Nail varnish can do two things, make your appearance look tidy and polished or make it look crumbled and messy, I would prefer to look polished and tidy but get so annoyed at nail varnish that chips after a day or two, especially when I've taken so long to apply it.

I love nail varnish more than make-up and have a relatively large collection. I have spent a lot of money on nail varnish's and brands such as OPI, Nails Inc. and China Glaze as I really hate chipping and flaking and find that cheaper nail varnishes didn't last long enough on my nails. I had heard good things about Bourjois 1 seconde so decided to try it.

I purchased mine from boots and it cost £5.49. The bottle is narrower at the top so applying this is very easy. It feels more like I'm holding a pencil than the older style chunky nail varnish bottle lids. The range has every colour type from light pinks to reds and blacks. The colour collection doesn't have any glitter or shimmer colours (at the time of purchase) thankfully as I'm not a huge fan of those, the high gloss enamel looking colours were all gorgeous and made it hard for me to decide on just one, however I settled on #30.

It says #30 on the bottle and even on the website, I was baffled as to why this didn't have an equally gorgeous name but later found out from someone that the colour is called 'Gris cashmere' it does look like a neutral, grey café au lait colour. Gris cashmere is equal to OPI's over the taupe and Chanel Le Vernis 505 particuliere.

*The Nail Varnish*
1 seconde refers to the amount of time it should take to apply the nail varnish to the nails. Each nail should dry in 50 seconds. 1 seconde has a new patented application brush that is fan shaped, the fan shape adapts to the size of each nail leaving you with ultra-shiny high gloss coloured nails.

*The Brush*
The new fan shaped brush looks similarly to the brushes you get for doing your eyebrows but only thinner. The brush does adapt to nails making application quick and easy.

*One coat or not to one coat*
Most nail polishes that promise one coat results don't actually work in only one coat so I was a little bit pessimistic about this claim until I got the nail varnish home and tested. I purchased the Gris Cashmere and applied this quickly. I was pleasantly surprised that this does in fact look amazing with only one coat. It never left any see through patches or areas that looked thinner than the rest of the nail and reminded me of the results you get from Gel nail varnish.

*The bottle*
The bottle is sleek, it gets thinner the closer to the top and is all one colour. You will notice on the lid there is a rougher patch; this is a test area which shows you what colour it's supposed to look like on the nail. The lid makes it feel like I'm holding a pencil and gives excellent grip.

*Application*
Before you were supposed to apply three strokes of colour, one in the centre and one on each side of the nail. With Bourjois 1 seconde you no longer have to do this. Simply place the fan brush onto the nail and it fans out for wider nails and stays normal shaped for thinner nails. The nail colour goes on easily and quickly and I probably do agree with their 1 second nail application claim. It really is that quick, finish off with a coat of clear topcoat for longer lasting nail colour.

*Drying*
The colour takes around 90 seconds to dry; some nails can still be 'tacky' so I recommend leaving a full two minutes before doing anything.

I am a convert to bourjois and especially Bourjois 1 seconde. The results I get from using this alongside a clear top coat are equal to results I've had from gel nail varnish and the is better than the results I've had from Nail Inc., Chanel and OPI so the £5.49 price tag is an absolute bargain and that's why I've given it a 5 stars.