Having said that, I've never got on well with glitter nail varnishes. For a start, I don't have the nicest nails, nor the nicest skin on my hands (generally a bit dry and wrinkly) and I do honestly think that any nail effect varnishes (e.g. matte, glitter, leather, textured) only really work on good nails (with a nice big nail plate) and good skin.
This doesn't mean that people like me, with wrinkly hands and small nails, can't dabble in a bit of festive glitter fun - it just means you need to get the right nail varnish.
My biggest issue with glitter nail varnishes, is sparse glitter. The type that look mega glittery in the bottle, then when you apply them it is just clear polish with three strands of glitter that you end of wiping around your nail. I've tried stippling, and putting on 15 layers, but these glitter nail varnishes never work for me. I want dense glitter. Proper mega disco-ball sparkle. And in my experience, going high end doesn't mean you get a denser glitter. I've used Revlon, Essie, OPI and Nails Inc varnishes which have all given me the three-strand-glitter effect.
I was in Next the other day, and the girl who served me had amazing rose-coloured glitter nails, and it definitely made me think 'right, it's time to hunt for a good glitter nail varnish', and for once I actually went and did some research.
Which led me to my purchase of today......Barry M's new nail effects "Royal Glitter" polish in the shade, 'Countess'.
At £3.99, this nail varnish is a lovely little bargain, and no one ever wants to spend loads on season-specific cosmetics. And it really does pack on the glitter. These are my nails after two basic coats of my polish...
Sorry the photos are a bit blurry, but my camera seemed a bit overwhelmed by the glitter and kept trying to focus all over the place.
You can get the jist of how dense the glitter is though. The colour is a purple-brown and the glitter is a mix of gold and purple-pink. The glitter is really, really fine and it does look like you've painted your nails with a normal burgundy type nail varnish and then gone over the top with mega fine, dull gold/purple glitter. I like this though, because if you actually had of done that it would have taken ages both to apply and dry.
The only thing I wasn't keen on about this, was that it is completely matte and when it is on your nails it feels like sandpaper. I did put a coat of clear nail varnish on top and it made it more glossy for a few minutes, and then it sucked the clear in and went back to being mega matte again. The photos below are immediately after I put the top coat on, but the finish went back to being completely matte and rough-feeling about 5 minutes later.
Overall I did really like this nail varnish. It applies so easily, is a nice festive winter shade, and it is definitely one of the most hassle-free glitter polishes I've used. And all for £3.99...not bad.
The finish frustrates me though, as regular followers of my blog know I'm a massive fan of a glossy nail. I also think the matte finish means you don't get much "twinkle" from the glitter. You can see it is a glitter nail varnish, but it is more of a dull glitter than a mega sparkle. Barry M do 4 other shades in this range ... a rose gold, a pink, a white and a gold....and the rose gold (Duchess) looked like it had a lot more sparkle so I might try this when we get closer to Christmas.
If you've got any recommendations for a mega-glittery nail varnish then please let me know, as I am definitely still on the hunt and the festive season is getting closer!!! I especially want a proper bright sparkly red, or a dense sparkly gold. So any tips, leave them in the comments below! xx
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