Julep Dahlia Swatch and Review (Bonus: Barry M Boots Limited Edition D 335)

Well it's snowing here but when it snows here, my Eastern Canada friends always just laugh and tell me that we don't know what "real snow" is. To tell the truth, they're totally right. But still - whenever it snows here, no one manages to know what they're doing! Anyway I am trapped at work for a while so I'm just going to hope that by the time the day is done, I won't have to deal with traffic. One can hope. Anyway with all the snow news aside, I figure that now's a good time to show off a shade that my NPBFF Caitlin from Addicted to Lacquer gave me for Christmas.

This is Julep Dahlia, a shimmery-as-fuck, bright-as-fuck golden sunflower yellow. (There wasn't any way to describe it.) This polish was heavily pigmented and I got decent coverage with two coats. You can see my free edge in the right light, but it was mostly unnoticeable. Application went on smooth and was very impressive. Here's my swatch with no top coat:









I wanted to have a bit of PARTY! on my nails so I also put on a Barry M polish called Boots Limited Edition D 335 that I got from my BFF. (Boots is a drugstore in London, I think so anyway so I imagine this shade would just be an exclusive they had at one point.) No other descriptor can be found, and I couldn't find any information online about this one! Ah well, it's an assorted colour bar glitter. Here's two coats applied with different vertical and horizontal brush strokes:









Julep Dahlia is super bright so it's not a polish I would wear all the time. It's nice, through. What I didn't like about it was that it's a bit of a stainer! So just be careful with this one.

Do you like wearing BRIGHT-AS-FUCK colours on your nails? If so, do you save them for cold wintery days, or do you coordinate with the summer weather? Also, I totally just did 100 skips with my skip rope and it was a sure sign that I need to work out on a regular basis. #fml #officelife

Barry M Matte Nail Paint Crush Swatch and Review (Bonus: OPI Pure 18K White Gold Top Coat)

I had to work some overtime on the weekend and with that, I was moving some computers and I broke not just one but two nails! So for the next while, I am going to space out my posts to make them last while my nails grow back - haha! But I did get my Rainbow Honey order so I'll be doing an unveiling of what was in my Mystery Pack! (Love them Mystery Packs.) Anyway, I've got a brand new brand (haha) to show off on the blog today - I have some nail polish from Barry M! You've probably heard the name before as all of our UK friends seem to have them in the spotlight. My BFF who lives in London now brought a random handful to me for Christmas! So here's Barry M's debut here on Claw of Cthulhu.

This is Crush, a Barry M Matte Nail Paint. It's a deep bloody red - application wise, it goes on fairly smooth and even. My swatch is in two coats, no top coat - so this is the natural finish:











I am not sure if I am too crazy over the matte finish - this is the first matte nail polish I've owned that isn't black. I feel like matte black really works but for a shade like this, I feel like it kicked it down a notch and made it less dynamic. It seems really low key. To bring it up to life, I added OPI Pure 18K White Gold Top Coat and I liked it a LOT better. I think it made a huge difference:







Overall, I found my first Barry M polish to be great application wise, but I wasn't too big of a fan of the natural finish with the shade of the polish. Turning it into a glossy polish made all the difference for me.

What do you think of Barry M? Have you tried any of their polishes? Is the matte trend over, or are you still into it?