When Barry M teased us all on Instagram with a snap of their new Molten Metal polishes, labelled ‘coming soon’, it was right that we would be suitably excited. However, this was not the Molten Metal polishes that we could have ever imagined. There was an interloper, an unexpected extra that sent the nail community a-buzzing. Dripping down their display was a holo. Yes, Barry M were going to release a new holographic polish. I for one was not expecting this and was sent into a spin. I love holo and so of course I had to get my pretty little paws on it. And so I did… (of course I bought the others too!).
The new Molten Metals have the same bottle design as the last set, which is pleasing as I like them all to look the same when I store them (nail nerd..). There are five polishes in this set (compared to the last set which had four) and they are: Pink Ice, Blue Glacier, Black Diamond, Gold Rush and Holographic Lights. Let’s see some swatches already!
This is Pink Ice, a rose gold coloured metallic which has a flaky look about it, the same as the first set of Molten Metals, but it dries smooth. Rose gold is still huge so Barry M just had to add that into the collection. However, there’s a litle bit of controversy surrounding this polish but I’ll get into that at the end… This covered beautifully in two coats, dried smooth and is shown with topcoat.
This cooled hued beauty is Blue Glacier. This one was a little more sheer so took 3 normal coats to get to the point where I had very little nail line visible. Barry M have themselves stated that these polishes are meant to be sheer so that you can go for a one-coat subtle mani or layer it for the wow factor. I like to show the full colour in my swatches though, so it was three coats and topcoat.
This is Black Diamond. The metallic base of these polishes shows much more in this colour, to the point where it looks to be a black with tiny silver flakes or even a dark graphite colour. It looks stunning though and covers in two coats (shown with topcoat).
This polish is called Gold Rush. I mean, there couldn’t be another Molten Metal set without a reference to an actual metal, right? I prefer this gold to the one from the first set, Gold Digger, However it also reminds me of the Aquarium Collection polish, Mediterranean, as it has that same kind of colour shift, although Gold Rush shifts from gold to orange-pink with a hint of green in there. I used three coats and top coat.
Right then, the grande finale! Of course I had to leave the holo ’til the end!
This beauty is Holographic Lights and it is a silver based holo that is again, very sheer but builds easily into a beautiful, shimmering rainbow (you can tell that I really like holos, hmmm?) I want to try this over some different darker polishes to see what effect (if any) it has, but that is for another day. This polish was worth the wait and definitely worth the three coats to get maximum opacity (top coat was used again).
Ok, so my thoughts on this latest installment…
- I really do like this set, even more so than the original four. Both sets fit nicely together colour-wise but I’m glad that Barry M have introduced some real colour with this latest set.
- The formula is great, smooth and effortless and I like the way that even with one coat you can get a good sheer effect without being at all patchy.
- Favourite polish? Obviously the holo, with special mention going to the black and blue polishes. The rose gold, whilst nice is nothing different to what other polish makers are doing and the gold is beautiful and very colour-shifty so I’m reserving judgement on that one for now.
- Overall, I think this is a very well rounded set and yes, I honestly would recommend it. At £3.99 each you cannot go wrong and I’m sure that Boots and Superdrug with have them in an offer before long.
Right then, I mentioned a little controversy over the Pink Ice polish earlier on. Well it turns out that if you like to collect the limited edition polishes that Barry M release, as I do, and you picked up a bottle of Twinkle Twinkle at Christmas, as I did, then you will have two polishes that are essentially identical, save for the names (you can see here…).
It turns out that Barry M’s limited Twinkle Twinkle was so popular that they decided to include it in this new set. Whilst I have no problem with Barry M trying to make money by cashing in on their popular polishes (they are going to want to make a profit, after all) I don’t agree with them repackaging and worse, renaming the polish. An average nail polish customer would probably not think “Ooh, this is the same as…”, they would probably think it was a nice colour and end up with two bottles of identical polish. At the very least the name should be the same to avoid any confusion and to prevent unwanted dupes. It’s very naughty too, as this isn’t the first time this renaming has happened, but that is enough for now. Bottom line, if you purchased the Superdrug Limited Edition Nail Paint called Twinkle Twinkle, then you do not need to waste your pennies buying Pink Ice! You’re welcome 😉
Okey dokey, that got a bit waffle-y there for a while but I hope I haven’t bored you half to death! I really do think that this is a fab collection addition and it was definitely worth the wait 🙂
Let me know what you think and what your favourite polish was. Thanks for reading, ’til next time…. x x
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