OPI's Bond Aid/ChipSkip makes perfect nails boring! (OPI Nail Varnish)

Member Name: bootyqueen

Product:	OPI Nail Varnish
Date:	15/08/03 (1152 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: manicure last for ages, bottle lasts a long time

Disadvantages: could be expensive, boyfriend has to chop own veg anyway

I sit here with long, glossy, red nails. They have been like this for a week. I am getting a bit bored with them. Why am I complaining? Well, I am trying to do my own consumer test- now I have finally found something that stops my nail varnish peeling, I'm interested to see *just* how long it will last.

Okay, picture the scene...
Your hunky bloke whisks you away on a break to a paradise island, and you want your nails to look perfect for the whole week.

Reality check...
Your chunky bloke asks you to a barbecue in his back yard and has appointed you chief veg chopper as women "don't understand meat and fire". Peeling veg+ lugging garden furniture +slapping boyfriend for being sexist= shabby manicure, right? Not with OPI's Bond Aid!

I'd seen Bond Aid on QVC as the one-stop cure for peeling or chipping nail varnish and was a bit curious, until I saw the price! At £16.50+p&p for a small bottle with a top coat, I decided to keep a lid on my curiosity. Then QVC started to air a product called Chip Skip, but that was even more expensive! Apparently, the reason nail varnish chips and peels is that you have greasy plates (charming!) or the pH of the nail plate is wrong. It all sounded like a load of old tripe to me, but I was getting so annoyed with my manicure lasting about 2 days before it looked naff that I decided to take action...

I had a look on a well-known online auction site and contacted a seller who seemed to know their stuff about manicures. Apparently, there is little difference between Bond Aid and ChipSkip, the latter being a newer formula. Anyway, I won a bottle of Bond Aid in an auction for about £5, half the price you can get it off QVC, so I was well chuffed.

Bond Aid is a product you paint on to clean nails, ie. before your base coat/strengthener. It is very thin and evaporates quickly to leave a bare, matte nail. (Apparently it can make your nails look a bit chalky but this is
nothing to worry about.) I have to say that I wasn't impressed at this point as there wasn't a great deal to see. Anyway, I carried on with my base coat, then two coats of the darkest, vampiest red I could find, and then a top coat. I figured that if this Bond Aid did the trick, then I may as well wear a colour that shows up the chips!

That was a week ago, and the manicure is fine. The only thing I have had to do is reapply a top coat, but that was because I wanted a really high shine again. I love this product as I can now wear dark colours, and because you use so little of the product I can see it lasting a long time. I would also recommend this product to the habitual 'nail varnish peelers'. I painted my Gran's nails the other day using this product, and she is delighted because she CAN'T pick it all off again! My boyfriend likes it too as I tend to "faff around less" with my nails. I told him that a good manicure is the first stage to becoming a high maintenance sex kitten, so he can chop his own veg.

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