'Decent' may be an understatement, but I suppose it's all relative ;)
From where I sit in my bedroom I can count at least 70 bottles of nail polish (TIP of the iceberg). Most are OPI, with the odd China Glaze or Orly thrown in for good measure. Once I discovered the essentially endless array of colours available to buy online (at a much better than retail price), I just couldn't help myself. I became obsessed and would buy 5-6 bottles at a time, wait for them to arrive and once they did spend hours staring at my new additions trying to decide which one to try on first. I'd then go to the trouble of prepping and primping my nails, carefully applying the colour and waiting what feels like a ridiculous amount of time (especially when you have an itchy nose, ear, elbow etc.) for them to dry. This was followed by a few days spent admiring the colour and then doing it all over again with the next lucky polish to grace my fingertips.
Initially, it was oh so worth it.
After a few months of this though, I started to get a little depressed every time I had to watch my new mani chip away after only a day or two of wear. You have to understand that at the time, I was working in a jewellery store, and handling chains, earrings and watches all day certainly takes its toll on your nails, so I was lucky to get a whole day of decent looking wear out of a single colour.
Then I discovered the magic that is gel polish, and it was a whole new world.
After having it done in a salon a few times, I was convinced it had changed my life. While I never got a whole two weeks of totally chip-free colour out of a single mani like they claim, it was still a game changer, and it increased the life of my manicure by about a week. As you can guess, I went back to the realm on online shopping.
Quickly bought myself a cheap UV lamp and all my supplies, then waited desperately for my first ever bottle of Shellac to arrive so I could have a go myself. It was easier than I thought! I'll admit I layered it on a little thick my first few times, but after a bit of practice the whole application process became second nature and I was enjoying whole weeks or more of chip free colour.
Needless to say my personal selection of gel polishes has grown considerably since then. I have been reasonably restrained in my purchases though, as I only really need change it once a fortnight (I could do it more frequently but the removal process is just too time consuming for my taste) meaning it takes me a while to test out all my new colours when I order five or so bottles at a time.
This does however make the decision of which colours to buy next that much harder, as in addition to being about twice as expensive per bottle, I know I'll be stuck with the manicures for much longer than I was with regular polish - so I damn well better like all the colours that I buy (and we all know the colour samples provided by the manufacturer are hardly ever all that accurate). For this reason I rely a lot on photos from blogs, forums etc to help me judge what a colour looks like in real life before I decide whether or not to buy it - and I've only ever been disappointed with a colour choice once. And one out of twenty or so isn't bad.
So I think it's time I start doing a few swatches and reviews of my own so that I can maybe help someone, somewhere make the near life altering decision of what colour to paint their nails. Enjoy! xx
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