I have seen these mosaic type nail varnishes around for a while now and had heard positive things about the Barry M version. However, with money being tight I didnt buy myself any until I saw that Avon were offering their version for £2.49 a couple of campaigns ago. I have lots of Avons nail polishes and 99% of the time I have been really pleased with the quality and the colour so I had no reservations about ordering myself one of these. Ideally I would have ordered two but my mum was looking over my shoulder (I hadnt paid for the last lot yet!) so I just opted for one. I went for the white version for a couple of reasons. Firstly white seems to be quite on trend at the moment and I do like white and secondly I thought that should the nail polish start to chip then hopefully white would be less noticeable on the tips of my nails.

The nail polish looks exactly the same as it does in the picture above. The bottle has a timeless look and I like the way that the mosaic effects has its own picture on the front so you can differentiate between this and other ranges from Avon. The lid is a glossy black in colour and quite square. I do like the lid because it allows you to get an easy grip on it even if the lid is stuck on or whatever. The lid of course houses the brush. The brush is of a good size and is around 2-3mm wide. The bristles are all nicely shaped to allow you to get the best possible coverage on your nail.

The instructions tell you to paint a thin layer on your nail either on top of a different colour or on your bare nails. For white, I think more people would opt for the additional colour underneath which is what I did. I went for a bright pink because pink is my favourite colour and I also hoped it would look quite striking with the white.

I began to paint a thin layer on my nails. I found that it wasnt as glossy and easy to apply as the other polishes in the Avon range and it felt quite tacky almost like a nail polish that has been left for too long and has started to get thicker. I found that it didnt look as glossy or nice as usual but I didnt expect this because of course it needed to get a chance to crack.

It took a while to dry and it was still tacky half an hour later so if you are planning on using this then please allow yourself plenty of time.

The cracked effect looks ok. I understand it is meant to look a bit messy as it is a cracked and old effect but I found that it really didnt give a nice finish at all. It cracked very unevenly, for example on some fingers I have a huge pink line up the middle of the nail and on other nails there are large white areas.

The nail polish looks very thick and it certainly doesnt give a look that I would describe as professional. They also feel very bumpy. The nail polish does last well though, I painted mine 7 days ago now and they are only a little bit chipped around the edges and this is without top coat.

I dont think my nails look terrible but I certainly wouldnt use this polish to get a professional look. Up close they look quite poor but from a distance they look ok. My step-daughter did tell me she liked my nails so it cant look too bad!

I think I would try the black one in the range simply because I have heard that black seems to work better than the white across all the brands. Also, for £2.49 you really dont have too much to lose.

I do think that the polish is a good way to paint your nails if you know you wont have time to see to them again for a week or so but it is certainly not the best quality. I just feel that it looks and feels too thick on the nails and doesnt give a particularly even coverage.