Nails of the Day ~ Wicked

Today's nails are 17's High Gloss nails varnish in Wicked.
I really like how it looked to start with, it had this really subtle red/purple shimmer to it, but it sort of dulled over time, I'm not sure it that's because I didn't put a top coat on. On the plus side, it matches my hair now (which can be seen here).
My application is always so messy, I try and clean it up with cotton buds and varnish remover but it doesn't seem to make that much of a differnece. Do you have any tips for neat varnish application?

Nails of the Day ~ Blueberry Ice Cream

Today's nail varnish is BarryM's Blueberry Ice Cream.
When buying this it was a toss up between this shade or Blue Moon, which looked a little too pale. I can't make my mind up about. I don't mind this shade but I find it a bit too bright, I think I would have preferred the other one in the end. This shade is fine though and it'll probably grow on me (like so many things I have do). It looks more or less pale in different lights which makes me change my mind about it constantly...which is kind of fun really. Normal Barry M is really good but this particular colour was a bit too thick when applying, although this might not be a Barry M fault but a "left in a hot place" fault, or something?

What's your favourite pale blue varnish?