We need to talk about Barry

As part of my attempts to go cruelty free in 2017, I’ve done a lot of discovering in the beauty realm recently. Many of my findings have been bath and body, haircare or skincare, but I have made a couple of make up discoveries too.

Barry M are not a new brand to me, but I’ve always had them down as great for colour products – was anyone else obsessed with dazzle dusts in 2006?! – and not really associated them with anything else. When I was cheerleading at university our (terrifying) competition make up was made up almost solely of shimmery, glittery Barry M, topped off with a glossy hot pink smile.

Obviously I love their nail paints – that goes without saying. The price, the formulas, the colour ranges…they’re wonderful and I think we can all agree on that – but I’d not really tried much else. Anyway, since realising that Barry M was a cruelty-free brand I picked up some of their products that I wouldn’t have tried previously, and guess what, I bloody love them. Here are the new additions to my make up bag:

Flawless Colour Correcting Primer, £5.99

This stuff is my new bff because it prevents make up from sliding down my oily little face. It’s GREEN (I’m sure you can probably tell that from the photo) so is part of that whole colour correcting thing that I’ve seen a lot at the moment, and it does a sterling job of counteracting redness. I don’t usually go for mattifying products because I hate the powdery look that some can create but there’s none of that here. The difference to the finish of my overall makeup I get when using this is really quite pronounced; everything looks much smoother and fresher, and while I’m not going to say flawless because it’s not magic potion made from the tears of unicorns, we’re heading more in that direction.

Chisel Cheeks Contour Creams, £7.99

Okay, it’s just half of this that I love – chuck out the ‘highlight’ shade, it doesn’t really do anything for me although that may be because my face is essentially that colour anyway. The contour shade though, is fantastic. Let’s just get it out there right now that I’m a contour moron, and I’ve never been able to do it – but with this you literally just draw it on, like a child doing some colouring. And then blend it in of course, but it blends like a dream so that’s easy; I just use one of the Primark beauty oval brushes. I’m very pale so I was a bit dubious about the colour of the dark shade but it totally works with my skin tone, giving my face a bit of definition without straying into muddy or dirty territory.

Illuminating Strobe Cream, £4.49

Okay so you know I said to chuck out that other highlighter? Replace it with this. It’s the most gorgeous creamy product, and again I literally just draw it on across my cheekbones and brow bones, then use my ring finger to blend. Apparently this can be layered with the other shades to create the ‘must-have strobing look’, but I don’t even know what that is to be honest so I’m just going to stick to a basic highlight for now – which this cream stick works perfectly for. I’ve got the shade ‘Iced Bronze’ and it adds a lovely dewy glow that I just can’t get enough of. Definitely a new favourite highlight!

Coconut Infusion Nail Paint, £4.99 each

Okay, I know this is supposed to be non-nails Barry M discoveries but these are delightful and also I hadn’t tried the Coconut Infusion Nail Paints before. They actually do smell like coconut – I sort of forgot that’s what they were called, started painting my nails and then thought to myself ‘Why can I smell coconut?’…it was the nail paint. Well done Soph.

The shades I have here are Laguna and Flamingo which are both so pretty and absolutely perfect for summer. They’re pretty quick drying too which is a winner with me because I will ALWAYS end up smearing freshly painted nails or waking up to fabric print all over them if I paint them before bed, which isn’t the best look. Can’t wait to grab a few more of these to see me through the rest of the year!

And that brings me to the end of my recent discoveries – I’m really pleased with all of them. So I’m sorry, Barry, for thinking that you were a one-trick pony – you’re at least a four trick pony, and I can’t wait to see what else you’ve got for me to get my greedy little mitts on.

Any suggestions for what my next Barry M purchases should be?

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