Have you got an hour to spare to paint your nails? (Bourjois So Laque)

Member Name: Tracy_1127

Product:	Bourjois So Laque
Date:	09/09/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see review

Disadvantages: see review

Last week while waiting for my partner to buy something humdrum in Boyes I found myself, as I often do, hovering around the make up section. A lovely dark plum nail varnish caught my eye and the 99p price sticker made it a necessity! Said nail varnish was Bourjois So Laque and the colour is "Dangereusement Rouge". Apparently this nail varnish has extra vinyl for twice as much shine and should last 7 days without any chipping.

A few days ago I decided it was time to try my latest addition to my nail varnishes and with it being a dark colour that would stain my nails I decided to apply it over the pink colour I already had on. Big mistake! It went on very patchy and wouldn't even out or dry properly with another colour underneath so I removed the lot and started with naked nails.

The bottle of polish is quite a tall, slim one which looks very attractive. The lid is the same colour as the polish and it contains 10ml of varnish. The handle is round and tapers slightly towards the brush end so it's nice in your hand and the brush is quite flat which took some getting used to initially but actually makes applying easier as it doesn't require as many strokes.

On boots.com it sells for £5.37 a bottle which I would not pay and I'm still feeling pretty smug about my 99p price tag! There are 11 colours to choose from so something for everyone there.

Naked nails, check. A surface to steady my shaky hands, check. Enough time to paint my nails and let them dry, check. I started off with not much polish on the brush but soon found this didn't work so well, it produced streaky, patchy areas of colour so I had to resort to a full brush of polish which can go horribly wrong and leave blobs but didn't.

The brush meant the recommended 3 strokes was enough but I have to admit 1 coat was nowhere near enough and looked thin and streaky even when applied properly. I started to wonder if I would need 3 coats at that point and if I had it would have gone straight in the bin because I don't have the time or the patience for 3 coats!

By the time I'd done both hands the first coat on the first hand was almost dry. I want to issue a warning here and say that if the first coat isn't almost dry with this polish wait! The first coat lifts off with the brush if you try and apply the second coat before this happens so make sure it is almost dry before starting the second coat.

One hand done and my nails looked fab! Really good solid colour and very shiny so onto the second hand. By the time I'd done both I was suitably impressed with the colour and the shine but the hard bit for me is waiting for nail varnishes to dry. I have no patience at all and my usual few minutes of flapping my hands around didn't help. In fact ten minutes later I could still feel a bit of tackiness to the nails and by that point I was seriously bored. I dipped my hands into cold water and then went about my day trying not to use my nails.

I can honestly say half an hour later if I applied any pressure to my nails it left a mark in the polish, half an hour! I couldn't believe how long it took for this polish to completely harden and dry and I just hoped it was worth it and I wouldn't have to take it off for 7 days.

So did it last 7 days? No, it lasted a couple of days with a few minor scuffs before it started to go the way of all nail varnish and chip and flake off. The 7 day claim really is a crock and I'm a bit peeved with myself for falling for it yet again! I've never found a varnish that lasts more than a day or two and even after using this one I still haven't. It's not like I'm a builder or a landscape gardener or anything, we're talking typing, housework and washing dishes with marigolds on so I didn't push it beyond what it should have been able to cope with.

Overall I liked the colour and the shine was good but it just wouldn't dry for ages and didn't last beyond a couple of days so the extraordinarily long drying time wasn't worth the effort. I will use up the product because I like the colour but will only apply it in future when I have plenty of time to let it dry, say an hour. I would definitely not pay full price for this and won't be buying it again at bargain price either.

Summary: Not one I'll buy again