I received this Barry M instant nail effects free when spending over so much on Barry M products in Superdrug some time ago. I was never bothered about trying it out before but as it was free I thought I may as well give it a go! It is priced at £3.99 in Boots and Superdrug which I think is quite cheap for a nail varnish.

For this to work you first need to apply a nail varnish to your nails of any colour you wish. When the base colour has dried you then apply this nail effects varnish on the top, just as you would with any other nail polish. It then slowly starts to 'crackle' itself whilst drying on your nails to leave the effect that appears on the lid of the bottle. I have this in black as it was the only colour available at the time, but this is also available in several other shades too such as purple, pink, blue and white.

I applied purple underneath the black and it did work really well however personally I did not like the look of the effect on my nails. It really stood out and worked well but I just kept thinking it appeared messy and I soon removed it. I think if I had the nail polish in a different shade I may have liked it more as black stands out on your nails anyway, never mind with the crackle effect.

The nail varnish dried very quickly on my nails and was also easy to remove, not like glitter nail varnishes! I therefore cannot fault this product as it does what it is meant to instantly, and doesn't require much effort. It is just down to personal choice whether you then like the finished look or not.

If you do want a crackle effect nail varnish then I would recommend Barry M as opposed to other brands such as Nails Inc as it is much cheaper and yet works.

I may try this again sometime with different base colours underneath as I may come across one that I actually like. However, I am glad I got to try this out with it being a freebie, and not after paying for it, as it just isn't for me.