Part of this is that in three of the five ALU/Barielle polishes I received, the bristles in the brush were loose. This is not a huge problem: find a pair of scissors, do some snipping, presto chango, brush with no bristles prickling out in odd directions. But there are cheaper polishes (that arrive in a more timely manner) with brushes that aren't defective. And I really don't like having to make something "as good as new" when I've bought them new. :P One of the non-prickly-bristle polishes was also kinda goopy, which made swatching nicely just that much harder. So out of the five ALU/Barielle polishes I got, only one applied without a single hitch.
Enough of me complaining. On to the pictures!
Barielle U-Concrete-Me
Nice basic grey with a slightly browned base. Perfectly lovely and the application would have been sooooo smooth, if not for the bristles. Again, scissors, snip-snip, perfection.
Barielle Putt-E-On-Me
I love me some taupe! This one with a slightly more reddish/purple base. Fab application. Sure, I have a lot of these sorts of drab taupe-y creme shades right now but I like 'em and I'll keep buying 'em until I realize I have waaaay too many.
Barielle Get-Mauve-ing
Doesn't do a thing for me. I don't hate it -- it's a pretty nice polish -- but I can't see reaching for this ever again.
Barielle Make-It-a-Latte
I'm getting into browns lately and am loving this one: rich brown with gold and red shimmer. Very classy and very autumn.
Close-up of Make-It-a-Latte (is there a pun I'm not getting here? What is up with the hyphens?)
Barielle Blackened-Bleu
Saved my favorite to last. I didn't know if I would care of this one since it seemed dupey to China Glaze Blk-Bila-Bong (more hyphens!) but I haven't compared them yet. I just know that this is one gorgeous polish with a lot of depth and appearances depending on how the light hits it.
Close-up of Blackened-Bleu
From these polishes, and the photos I've seen online, I don't see any real compelling reason to run out and buy the rest of the collex (especially without the 15% off coupon first-timer coupon). And since I also picked up five others I've wanted from old/core collections, I probably won't be indulging in Barielle very much for awhile. It seems to be a very reliable brand with good application and a nice variety of colors and finishes, but at a normal $8 a piece + shipping (even if you do the Buy-2-Get-1-Free)... eh, there are other polishes in the sea. :) It is very cool, though, that Michelle at ALU got to help design these polishes. Does anyone know if she profits from them as well?
