Speed Dry - it takes an Arabian Night to dry (Avon Arabian Glow Speed Dry Nail Enamel)

Member Name: Suzela

Product:	Avon Arabian Glow Speed Dry Nail Enamel
Date:	01/07/08 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quite nice colours

Disadvantages: Not a quick drying product, not the easiest to apply, chips and slides off too easily

Inspired by a few reviews regarding nail polishes and the fact that I wasn't overly happy last time I had my falsies put on, I decided that it was time that I stopped being so lazy and do my own nails.

So after purchasing all my cuticle remover, orange sticks, emery boards, nail smoother, cuticle and nail oil and top coat varnish, I went about purchasing some nail polishes. One brand that I purchased has been fabulous and the other, this brand, Avon Arabian Glow Speed Dry Nail Enamel, has not.

Now I have always had a soft spot for Avon products. My "Saturday" job was as an Avon Lady when I was 16 (OK technically my Mum was the representative as I was too young but it was me who did all the work!). And although I used lots of their make up and body sprays I had never tried their nail polishes. But upon flicking through the particularly summery brochure I came across this range of nail polishes which were designed to look really good with tans and had a lovely summery shimmer and glow. They also had the advantage of saying "Speed Dry" on them so that would save me time in applying the product. Well I don't do tans but I like having a summery glow from bronzing powders etc so thought, given we are going on holiday soon that this would be a nice little present for myself. And knowing that their other products were quite good quality I was sure that I would get on with this product. Also another attraction was that at £5 each for 12ml they were cheaper than my other recently acquired brand and then there was also an offer to get 2 for £8 - even more bargainous!

The two shades I opted for were Teal Waters (as it sounds a teal/green shade ) and Beach Glow (a browny/pink shade). They also do another shade called Coral Sands which I have to say didn't appeal as it was a bright pinky peach colour. They come in a clear glass bottle which is fairly flat and more oval in shape with a pearlescent brown top which you could argue looks a bit like a Fez, so adding to the "arabian" feel of the range.

So yesterday they arrive and I decided I would try out one of my new colours. So I prepared my nails, made sure the nail surface was grease and dirt free and opened up the brown box containing the nail enamel bottle. On the box were the obligatory list of ingredients which you need a chemistry degree to decipher and it says that the product is flammable in 14 languages and has some application instructions which is that you should shake the bottle well, apply the first coat, wait 60 seconds and then apply the second coat. So to me that sounded great - 10 minutes and my nails would be done and touch dry by the sound of it. Yippee!

So I thought I would try the Teal Waters shade first. The first thing I noticed was that the shade was far from Teal - it is more of pastel minty green with a brighter pearlescent hue running through it. It's not a bad colour but it wasn't what I was expecting certainly - I thought it would be a darker, stronger colour. So a little concerned I checked the Beach Glow shade and have to say this is much more what I expected and is probably the shade in the product picture used by Dooyoo.

Next I shook the bottle and I have always had a fascination with the one or two little metal balls which help to mix the enamel formula evenly when you shake it so by the time I had traced them round the bottle a few times on top of the vigorous shaking it was well and truly mixed.

The bottle top is quite smooth and a little slippy for my liking. Coupled with the fact that it is also an awkward shape because it is wide, quite flat and oval shaped I found it quite hard to open the bottle easily. That said you would never be in danger of over tightening the bottle when you closed it which can sometimes be the problem with round topped bottles in general (not just nail polishes) so that was a good thing. As with all nail polish products the brush is attached to the bottle top.

As I lifted the brush out I noticed a few things immediately that I thought were going to annoy me. The distance from the tip of the brush to the top of the bottle top is 3 inches (7.5 cm approx) which given the size and shape of the bottle top I felt would not give me as much control as I would like over the brush. But the brush at the moment was the least of my worries. The consistency of this product is incredibly thin. As I was trying to remove the excess polish from the brush the excess on the brush shaft had run down the where it meets the nylon bristles and deposited a blob of nail polish on my desk. On clothing this would be a disaster and normally on desks too but thankfully it wiped up easily (almost far too easily for a product of this nature). I also noticed that rather than the excess trickling slowly down to the bottle, it was there almost straight away. This was not boding well for my nails I thought so I decided to test it on just one nail.

After getting a non runny amount of the varnish on the brush I began applying it. The brush is very rigid and didn't spread out well so the product went on very streaky. I wasn't sure if this was because the brush and bottle top were quite long so I couldn't get as close to the nail/apply enough pressure but it wasn't working for me. It also was such a thin layer that I could still see my nails through it. But I waited the 60 seconds and applied the second coat. Same problem - I could still see my nails. I waited another 60 seconds and applied the third layer - I could still see my nail and now it startd to clump up. So out came the nail varnish remover.

Round 2

Applied the first coat - same effect but waited 2 minutes for it to dry. Touched it to check and it wasn't dry at all - nice fingerprint in it. So much for a speed dry product - speed dating (so I am reliably informed by my single friends) takes less time. Nail varnish remover time again.

Round 3

Applied the first coat - same effect but waited 5 minutes for it to dry. It was touch dry now and so I applied a second coat. could still see my nail through it but again let it dry for 5 minutes before applying the next coat. It was touch dry but it was verging on being tacky still. I applied the third coat. The coverage was better this time and there was no clumping but I still felt the colour was thin so after waiting 10 minutes (OK the phone rang!) I applied a fourth layer and it covered my nail and had the required depth of colour and looked rather nice. After 20 minutes I felt confident enough to go and make dinner.

All was well with chopping vegetables but when I washed and dried my hands there was a slight scuffing of the polish. Not impressed. We had garlic bread with dinner and as I took a bite I accidentally caught my nail with my tooth and a section of the nail polish slid off. Luckily I noticed this before I started chewing! By this time I had given up completely on it. Even this morning as I had my shower I saw the remainder of the nail polish peel off as I washed my hair. I was left with no alternative and I packaged it up and called my Avon rep who is going to come round later on and pick up the products and sort a refund out for me. I wouldn't even relegate this nail varnish to just doing my toes.

I have to say I was quite impressed by how helpful my Avon rep was and how easy the returns and refund process is even though I had used the product.

Maybe I was doing something totally stupid with this product but I don't think so. It is just a poor example of a nail polish which disappointed on so many levels. I didn't even bother to try it with my top coat product as if it can't stay on under normal circumstances the top coat won't do much for it either. Maybe if I had used the top coat straight away I would have found a different result but I only use my top coat when I know the original product is pretty much dry to preserve the colour and prevent chipping for up to 10 days. But the products I use it on are not chipping or slipping after an hour of application. This "speed dry" product didn't seem to dry properly or have any cohesion to the nail even though it had been properly prepared.

Would I use an Avon nail polish again? I very much doubt I would. Would I recommend it to people? I most certainly would not. Honestly there are far better products out there - some costing a small fortune and some not but of all the ones I have ever tried they all seem much better than this and this is the first time that I have ever felt strongly enough about a make up/beauty product to take/send it back for a refund. Not a happy bunny.

Summary: A poor example of a nail polish