I sometimes wish I could just apply fancy nail varnish on my toe nails or get a pedicure once in a while and forget about my toe nails. Unfortunately, I have not been blessed with healthy nails and my life seems to be a one big search for the perfect nail hardener/conditioner that would turn my brittle, yellow and constantly splitting nails into beautiful, shiny and healthy nails. During almost every visit at Boots or similar shop I buy some sort of nail cure in hope for a miraculous change and since in my opinion Scholl is a very reliable, established brand, I once quickly picked Scholl Toe Nail Conditioner.

It comes in a plastic package with white, blue and cardboard attached to it. Even without the logo, it would be clear who produced the conditioner just by the design of the packaging. It provides all the necessary information at the front (name, use and the promise of hydrating my nails and improving their condition) with further information (such as ingredients) at the back. When I impatiently tore the cardboard, I carefully examined the pen. The conditioner comes in a white and transparent plastic pen with a lid at the top. Having opened the lid, I saw a hairy ending very similar to that of nail varnishes. The main difference is that the 'head' here is made of thicker 'hairs' and isn't as soft.

It took me some time to work out how to apply it - as it turned out, I had to twist the lower part of the pen and the conditioner came out on the top. However, it was not as easy as it may sound. It happened several times that I kept on twisting the pen and not a drop of the conditioner would appear and finally, too much of it almost burst.

Scent is my strongest sense so I tend to smell things a lot; of course I was curious about the smell of this conditioner. When I sniffed it, I was quite shocked to realise that it smelled of alcohol! I must admit I would not sense it if I wasn't deliberately smelling the product as it is very mild and subtle but it doesn't change the fact that it didn't feel right.

Determined to improve the condition of my nails, I carefully read the instructions from which I learnt that I should apply the conditioner daily and I faithfully followed, spreading an even share of the product on each of my nails almost every single day. The texture of the conditioner is fairly runny (almost like water) so it was very easy to apply. According to the instructions, after applying it, I had to wait for my nails to absorb the product which normally didn't take longer than 5-10 minutes. It was quite difficult to actually notice it as the conditioner is transparent and the only difference I could see was a very slight shine it gave my nails after application.

After about two weeks, I could observe a slight improvement in the condition of my nails. They became harder and less brittle; I also noticed fewer split ends (though they were still there). After further two weeks, I noticed that my toe nails became more even and the split ends almost disappeared completely, even though the colour of my nails didn't change significantly which was a bit disappointing. And then suddenly the conditioner finished. It came to me as a surprise because even though the pen is almost entirely transparent, it is not clear at all how much of the product is left.

I cannot say that this is a bad product but it is far from perfect. Because I thought the price (around £4.30 for 1.6ml) was relatively high, I decided not to purchase another pen and seek for a hopefully better, cheaper or more cost-effective conditioner.

This conditioner can be bought in Boots, Superdrug and online.

Thank you for reading my review.