"Dusky Mauve" by Barry M (Chanel Paradoxal dupe)

Hello ladies!  Today's mani is a lovely little nude - "Dusky Mauve" by Barry M.  I have only very recently started venturing into nuddy territory.  I mean, in a world where you can make your nails purple, why the hell would you choose to make them beige?  But recently I have seen the error of my ways and started branching out.  I feel like a proper grown up now.  Dusky Mauve is a lovely warm grey-toned wet clay sort of colour...I'm afraid I don't have any good adjectives for 'sort of grey brown with a dash of purple'.  I'll have to work on that.  But whatever colour this is it's jolly nice.

Barry M "Dusky Mauve" - artificial light

I'm wearing two coats sandwiched betwixt NE base and HK Girl topcoat.  Application was fine, about what you'd expect, but the silly skinny brush you get on the BM polishes is a pain to use.  Quality wise I'm afraid you get what you pay for with this polish.  I had tip wear almost by the time I'd finished painting my nails, so long lasting it ain't.  But for <£3 its still a helluva deal.  I'm a big fan of Barry M, and this is going to be one of my favourites I think.

Look at that amazeballs lilac shimmer in the bottle...isn't it lovely?  The sad thing is that it stays in the bottle.  There is the barest hint of purple-ness on the nail, but not shimmery, and only if you squint at it very carefully in just the right light and really believe that it's there.  Yes it's one of those.

I bought this polish having seen my friend wearing Chanel Paradoxal.  I'm not Rockafella, so I went looking online for a dupe and found this Barry M.  Now online swatches do seem to suggest that this BM and the Chanel are exact dupes, I'm not so sure.  I thought the Paradoxal in person had more of an evident purple shimmer, but other bloggers seem to suggest it's the other way round. 

Well, regardless, I think that this is a gorgeous and sophisticated colour and you'd have to be mental to spend £18 instead of £3.  I mean, think of how many polishes you could buy with your £15 change.  The change would get you a Deborah Lippmann polish...(or 3 if you go to TK Maxx!).  So it's not contest.  I'm sure the Chanel would last a lot longer, but I tend to change my polish almost as often as my socks so wear time really isn't a problem. 

I got my bottle of Dusky Mauve for £2.90 from Nail Polish Direct (link in suppliers page).  For some reason it seems this one is rarely in store, perhaps its and older polish, but it is easily available online.