Barry M Instant Nail Effects

Good grief, this stuff is harder to find than than hen's teeth in the shops at the moment. I must've hit four different shops in one day trying to get my hands on a bottle.
Luckily, I managed to find some for a reasonable price on ebay, even though some sellers are charging a small fortune (£10 for a bottle of something that costs £3.99? You're having a laugh!). If you're of a more patient nature than I am & can hold out, it'll be worth it as a nice lady in Boots told me that this may well become a permanent addition to the Barry M range.

So what does this stuff do? It's basically a simple nail-art in a bottle. Just paint it on top of your chosen base colour as you would a coat of nail polish & let it do its magic.



It's quite thick, I can see how the bottle opening may get a little goopy after a while. Having said that, it doesn't look too thick once applied unless you go a bit overboard with it.
Watching it dry, I had one of those "oooh, look at that!" moments. It takes seconds for it to start working, the pattern appears before your eyes.
Once dried, INA looks a lot like a matte polish. You'll need a topcoat with this baby. The thicker & glossier, the better.

Over China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, no topcoat

Over China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, no topcoat

Over China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, with topcoat

One thing I've noticed is that how thick a layer you apply affects the finished outcome. A thinner layer gives smaller black patterning with smaller gaps whilst a thicker coat leaves behind larger black chunks with more gaps in between. One nail came out looking almost cow print.

Over Zoya's Lola

Over Zoya's Lola

INA works better with pale or bright polishes as your base colour. The mister pointed out if it were applied over a red base, it'd look like hot lava. That may well be an experiment to try at some point.

It's never going to give you as many nail-art options as something like the Konad plates, but for what it is, Instant Nail Effects is pretty cool. It's a great option for when you want a fancier nail without having to mess around with the Konad & do all the clean-up after.For £3.99, it's well worth giving it a go.