Barry M Nail Art Pens - Flower Design

I never get on very well with nail art pens, the standard type with the long fine brush, and the fine metal tip. I always find the brushes too long to manipulate easily, and the metal tips always end up flooding or drying out when I squeeze the bottle too hard or not enough. So I was intrigued to see what the new Barry M Nail Art Pens would be like.

Instead of the brush/metal tip combo, these have a hard plastic tip with a hole in the end. You shake the tube a bit, then press down several times on a hard surface (not your nail!) until the polish flows. It then flows freely from a tiny hole, no need for squeezing. Just give the tip a wipe with a tissue when you're finished, and that's all there is to it.

These come in black, white, silver and pink. They cost £4.99 in Superdrug, but they had a 3-for-2 deal on, so I bought 3. I will probably end up going back for the black one too!  I used two coats of China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On, and then played around to get this floral design using the pink and white Barry M pens.

The nibs on the pens are firm and very easy to control. The polish itself isn't normal polish - it's much runnier and flows very nicely, without flooding, or drying up mid design. There's no need to stop and re-pump the nib or anything like that. What I especially liked is that the polish is thin enough to lie flat and dry quickly - not like when using a dotting tool say, which leaves raised patterns which add texture and take longer to dry. 

This isn't the neatest finish ever - I thought it looked great til I saw the macro shots! My skin is awfully dry right now. I have terrible excema on the backs of my hands at the moment, and while it hasn't carried to my fingers, I have been using lots of creams and so on, which are drying out the skin on my fingers I think. These photos were AFTER doing a heavy duty moisturiser session!  However, I loved how easy the pens were to use, and how the pattern looked for a first attempt! Much easier than dotting tools, and much much easier than traditional squeezy nail art pens. I hope Barry M plan to bring out more colours! I'd like a blue and a red, and maybe a gold?