Barry M Gelly Papaya with Alta Costura Vernis Brightside

Barry M Gelly Papaya with Alta Costura Vernis Brightside

A two-stage mani, I wore Barry M Papaya alone on Monday, then added the Alta Costura Vernis Brightside to jazz it up a bit today. Here's the Barry M Polish first:

Barry M Gelly Papaya

This is a very pretty and quite conventional sort of colour, I'd describe it as a peachy salmon. It's one of the recent Spring additions to the Barry M Gelly Nail Paint range, and the first one of the range that I've tried. I found the formula quite thick and there was a definite tendency to streakiness. Because the polish itself is thick, it's rather difficult to manipulate around on your nails so I needed to pay a bit of attention to clean up at the end. I used two coats, Seche Vite top coat, then another coat of polish and a final coat of Seche Vite for this manicure. I'm pleased with the results and I'll definitely use the polish again.

Barry M Gelly Papaya

Alta Costura Vernis Brightside is a polish I've had a difficult relationship with. I want to love it, but it's not easy. Brightside is a mix of light yellow and light pink matt glitters in a base that's hard to describe. I love the glitters in Brightside, it's the base that is the problem. I got this polish in a blogsale and it was a few months old when it came to me, so I don't know if when the polish had a clear base to begin with and the glitters have bled and stained it, or if the colour was intentional. I think there has been bleeding, however, looking at the original pictures of the polish on Alta Costura Vernis' Etsy ; the glitter here looks massively brighter than in my bottle :(

Anyhow, the base of my Brightside is a neon orange-pink, which makes it extremely difficult to pair up with other polishes. I wanted to use it over creams like Illamasqua Load and light yellow greens like OPI Who The Shrek Are You, but this is clearly impossible! This is the first time I've used Brightside and been satisfied with the results.

Barry M Gelly Papaya with Alta Costura Vernis Brightside

See how pale the glitters are compared to the pictures in the Etsy listing! And the base has changed the colour of Barry M Papaya from salmon-peach to quite a bright orange pink. The whole thing works quite well together though, and is bright and pretty mani on this wild and snowy March day. This is one coat of Brightside over the existing Barry M Papaya mani, with two coats of Gelous and a further coat of Seche Vite ~ this is quite a hungry glitter.

Barry M Gelly Papaya with Alta Costura Vernis Brightside

I purchased Barry M Gelly in Papaya from Boots. As I mentioned above, I bought Alta Costura Vernis Brightside from a blogsale; Alta Costura Vernis has an Etsy shop but it isn't currently stocked.