Excellent nail varnish at a good price (Rimmel Lycra Wear Nail Polish)

Member Name: beauty88

Product:	Rimmel Lycra Wear Nail Polish
Date:	15/04/09 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong colour, lasts ages, only needs 1 coat

Disadvantages: none

I tried this for the first time over the weekend. I wanted a black nail varnish, and although I'm a fan of Jessica and OPI nail stuff, I wanted a cheaper one this time because I only intend it to wear for a night out so it doesn't need to last ages or be really good quality. I chose Rimmel because I already buy some of my makeup from there and there was a 3 for 2 offer on in Boots on the Rimmel counter.

I'd heard that the Lycra wear range is supposed to be really good and as well as lasting ages they prevent nails from breaking while it is on. It costs £4.50 for the bottle when you buy it from Boots which I think is a reasonable price.

***Packaging...

The bottle is quite straightforward, it is a clear bottle with a black lid which has the 'lycra' logo printed on it like you would see on clothes labels. The bottle has the Rimmel logo printed in white and again the Lycra logo beneath this.

***The Nail Varnish...

The first thing I notice about nail varnish is how good the brush is, and I was really impressed with this one. The brush is quite small but a fan shape which means you can cover the whole nail in one sweep. This makes it a lot easier and quicker to apply as well as making a smooth finish, rather than when it goes streaky looking. The nail varnish is quite thick in consistency yet was still easy to spread over the nail. This also meant that the colour comes out quite strong and only one coat is required. Most nail varnishes, particularly in darker colours, require more than one coat so this is really good. The only thing is that it may go a bit thick and gloopy if you kept it for a while.

There's not an awful lot I can say about the colour as it is just black, but it does come out looking jet black and really makes an impact. It also leaves a nice shine behind which looks good, yet despite this I still applied a top coat which made it shinier, more to make sure it didn't chip though.

It takes a while to dry which I expected as it is quite thick, I would recommend particularly with a darker colour like this leaving it for about 20minutes before doing anything that might chip it, as it does look really obvious if it smudges or chips. However the nail varnish is reasonably dry after about 10minutes, just not completely.

I wore this over the weekend and went out clubbing twice and it still stayed on really well and didn't chip at all. I had it on for 3 days in total and it was only just peeling off a bit on the third day, which was more because I was picking at it a bit. When I actually removed it I found it quite difficult to get off, which is something I have found with most dark nail varnishes I have used. This isn't really an issue to me though, as it did come off and my nails looked fine. The only thing I would recommend is wearing a base coat with a darker colour like this as it did stain my nails slightly.

***Overall opinion...

This has definitely made me think twice about spending over £10 on expensive nail varnish brands, as I feel this did as well as those but for less than half the price. I would definitely recommend it and think it deserves 5 stars.

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