Jewels, Peacocks and Mini Skirts Nails {notd}

In the fashion of the popular and frequent 3 for 2 offers on 17 Cosmetics, I would like to present to you 3 nail polishes from  the brand. I own many eye shadows from 17, and I am the first one to be shocked for not having purchased a  nail polish from 17 Cosmetics before.





Purple Jewel was the first one I tried and, put it bluntly I couldn't think of a more disappointing first  encounter of the brand. The photos show my 4th and final attempt at painting my nails. It is part of the 'fast  finish' range of 17 and my goodness they were not kidding about the fast finish feature. Strewth! It's so 'fast'  that you don't even have time to apply the polish on your nails. In the words of JLS, you only have one shot so  make it count.





After 3 disastrous applications, I've learnt that applying the thickest coat ever (Load the  brush to the max baby) and then leave it alone works best. Then apply a second coat. Applying nail polish is  supposed to be a relaxing therapeutic experience but dealing with purple jewel left me all stressed out. Once  you've passed the brush on your nails once, that's it, you just cannot go over. Don’t even think about it! {Incidentally, is that what they call ‘dragging’, or is that spooling?} This one might have to  accidentally fall in the bin. Life is too short to put up with with a stressful nail polish.  Thank goodness it was only £2.99






I've been wanting to purchase Peacock for a while after seeing numerous posts about it. It was actually Rosalyn from  Primp and Preen and Emma from Imagination in Colour which finally made up my mind about Peacock and the next thing I knew, it fell into  my basket. Having just been disappointed with Purple Jewel, part of the Fast Finish range, I was very  apprehensive about the application of Peacock, also part of the Fast Finish range. Purple Jewel and Peacock couldn't be  any more different. The application of peacock felt like a walk in the park on a sunny day, like all polishes  should be. I could take all the time in the world and in 2 coats I achieved the opacity I wanted.






This is not a  unique colour by any stretch of imagination, probably most nail polish brand would have a shimmery turquoise  polish collection, but not many would have one at £2.99, opaque in 2 coats with an easy application. If you like  turquoise, and on a budget, you will need this polish in your collection. Sadly, it turns out that I am not  digging turquoise on my nails after all that, that I am not too keen on the high metallic finish to the great joy of my co worker who will  inherit my unloved peacock.





Last but certainly not least, this is Mini Skirt. I really didn't know what to expect from this one. If my memory  is correct, I've owned 4 white nail polishes in the past, (no.7 nail tip whitener, bourjois nail tip whitener,  maybelline or rimmel (i always get confused between the 2 brands) and a natural collection one) and all turned gloopy  in less time it takes to engulf a domino's pizza (I am not hungry, honest). So why would this nail polish be any different? Time will tell how long it will take to end up gloopy or if it will be gloopy at all, but for the  moment, I am truly, madly, deeply in love with mini skirt and this is actually my favourite from my 3 for 2 purchase. 


“Yes, but who wants tippex fingers”, I hear you say. Hear me out. I believe that using a white nail polish as a  base (a bit like using nyx jumbo pencil in milk underneath an eye shadow I guess) would make the polish on top to  appear brighter and more opaque or so they say anyway. So it was first and foremost for layering purposes that I  wanted to purchase a mini skirt.


Let's have a look at it on its own. The following photos, ladies and ... ladies are just 2 coats only. I was  absolutely astounded.







I expected a very troublesome application, with streaks and patchiness galore. Instead the  nail polish behaved just like a normal polish would. Now, sorry Chanel but if 17 Cosmetics can release a white  nail polish opaque in 2 coats, taking into account that white, yellow and other neon polishes are renowned to be  patchy, how the heck can you release a mimosa (is that £25?) which takes 4 coats  and the patience of an angel for an even finish? I rest my  case.







Below a quick test manicure and layering experiment. The hardest is to avoid a white gap when you layer your coloured polish on the top but if you take it your time (not like my shoddy attempt below then), it is totally worth it. I usually like to use a nudy colour to layer my gold polishes (as most of them are hopelessly too sheer) but from now on, I think I prefer to layer my gold polishes over white. Nails Inc In style Candy didn't work very well under white (opaque enough already on its own maybe?). However, NYC Love Me (I blogged about it on its own here) is absolutely gorgeous on white. I am sold. If it doesn't become too gloopy too quickly, I can see myself ‘wearing mini skirt’ quite often.






Now then, my dear readers, I'd love it if you could tell me which are your favourites nail polishes from 17 Cosmetics and which ones I should avoid. Let me know in the comments. As usual, feel free to leave me your (relevant) blog posts links x