Thumbs Down: Barry M "Spring Green" Nail Varnish

Barry M's "Spring Green" has been in the beauty news quite a bit of late. And not just because of the re*****on-friendly price tag that Barry M products are so well known for. Nope, "Spring Green" has been picked up on by a number of beauty editors as a dupe for Chanel's limited edition "Jade" offering.

Well, I have two things to say about this.

One: eh, I disagree. Where "Jade" is an almost pastel minty green with a very slight shimmer, "Spring Green" is a super-bright green green grass of home hue. I'd go with "Mint Green" (funnily enough!) instead to try and replicate the Chanel colour at a cheap-o (€4.50) price. No shimmer in either of the Barry M numbers but the latter is a much closer colour match for my money.

Two: I will never put another drop of "Spring Green" on my nails as long as I live.

I wore it last month for festival fingers at Electric Lightbulb, where it made up 1/5 of an understated rainbow mani to go with some Natasha Khan-inspired make-up. It's now, what, almost 6 weeks since EP? Despite priming with my trusty Creative Nails Stickey base coat, I am still sporting a seriously discoloured nail on each hand where Barry M's "Spring Green" was in residence for all of 24 hours.

I have worn jet black and midnight navy and royal purple and scarlet red and God knows what ever guaranteed-to-stain nail varnishes from all sorts of brands over this base coat and never had any problems with discolouration before. In fact, this is the first Barry M nail varnish that has led to staining, and I'm hoping that it'll be the last and it's not a problem with the greens from the brand.

Because there's a bottle of "Mint Green" in Boots in Liffey Valley with my name on it...