Bargain Nail Haul

As I said on my last post, you evil nasty bloggers have been forcing me, yes FORCING me! to buy more nail varnishes! So here are some more swatches and mini reviews of what I have bought over the past month from bargain shops.

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in Glow: This has quickly become one of my favourite polishes. It is a shimmery bright green, almost lime, with a metallic gold shine to it when it catches the light. The photos do not do this polish justice. It lasts for 3 days without chipping or peeling, which is almost miraculous on my nails with the amount of gardening I’ve been doing. The skinny brush doesn’t leave streaks and it dries quickly. It takes 3 coats to become fully opaque, although you can get away with 2. You can pick this up from Ebay for around £2-£3. I urge you to (and don’t confuse it with the Hard as Nail’s product also called Glow, which is an insipid pink). I got it for £2 from The Factory Warehouse in Stourport-on-Severn.

Revlon Nail Enamel in Strawberry Electric: This is a bright, almost metallic pink. It’s what Barbie would wear in the future. The shimmer is intense. It has a thin brush and sometimes streaks slightly. It also can take a long time to dry. However, the wear is fairly good and the colour is amazing. You can buy this from Ebay for around £3. I got mine from Savers for £1.50-ish.

W7 Nail Polish in Purple Paradise: W7 Nail Crackle is amazing, so I decided to try the regular polishes. This, I do not love. It is a shimmery plum purple. The wear is terrible, it streaks, the drying time is ludicrously long and the gold iridescence that the bottle shows (which the camera couldn’t pick up properly) doesn’t transfer to the nails. It’s not the worst polish I’ve tried but it’s put me off the regular polishes by W7. Disappointing nail polish can be yours for £2 from Amazon. I got this for £1 from The Factory Warehouse.

Rimmel 60 Seconds Polish in Hard Edged: I am undecided about this polish. It’s a mahogany brown with a strong dark purple duochrome running through it so it changes from brown to purple depending on the light. There is some green and gold iridescence which doesn’t really transfer over to the nails. I love the wide brush but it streaks on application, needs three coats and takes forever to dry. The wear isn’t dreadful. This is definitely a winter polish so I’ll try it again then and see if I like it better. I got mine from Poundland. You can get yours from Ebay from 99p.

Rimmel Lasting Finish in Forest Green: I also picked this up from Poundland. This is a true dark green, without the blue tone that my camera has inflicted on it. It is shimmery and unremarkable. The wear is ok, the application is ok, and the drying time is ok. It’s just ok. It seems to be hard to find this online, so it seems Rimmel agree with me that it is just…ok.

George Quick Dry Nail Polish in Ultra Violet: I love this so much. It is a blue/lilac duochrome with a hint of pink in certain lights. The picture does not do it justice. It takes 4 coats to go opaque but I found the wear on it was excellent. It also does what it says on the bottle- it dries really quickly! Within a minute my nails were touchable, so adding the 4 coats isn’t too much of a headache. The skinny brush didn’t leave any streaks. I can see me rebuying this because I love it so much. You only get 5ml but at £1.75 it is still a bargain. Available from Asda.

URGH, UGLY TOE FINGERS!

Accessorize Nail Polish in Superstar- This reminds me a lot of OPI’s Yodel On Me. It’s slightly darker blue teal and the shimmer seems better balanced to me, so it doesn’t look muddy. The drying time is ok and the fat brush applied without streaking but the wear is terrible. It chipped within a few hours. Also, the bottle is quite unsteady without the brush in it! I got mine on sale from Superdrug for £2. It’s still available online but I think it’s been discontinued.

So anyway, that’s my nail haulage for the past month. The Asda and Sally Hansen polishes are my favourites and I’d highly recommend them. Now stop tempting me to buy more polishes, bloggers!

(All pictures taken in  natural light)