It's no secret that I'm the world's worst blogger and simply can't be arsed to paint my nails most of the time. It's just such a laborious task; which for me usually ends in nail polish smeared all over my life, the imprint of my duvet on my freshly painted nails and a new residency in chip city within a matter of days. And my nails are utter sh*te and flaky as hell, which only makes the situation worse. Taa, life.
I've recently started having my nails done by an actual nail technician / professional, as getting a bit of Shellac in my life helps mask my crap nails massively. When I go to my usual girly, my manicure can last for up to two weeks chip-free. Which saves me a hell of a lot of ballache and has made my life a much better place. But I'm not made of money, yeno. So what with the dire financial hell which is my life at present all the time, I've had to make cut-backs and stop visiting Jamie. What's a girl to do now?
Well, I picked up TopShop's Gel Nail kit, with a few different shades to try out. Apparently it's formulated with legit Shellac and it promises a much longer finish than your standard nail polish. You get a base coat (Step 1) and a top coat (Step 3) in the starter pack; and buy your choice of nail colour (Step 2) separately. I got chatting to one of the girls at the till and she said she'd heard these kits were good, so I left the store feeling pretty positive about the whole thing and less like a sham of a human being for further contributing to my obscene levels of debt.
Though the haul wasn't cheap, I thought long term, it would save me a lot of dollar.
TopShop Gel Nail Top & Base Kit - £12
TopShop Gel Nail Polishes, £8 each
Shades L-R : Scamp, Kettle, Triumph
I decided to use the red polish first, to match with the outfit I had planned for New Year's Eve. I've also since tried the black polish, too. But I guess the most important thing here to discuss here [other than my horrendous levels of debt and the odd swear word] - are these products actually any good? Are TopShop nailing Shellac or failing us terribly with this?
Well, I'm sad to say, it's a big old FAIL from me.
I was soooooo hopeful when I first used this stuff. The polishes dry quickly at each stage, I felt a bit like I was having legit Shellac done AND the colours apply vividly, easily & streak free. My nails were glossy and perfectly manicured - and I felt like I'd finally managed to tick 'adulting' off my to do list.
But then just one day later, they began to chip - both away from my nails and away at my breaking heart.
As my nails are utterly turd, I thought maybe it was just them. Just me. Just one of those things. But even on the nails that are pretty strong and don't usually flake on me, the same thing happened.
It happened with all the colours I tried, with one or two coats, on every nail, after two days [and that's the best case scenario - it was usually game over in one day] every time. I was so disappointed. The only good thing about the chipping business is that the nail polish peels off like a dream after you've caught it; so the challenge of peeling the whole thing off in one is pretty fun. But no. Other than that, these polishes have let me down miserably and shockingly last for even less time than normal nail polish does for me. And I'm bitter about it. Though this might not be the case for everyone - my nails are dead bad, so if you have stronger talons, this might work well for you. Dammit, genetics and brittle bones!
Have you tried TopShop Gel Nails before? Had a similar / worse / better experience than me? Got any tips for sorting out sh*te, flaky nails?
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