Many of you will have heard the exciting news this week that Barry M are launching some new products this month and amongst them are nail art pens. I knew about these a little while back because I was asked to create some nail art using the pens for the print advert but I had to keep it a secret which wasn’t easy!
Before these I’d never used nail art pens, always favouring brushes, but I got on with the pens just fine and the mess on my desk was much more contained than when I use brushes!
To get the paint flowing you have to press the nib down on the desk (I put a piece of plastic down first because some of it will get on your surface) until it starts flowing. The paint comes down the edges and through the middle of the nib but sometimes a little too much makes its way down the sides and you have to wipe it off. This wasn’t a huge deal for me because I’m used to using brushes which have to be cleaned off constantly.
You have to make sure your base colour is completely dry before you go for it with these pens. I jumped the gun and ending up dragging away the polish underneath so I had to start over. I also noticed that the paint crackles if you paint it on to wet nail polish, you can kind of see what I mean on the square design on my ring finger.
The nibs of the pens look a lot like like felt tips but are actually made of solid plastic which makes them very durable. I slammed these down on my desk more than a few times when I was being a little over zealous but it didn’t do any damage to the nibs, they’re super tough.
I’m pretty sure it’s not nail polish inside. By that I mean they haven’t just poured their Black nail polish in to a nail art pen. It’s something between nail polish and paint because obviously it has to be runny enough to flow smoothly out of the pens. Whatever it is, the consistency is perfect and with a top coat it will last as long as your nail polish.
I think I’ll get the most use out of these when I’m doing french tips. Do you ever paint on tips and find yourself with a big bump at the end of your nails? I do all the time! These won’t give you that bump, the paint is so smooth and you can go over the same area as many times as you like without it ‘building up’ and getting all lumpy.
These nail art pens will be available in Superdrug stores from April 10th and Boots stores from April 17th. The RRP is £4.99 each.
They’ll also be launching on BarryM.com from April 10th.
