Polishes up nicely! (Avon Mirror Shine Nail Enamel)

Member Name: emmachilcott

Product:	Avon Mirror Shine Nail Enamel
Date:	13/11/09 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's fantastic!

Disadvantages: Tiny brush handle

It is not very often that I buy something from Avon as I like to have a good look at products and usually test them before I buy, but I do have a good (yet persistent) friend who keeps pushing the catalogue through my letterbox, so once in a while the guilt kicks in and I place a token order! Flicking through a recent book, I was inspired by the colours of their Mirror shine Nail Polish and with Christmas so close and some nights out on the agenda, I thought that I would treat myself.


Mirror Shine nail polish is currently available in four shades - I bought Metallic Mauve and Blue Steel, but it is also available in Polished Pink and Gold Foil. I placed my order when it was on offer at £2.50 which I consider to be good value, but usually it is £5 which I think is a little pricey, especially as it comes in a relatively small 8ml bottle. The bottle comes in a dinky little box which states the ingredients and the instructions for use: shake well and apply two coats, fairly obvious information but useful I suppose to an apprentice nail varnish user!


The actual bottle is a tiny 5cm high including the brush, which means that the brush handle is only 2cm long. I can cope with this as I am fairly adept at applying polish, but if you are heavy handed or all fingers and thumbs, you are going to have a problem as it feels very small and delicate in between your fingers. I quite like the brush part - it is just the right length be enable you to be accurate, and the brush is flexible enough to spread out across your nail and I found that I only needed two strokes to cover my entire nail. The bristles hold the varnish well without dripping all over the place and the polish is a good consistency; I found that it covered evenly and flooded into the edges, leaving me with a really great finish. I wouldn't exactly call it "mirror" but it does shine to a good degree, whilst maintaining a matt finish - I am aware that this sounds slightly contradictory, but I think that you have to see it to understand it!


The polish was dry to the touch within a minute and completely dry within five minutes. One coat looked good, so I decided that as I was only testing this and I wasn't going anywhere special, I would only apply the second coat once the first started to chip - in my experience this is usually after about four hours! A whole day and a half later and the first coat started to chip, so I applied a second coat which covered well and there were no obvious ridges where the first coat had chipped; the second coat took no longer to dry than the first. Three days later and it started to look a little tired and chipped around the edges so I had to take it off. Three days has to be a record for me and I was really pleased with its staying power; it stood up to some tough treatment very well and I was pleasantly surprised.


This polish comes off very easily with a few gentle swipes of remover and no scrubbing is required. My nails are not left stained, even though I have applied quite a strong colour with out a base coat. The condition of my nails has not changed at all; sometimes when I remove varnish after a couple of days wear they feel unconditioned and slightly rough, but this varnish does not seem to have affected them at all. I really cannot find anything wrong with this product; it is a pleasure to apply, it is low odour, it stays put and it looks great. I have now used this varnish several times and it has not yet let me down. I would highly recommend it, especially if you can buy it when it is on offer.

Avon Mirror Shine is available from your local friendly Avon representative, or you can get it online at www.avonshop.co.uk

Five polished shiny stars from me!

Summary: An outstanding performance