Maychiri's Thoughts

Catrice ICONAILS Gel Lacquer [129 - Bee Mine] Review

August 08, 2024

I cannot even express how long I’ve been searching for this nail polish, here is the Catrice ICONAILS Gel Lacquer, in the shade 129/Bee Mine!

I have literally been looking for this particular nail polish for months. I first noticed it when it was already too late, as it was being discontinued. And that meant that it was impossible to find, even on Notino. And then, somehow, I looked at DM's Catrice shelf and... oh my god. It’s there! And double reduced in price, so this must be literally the last one. I grabbed it sooner than you could say ‘honey’, no way would I let someone else take it from me now that I finally found it! Now, why create so much commotion over a light orange nail polish, you might ask? Surely there are others that are similar enough? Sure, maybe. But I needed a good honey-like colour, which is harder to find than you may think. Often, the colour is too yellow or too orange. This colour is almost ideal, and the name is super cute! Plus, I had a situation in the past where I found literally the perfect mustard yellow Catrice nail polish at BIPA – the last of its kind – and it had some error which prevented me from purchasing it. From then on, for these kinds of special colours I vowed to not let that happen again. That’s why I felt immense joy and relief when I saw this polish on the shelf. Now that the search for a good honey colour is, hopefully, over, let’s see how good this nail polish is... ICONAILS have been pretty good in the past, but is this one good?

Packaging: like all the other ICONAILS, it’s got a robust glass bottle and a system of two caps, both black. The bottle is rectangular, and there’s not much in terms of details, just the Catrice logo, in black. There’s some info in the back. There’s two caps, so don’t be surprised when you open the cap and see another one inside! The outer cap is glossy black and closes incredibly tightly, but not nearly as tightly as the inner cap. The inner cap is ribbed so that you have a secure grip while painting your nails. The design, overall, is very modern, but man is the combination of colours slaying here! Black/honey orange? Hell yeah! This is a timeless combo, and one you might know from a certain media franchise with automobiles... yup, it’s giving Bumblebee!

Source: www.catrice.eu

Ingredients: açaí (Euterpe oleracea) fruit oil for nourishment. 3-free (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is like any other nail polish, nothing too special. The expiration date is 36 months after opening.

Colour: way more orange than yellow; it’s very close to a bee yellow or a bumblebee yellow. And yes, Bumblebee from Transformers is pretty much this colour, only slightly more yellow. This is a rich, intensely vibrant honey/amber-like yellow that looks sooo good on pale skin! The orange tones make it look even richer and give it a certain dash of sophistication. This is a phenomenal colour for spring... no wonder, it is bee/honey yellow, and bees are most active in spring! I love this colour, it’s the perfect honey colour! And I adore how it looks on my pale skin, it’s sooo vibrant!

The brush is phenomenal, but rare are the Catrice nail polishes that don’t have such a good brush. This is a wide flat brush that picks up way too much nail polish for one nail, so don’t forget to tap off the excess. The brush applies the nail polish evenly with ease, and it is quite precise around the edges, so it’s easy to avoid making a huge mess while painting your nails. And because it is so large, I only need a few swipes to coat my nails in colour evenly. Superb brush!

The formula is, like with most ICONAILS, very nice. It’s definitely a gel formula, but it is easy to use; it applies evenly and isn’t one bit runny or too thick. It’s almost the ideal thickness, in fact! Although, the gelliness of it can be a bit annoying sometimes if you apply a slightly thicker coat.

One coat and it’s almost opaque, I can just barely see my nails underneath. The colour is already pretty vivid, though! And it is even! The nail polish is opaque with two coats, and looks perfectly even and rich! Now, the colour is just right, perfectly bright and intense. However, don’t apply more than two coats, it was already becoming a bit difficult to spread with two coats; the formula is thick, after all! The texture is glossy, which makes it really look like honey.

Longevity is actually very good! I did have some issues with bubbles inside my nail polish, but I am pretty sure that this is due to the summer heat. My hands are sweating even more now, which does make applying nail polish properly a bigger challenge. Besides that, the nail polish doesn’t really get all that scratched up, to be honest. Only one nail suffered some light scratches, all the rest were in excellent condition! The glossy finish was preserved for days! And I didn’t have any chips until day 4! Although, that’s when it really started to chip; I chipped off a few larger pieces that day, and it only got so much worse during a hair wash. Not trying to sugarcoat it, the nail polish was destroyed while I was washing my hair.

I literally saw huge pieces flake off as I was rinsing my hair... in the end, the nail polish looked quite, quite bad. But I am surprised it held out this long before any chips!

Umm, excuse me?? This nail polish has no right being so extremely easy to remove! Literally, one swipe and that’s it! This is great for my poor nails! However, like most yellow and orange nail polishes, it does discolour nails. My nails looked more yellow than before, so it is a good idea to apply a base coat to prevent this.

All in all, a stunning nail polish! This is everything I wanted and then some! Look, I know ICONAILS tend to be great, and this shade is all the proof you need! The formula is definitely gelly, but it is usually easy to work with, just make sure you don’t apply thick layers. Or too many. Two is more than enough, it starts to feel too goopy and too gelly with 2 slightly thicker coats. The brush is standard stuff for Catrice nail polishes, so, a fantastic brush that applies the polish evenly across the nails. The polish looks best with two coats, it really looks intense and bright! Just like real honey! Seriously, this is exactly the kind of colour I have been searching for! It’s not too yellow or too orange; it’s very similar in colour to the one Bumblebee from Transformers has. It also doesn’t get very scratched up, and doesn’t chip much... until day 4. There was a bit of chipping on day 3, but it really started to chip more severely on day 4. A hair wash completely destroyed it. Still, without any base or top coat, this is very good longevity! And it is also super easy to remove, although, given that it is, you know, yellow, it does end up staining nails. Bummer. But everything else is excellent, truly! I wanted this nail polish to Bee Mine... I just had no idea it would be so, so good in the end! I will happily recommend it, although it’s going to be hard to find because it seems that it has been discontinued. That is so sad...

Rating: 8/10

Would buy again? YES

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Breathable

ORLY Breathable [TLC] Review

August 08, 2024

The more expensive of the two nail polishes today – this is the ORLY Breathable, in the shade TLC!

This is my first ORLY! I hadn’t heard of them before, but the price suggested they’d be somewhere in the ballpark of OPI and Essie; that is, a high-end nail polish that isn’t going to break the bank, but is still relatively expensive as far as nail polishes go. I really didn’t want to pay full-price for one, so I waited patiently until one was discounted. My waiting was rewarded, and a few shades were 50% off. Honestly, I wasn’t extremely too keen on any of them, but I wanted to see how good ORLY is, and this was the best time to do so! This violet shade looked the best out of the ones that were 50% off, so I guess I’ll be trying this one out, even if I’m not very interested in violet nails? Another thing that I find interesting is that this polish apparently has a built in base and top coat, which would definitely simplify things! I’m quite curious, so let’s see what it’s like!

Packaging: wow, this looks very expensive! It’s also pretty heavy. The bottle has a rounded shape, which is pretty elegant, but the cap is what’s most interesting to me here! It’s soo tall! I love the material it’s made of; it’s made of rubber which has been additionally fortified on each side so that you have more grip. I’m not used to having rubber caps on nail polishes, but I really like it! The cap closes very tightly. It, and the text, is black, which is an okay choice for this kind of violet colour. The design – and quality – of the bottle definitely matches the price point!

Ingredients: argan (Argania spinosa) kernel oil, panthenol/provitamin B5, bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus) extract, rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) leaf extract, glycerine for nourishment. No harmful ingredients (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). I find it interesting how both water and glycerine are at the very end of the list. Also, this polish, supposedly, has a built-in primer and top coat. The presence of all these extracts does make me believe it actually does prep nails. The scent is like any other nail polish. The expiration date is 36 months after opening.

Brush: oh... I was expecting a longer brush. This brush is very short, but it’s pretty wide. Still, it’s too small for my liking. It’s flat, which helps somewhat, but it really should be both wider and longer. In spite of its small size, though, it picks up a ton of pigment and deposits it evenly and richly. This small size makes it more precise on the sides, but it also means that you need more strokes to paint the nail properly. The more strokes you use, the higher the chance is that stuff like air bubbles will form. For its size, it is very easy to use, but, again, it really ought to be larger.

Colour: oh this colour looks so much prettier on my nails than in the bottle! I was a bit concerned what it would look like, as I don’t wear such purple nail polishes very often, but this is one of those occasions where I was needlessly worried. Because it looks so good on pale skin! It’s a bright violet colour that isn’t very vibrant, and it’s this ‘dullness’ of colour that makes it this pretty. In terms of exact colour, it’s something between African violet, lavender and wisteria. Probably closest to wisteria. It’s a good amount of red undertones, so that it doesn’t look too deep purple but this lovely warm shade of violet. Beautiful colour for spring! I really love it!

Hmm, the formula is definitely not what I was expecting. It’s very watery and pretty thin but it doesn’t look like it. It’s not runny, despite being quite watery. But it’s tricky to use because you really need just a tiny amount in order to get rich pigmentation, and it isn’t really that easy to tap off that much polish from the brush.

With one coat is actually opaque! It looks very good like this, even and richly pigmented so you could absolutely leave it like this. With two coats it is again, completely opaque! But it doesn’t look thick at all, in fact, it still looks elegant and thin. Quite high-end, I must say! The texture is glossy, which is very nice with this colour.

Longevity is... well, let’s start. Because I am mad. Proper mad. So, this nail polish, apparently, has a built-in primer and top coat. Uh-huh. Then why does it get covered in a million scratches overnight? A good top coat should prevent that... no? Well, it certainly doesn’t here! All of my nails have hundreds of scratches of all sizes on them, with a few nails having really deep scratches. Now, I really don’t sleep on my hands so... what gives?? This is supposed to be a higher-end nail polish, and for that price I am expecting better results. This is just pitiful. However, it is extremely resistant to chipping, I will give it that; after 4 days there were only two tiny chips that were totally my fault. I used my nails to peel off stickers and to open packages, which obviously wasn’t a smart idea.

It stayed almost chip-free even after a hair wash, which is when most nail polished get damaged. So that’s great... if only it wasn’t ruined by all the scratches! This is legit making me angry! Like, imagine paying almost the same as an OPI or Essie and having so many scratches... with a “built-in base and top coat”. Whereas OPI and Essie don’t have any built-in top/base coats and they do just fine and don’t get any scratches...

Removal: it’s fairly easy to remove, as it doesn’t require a lot of rubbing before it’s completely gone. I was afraid that it might leave a yellow stain on my nails as purple pigments are known to stain, but, fortunately, it did not.

All in all, yup, I’m not happy with this polish... it’s disappointing. There’s so much that should be better: the brush is a bit tricky to use, the formula is oddly watery and thin (not at all luxurious-feeling), and, worst thing, the polish gets scratched to hell within a day of painting the nails! It looks atrocious with all those scratches – especially the deep ones, and there’s lots that are like that! Not only does it look ugly, it also ruins the otherwise lovely glossy finish! I am so angry because of this! You’d expect better from a nail polish that costs 10+ euro! Like, you don’t see Essie or OPI struggling with this, so...? Then again, those two do chip more than this one, I’ll admit. This nail polish stays in literally almost perfect condition 4 days later, and not even a hair wash can damage it! That is honestly superb longevity, but it’s moot when it’s got a million scratches. The best thing, to me, is the colour! I love it so much! And here I was, skeptical that it would ever look good. But actually, it’s gorgeous! An almost wisteria violet, it’s a beautiful colour for springtime, when flowers are in full bloom. And among them, your nails, coated in a gorgeous, bright, yet still subdued violet that is equal parts fun and elegant. I never fully realise how good blues and purples look on me... I’m so glad I picked this shade out of the ones that were on sale! Yes, I’m still angry with this polish, but at least I can enjoy this lovely colour. This polish didn’t feel like TLC for my nails, unfortunately. It’s nowhere near as good as it ought to be, even when it’s 50% off. So this may well be my last ORLY, as this, suffice to say, was a very bad first impression. Absolutely no recommendation, go get an Essie instead.

Rating: 6/10

Would buy again? NO, absolutely not (very, very disappointed...)

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Breathable

Reviews From the Past - Part 52

August 08, 2024

Oh hi!

Ah, this is an interesting duo of items today!

I was at DM because I forgot to buy my vitamin C capsules in time, so when I noticed that I was on the last few ones, I urgently needed a new pack. But, you know me... I cannot go and buy just the one thing I was supposed to, not when I have coupons in the DM app! After I bought the stuff that would give me extra loyalty card points, I decided to go see what else they have... and then I found myself buying two nail polishes. To be fair, both were things I had wanted to try for months - especially the Catrice polish! That little rascal had been evading me for soo long... but not anymore, haha!

Now, the two products for today:

ORLY Breathable [TLC]
Catrice ICONAILS Gel Lacquer [129/Bee Mine]

See you soon!

Maja

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Benecos

Benecos Colour Edition Blush Brush Review

August 01, 2024

The second brush for today, and one that is just as bright and colourful as the Misslyn one! This is the Benecos Colour Edition Blush Brush!

Ever since I got my first Benecos brush I’ve been itching to buy at least a few more. I really like the two I had before this one, so I was certain that all the others would be just as good. I decided to go with a blush brush because a) I thought it would be very useful since I often use blushes, and b) because the others (such as the kabuki brush) were a bit too expensive for me. So, is this colourful brush a good one like its siblings? Let’s see!

Packaging: nothing but a flimsy plastic bag as protection. Sigh...

The brush itself is very pretty! It’s got a very cheerfully salmon-coloured handle that fits the colourful theme of these brushes quite nicely. The only detail is the tiny Benecos logo on the handle. The ferrule is silver, which is a very nice colour to go with the salmon. The brush head is really pretty! It’s got very dark hairs that end in white tips; it looks almost like real hair! Overall, the brush looks expensive, and the build quality reflects that: not a single loose part to be found. Oh, also, it’s really light!

The hairs are synthetic. They are cut perfectly evenly, and there are no stray hairs at all. The hairs look pretty good in terms of quality, they are not very shiny and they don’t look plasticy. They look pretty soft. And they feel soft as well! At least, until you decide to tap with the brush, then they become more prickly. It’s still not awfully prickly, but I’d prefer if it was softer. Anything even remotely prickly has been known to cause irritations to my skin. It is very soft when you swirl or swipe with it, though. It feels pretty nice on skin then. Pretty nice hairs overall.

Okay, so, while this brush doesn’t apply pigments quite as well as I’d hoped, it does still apply them pretty well. It just depends on the blush you’re using. In general, it picks up quite a large amount of pigment, but it seems like some of it absorbs into the hairs as it isn’t as pigmented as it should be when I swipe with the brush. It is, however, a pretty even layer of colour, and it does look nicely flush.

But it’s just not intense like I’m used to. I will give credit where it’s due, though, this brush blends out pigments very well! It makes the best out of what it applies, so, in the end, blushes do look quite good. It’s also precise enough to apply blushes just on the cheekbones, it doesn’t end up looking smudgy.

Washing: oh, it’s extremely easy to wash! It only takes like a minute to get it to be squeaky clean, free of any product residue! And it doesn’t absorb shampoo! Plus, it keeps its shape after a wash and there’s no fall-out or fraying or any other issues whatsoever!

In conclusion, eh, not as good as the other two Benecos brushes, sadly. The hairs are quite nice, yes, and they do feel very soft, but it just doesn’t apply pigments quite the way I’d like it. It often doesn’t pick up enough pigment, especially if the blush is more sheer than intensely pigmented. Although, it does apply it pretty well, and it isn’t too uneven most of the time. But you need to go back to the pan often if you want to have any sort of visible blush, and that’s both annoying and increases the chance that it might end up being messed up. It does blend pigments easily, though, so it isn’t hard to fix mistakes. I can make my blush look good with this brush, it just takes a bit more effort. However, if I am applying a blush that’s extremely pigmented, it looks good with only a single swipe, without all the hassle that less pigmented blushes have with this brush. So I guess how good this brush is depends entirely on the blush you are using with it. Oh well. I’ve had much better blush brushes before, but this one isn’t exactly bad per se. It’s just a tad too tricky to use, and that’s why I won’t give it a recommendation. Because it did disappoint me slightly.

Rating: 6.5/10

Would buy again? NO

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Brush

Misslyn Powder Brush Review

August 01, 2024

Two brushes today – the first one being the larger one. This is the Misslyn Powder Brush!

Powder brushes are essential, so I am always on the lookout for good ones. Even though I already have plenty, you can never have too many makeup brushes! I originally didn’t really consider buying a large Misslyn brush, especially not at the price they were going for without any discounts. I just didn’t think they were worth that price, so I waited until they were cheaper. My waiting paid off when Müller decided to pull Misslyn from all of their stores; this meant that the remaining stock was 50% off – perfect time to grab what you want before it’s gone! So I decided to buy this brush, even if I didn’t have a burning desire to buy it. Eh, how bad can it be? Well, we shall see!

Packaging: the brush arrived in a plastic bag with a zip lock mechanism. No brush guard, although the bag is pretty slim so there’s no room for the brush to move inside it. I like the fun design of the cardboard inside! You’ll find information about this brush on the back of this paper.

The brush itself is quite pretty, I must admit! I love pink stuff, so this fuchsia pink body is right up my alley. It’s also reflective, to make it fancier! Although that does make it a fingerprint magnet, sadly. The only detail is the Misslyn logo on the handle.

The handle and ferrule are both large, but the brush still feels light in spite of that. Everything seems to be built fairly well. No loose parts anywhere. The brush head is giant; it features hairs that have a very pretty pink/white gradient from tip to base. This suits the design of the body perfectly!

The hairs are synthetic. They are quite shiny, but they don’t look very plasticy. Still, I would like them to be a bit less shiny. In any case, the hairs seem to be good quality, as there is no fraying or fall-out. The hairs are very soft when you are swiping or swirling with the brush, but they do become slightly prickly if you tap with it. I don’t mind this too much as it feels so very soft in all other circumstances.

The hairs are cut incredibly evenly, with almost no hairs sticking out. However, given how dense this brush head is, it sometimes struggles to keep its shape. I don’t know, this might be too dense for a powder brush... like, there’s a million hairs and it feels dense, not fluffy enough. At least it doesn’t feel hard!

Hmm, I am not too satisfied with how this brush applies powders. Idk, it’s like it doesn’t pick up enough powder or something. It’s also much too dense, so it cannot spread the powder diffusely, which means that you’ll have to go back to the pan over and over again just to have an even layer across the entire face. What powder it does apply, it applies thickly. It’s just a bit clunky to use, honestly. I do wish it was fluffier rather than being so large and dense. It also doesn’t blend as well as I’d like. This is again due to the brush head being too dense; it can easily overblend powders and you do have to spend some time in order to blend it well. Like, it’s not the worst – far from it – but it’s just not particularly enjoyable to use.

Washing: relatively easy to wash, what with its giant brush head. It does absorb some shampoo, particularly if the shampoo is more soapy. I use foam shampoo so this isn’t an issue, but before, I used a standard, soapy brush shampoo, and this brush had to be rinsed multiple times before I was able to get it all out. Eh, what else could have been when it is just so dense and large? The brush keeps its shape pretty well after a wash and I did not see any hairs falling out. Just note that it will take a long time for this brush to dry because of its density! Though, do be aware of the fact that this brush tends to get some yellow discolouration at the base where the brush head meets the ferrule after a wash. I do believe this might be glue, although it – so far – hasn’t caused any problems. It’s not as severe as in some other brushes (Wet n Wild, for example).

In conclusion, eh, it’s alright. Definitely not the best powder brush, not even in the top 10. But it’s serviceable. Its build quality is pretty good, even though there is some fall-out while washing the brush. I do love the design, it’s pretty, especially the pink/white hairs! But, sadly, it’s not the best brush for powders. It just doesn’t pick up enough pigment, and even when it does, it’s just not fluffy enough to apply it as decently as I would like. Like, it’s alright, but setting powder could look so much better honestly. The brush head is too dense for setting powders, in my opinion. It doesn’t feel hard; in fact, it feels pretty soft despite being so dense, but it’s just not right for what it was made for, and that’s powders. It also isn’t the best at blending, which is something powder brushes should excel at. Again, I must reiterate, it’s not bad either at applying pigments or at blending, it’s just mediocre. I can get good results with it, I just have to try harder. This isn’t the end of the world, but I have much better powder brushes so this one doesn’t get used much. Eh is all I can say about it, honestly. I will not be giving this brush my recommendation, it’s just far too average.

Rating: 6.5/10

Would buy again? NO

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Benecos

Reviews From the Past - Part 51

August 01, 2024

Hello!

I honestly cannot believe I managed to post in time this week... I've been going to this mandatory education from the job centre early in the morning, which is making me feel even more horrible than what PMDD is already doing. Seriously, my skin has never looked as gray or deflated as it does this week... But look at those colourful brushes!

So, these brushes were bought at the same time as one Catrice Advent calendar... that shall come at a later time; it contains 24 products, so it's taking me a long time to gather my thoughts about each one individually. But it will come eventually, even though it is ancient by this point, because I feel like it had many really interesting products!

But let's put the Advent calendar aside, what we have today is two fluffy, large brushes.I really wanted to buy another Benecos brush, and since I always need good blush brushes, I decided to get that one. A bit expensive for me, but I hoped it would be worth it. And then I also decided to get a Misslyn brush because there would be no Misslyn products in Müller soon. They were removing all Misslyn products, so they were 50% off, and I thought "why not"? Eh, I'm sure I bought worse things before.

Now, the two products for today:

Misslyn Powder Brush
Benecos Colour Edition Blush Brush

See you soon!

Maja

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BEL London

BEL London Nail Lacquer [03] Review

July 27, 2024

Now, the lightest of the BEL nail lacquers! This is the BEL London Nail Lacquer, shade 03!

Another nail polish that my mum bought for me for whatever reason, as I already have a ton of nail polishes. I, however, immediately took a liking to this one, as I positively adore white nail polishes! They are my guilty pleasure! Having already had great experience with white nail polish (courtesy of Catrice, of course!), I had very high hopes that this one would be just as good, if not better! Surely it will be gorgeous on longer nails! Well, let’s take a look!

Packaging: just like the other BEL nail polishes, it’s a clear glass bottle that is pretty heavy for its size. It’s elegantly thin and tall! This one, too, has a cap that almost looks like an OPI knock-off. Not that that’s bad, it’s just interesting to see! Unlike OPI’s cap, this one isn’t as textured, so it feels pretty smooth. That can be a problem when you close the cap too tight, the textured surface of the OPI caps makes you able to grip them harder, while here your fingers start to slide. Still, it’s a very elegant, tall cap! And I love the contrast of white nail polish and black cap! Look at the text... wait, you can’t see it? Right, because it’s white text on white polish. That’s a galaxy-brained idea if I ever saw one! I know that every polish in this range has white text, but couldn’t they have made it at least slightly gray for this colour? Oh well.

Ingredients: nothing nourishing and no harmful ingredients (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is like most nail polishes. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

The colour of this polish is beautiful, although also as basic as it gets. This is a pure white nail polish. Although it definitely looks better on darker skin, it still looks utterly gorgeous on pale skin! It makes my nails look so modern and fancy and chic! Ahhh, I love it so much! Some might be mean and say that it looks like correction fluid. Don’t listen to those people.

The brush is, again, excellent! This is a large flat brush that deposits pigment wonderfully evenly. It’s way too big for my nails, but I have small nail beds anyways, it should be fine for most, though. This brush picks up so much pigment! Like, way more than you’d ever need for one nail; indeed, there’s enough for like 3 nails! So, tap it off if you don’t want to make a mess. Even though it is large, the brush is still quite precise,. It’s just so easy to use and great!

The formula is relatively thick, slightly thicker than with shade 44. It is very creamy and super easy to use and making it even is a piece of cake! It’s not at all gelly, just perfectly smooth!

One coat is pretty opaque, although not totally opaque. It’s more like 75% opaque. This shade is a bit less even with one coat compared to shade 44. It’s still pretty even, just not perfectly even. Two coats gives you 100% opacity, making the nails perfectly white! However, don’t apply more than two coats, it already starts to feel gelly with two coats, let alone more than two! It’s perfectly even and rich with two coats, very professional looking! The texture is highly glossy.

Longevity is spectacular, just like with shade 44! However, this white shade seems to be far less easy to scratch, which makes it look very glossy even 5 days in. Now, there are tiny scratches all over the polish on day 5 of wearing it, but they are far less noticeable than on shade 44. Here, you can only barely make them out even when you look up close. There was one part of the polish on my ring finger that looked like it would chip off, but it managed to stay. This nail polish stayed in perfect condition even after I was done washing my hair. The only “damage” (if you can even realistically call it that) is along the free edges of nails, but it is so minimal that you’d have to look for it with a magnifying glass. So, no matter what I do, it stays in perfect shape! Simply fantastic!

Removal: it is extremely easy to remove using the Express Nagellack Entferner from Ebelin. It is only slightly more difficult to remove using a standard nail polish remover. The first pass removes only a part of the polish, so you need to go over the polish multiple times to fully remove it. The Express Remover removes it in seconds, though.

In conclusion, I freaking love this nail polish so much! Another great pick from my mum! It’s the perfect glossy white nail polish that lasts ages with any chipping or really any damage at all! I love how it is also pretty scratch-resistant which means that the high-gloss finish stays intact for days! I already tried out a pure white nail polish before, by Catrice, and that one was amazing and it also strengthened my nails. This one is perhaps even better, but it doesn’t strengthen nails, which honestly, is a fair trade-off. It looks absolutely amazing, like, so blinding white and pure and just totally modern! Even on my pale skin! Like, it’s amazing just how good pure white nail polish can look on pale skin, it doesn’t even wash me out! The formula is a dream to use, perfectly silky and smooth, without being one bit runny. The brush, too, is phenomenal! It is very large but still precise, so it applies the polish evenly and easily. However, you will need 2 coats, one coat is a bit uneven, which, when you apply another coat on top of it, becomes perfectly even and pigmented and just luxurious looking! It really looks like a high-end nail polish! Speaking of, it gives OPI a run for its money, because it seems like it has better longevity than OPI, with absolutely no chipping even 5 days in! And it doesn’t even get scratched up too much! All that for a fraction of the money you’d pay for an OPI or Essie nail polish. Especially since OPIs tend to chip at least a little bit after 3 days, while this nail polish stays perfect, without any chipped off parts, or hairline fractures, or any other damage at all! No matter what I am doing! Hell, even washing my hair didn’t do anything to the nail polish! I cannot express hoe much I love this white nail polish! And how big of a surprise BEL nail polishes have been, so far! They cost little but perform like high-end nail polishes, or even better than them in a lot of cases! I cannot find anything to complain about, it is downright perfect! So, of you find this BEL nail polish, don’t hesitate, buy it! You will not be disappointed, I 100% guarantee that! Absolutely recommend it!

Rating: 9.5/10

Would buy again? YES, definitely

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BEL London

BEL London Nail Lacquer [23] Review

July 27, 2024

And one more nail polish that I was given – this is the BEL London Nail Lacquer, shade 23!

My mother sometimes goes and gives me a bunch of nail polishes... she doesn’t have the same style as I do (not nearly), so she usually picks colours that I would very rarely – if ever – pick. This is a very pretty colour, though! I’m no stranger to wearing bright coral or pink or even magenta nail polishes, so I’m not quite as opposed to this nail polish as I am to some of the others that she gave me. This should be a very lovely shade for spring, very cheerful and happy! Now, let’s see how good this polish truly is!

Packaging: a nice tall glass bottle; it’s got white text that looks great with the vibrant colour of the polish. The cap is black and very tall... and looks quite familiar. That’s because this is pretty much a dupe of OPI's cap, but with less texturing. This makes is more slippery to hold, so it’s a downgrade from the OPI cap. The cap closes very tightly. I like the design of this polish, it’s quite elegant!

Ingredients: nothing nourishing; 3-free (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is like most nail polish, but perhaps a tiny bit more vinegary. It’s very intense, though! The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

This is a large flat brush that is really very good. It picks up entirely too much polish, so don’t forget to tap off the excess! The brush applies nail polish professionally, with two or three swipes you can get it to look perfectly even. It’s quite large, but it is still pretty precise; it wasn’t hard to avoid making a mess around the nails. I really like this brush!

A very bright vivid rose pink. It’s super intense and looks incredibly vivid on pale skin like mine. I actually really like it! It’s most similar to bright pink and brink pink. Note how it has a good amount of red pigments in it, which gives it this nice warmness that is amazing for summer. Really, it is a superb colour for the summer, for when you’re on the beach or wearing light, breezy clothing. Beautiful! I’m not really very fond of red nail polishes but since this one has a lot of pink pigments mixed with the red, it is acceptable to me.

The formula is simply amazing! It’s just the right thickness, not too thick or too thin. It feels silky and not at all runny or too gelly. It spreads so easily across the nails, no effort needed to get it to looks fabulous!

This nail polish is already almost completely opaque with just one coat! I can just barely see my nails underneath it, and it’s perfectly even with one coat so you could leave it like this, it looks great! With two coats, it looks barely any different, maybe just a bit thicker. But I really wouldn’t apply more than 2 coats as it will become too thick. It’s perfectly even and completely opaque with two coats and it looks bright and just beautiful! The texture is very glossy.

Longevity is... not very great. Okay, it doesn’t chip very much, and that’s good, but that’s not the only thing that matters. See, it gets hideously scratched up and imprinted by everyday life activities like sleeping. The day after painting my nails it was extremely scratched up and had so many imprints from sleeping, and I don’t have a textured pillowcase or blanket. Those scratches ruin the lovely glossy shine, such a shame. It doesn’t chip a lot normally, but it was destroyed by a hair wash. Chipped all over and just in very bad condition. Shame, because it’s such a lovely colour.

Removal is relatively easy, for the most part. It doesn’t take too long to remove, which is good for my sensitive nails. But! Here’s the problem: it stains nails – a lot. My nails are visibly more red after removing this nail polish. I hate this. It’s even worse than when nail polishes stains my nails yellow... ugh.

In conclusion, yeah... this nail polish had promise but it fumbled it in the end. Listen, there’s plenty of good here, but it’s also got significant problems. The formula is stunning, it’s almost the perfect consistency! And the colour is sooo pretty! It’s such a vibrant colour that is perfectly suited for the summer! The brush is another good thing because it applies nail polish very well and it’s large enough to make things easier. But the longevity is the biggest problem. It gets horribly scratched up and imprinted, like, it’s pretty much ruined within 24 hours because it cannot handle normal day-to-day activities, even with nail polish drying drops. And it stains my nails red, which is infuriating. So... yeah. It started off good but it quickly became mid. I don’t want to say bad because it isn’t really bad, but I just feel disappointed. That’s all I feel on the end. So no, this nail polish won’t be getting a recommendation.

Rating: 5.5/10

Would buy again? NO

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