinge on my nails (stains from another polish). (Oops). I don't believe one coat of this polish would be enough to give an even coverage; at least not with this shade.

Each coat dried within a minute or so! I don't know about you, but I hate sitting about waiting for nail polish to dry, so I was impressed with the drying time. The polish has a long brush, which makes application easy to control, and should also make it easy to reach the bottom of the pot as it's used up. I don't have the steadiest of hands, but it was so easy to work with, and even I could achieve decent results. 

Five days later!

I've never had a gel manicure, or tried gel nail polishes before, so I really had no idea what to expect. Barry M Gelly paints are not the same as gel polishes which require UV light to set them, but just designed to give a similar finish.

What I found was that my nails felt strong and very smooth, looked very glossy, and that this manicure didn't start to chip until the 5th day of wear! Ordinarily, I'm lucky to make it through one full day with my nails in tact!

Impressive!

So, in short, I love this nail polish! I love the colour, I love the staying power, the application, the texture, and glossy finish... and for just £3.99 they're so inexpensive, too. They're cheap enough to buy in several colours without making a dent in the bank balance.

I definitely intend to collect some of the other colours in the range. I personally love the look of Blueberry and Watermelon.

You can buy Gelly nail paints online via their own website and also through ASOS, and they can also be found on the high street in pharmacies such as Boots and Superdrug.

Have you tried Barry M's Gelly Paints yet?