Rimmel Lycra Wear Nail Polish

Today I'm going to tempt you with the delights of my newly painted fingernails and toenails. Because I've brought a new nail polish you see, a beautiful new nail polish which goes by the rather bizarre shade name of 'Zeitgeist'. Now I'm not a make-up snob but this is the only Rimmel product I own as I've always considered Rimmel as a bit of a 15 year old schoolgirls brand but this nail polish has changed my mind. Completely.

Anyway, when I apply my nail polish it always irritates me that I have to sit around flapping my hands in the air while I'm waiting for it to dry. I can paint the nails on both of my hands in around three minutes so it bugs the hell out of me that I've got to wait longer than it takes for me to get the varnish on for it to dry. So while I was waiting for a prescription in Lloyds Pharmacy last week I found myself loitering next to the make-up counter when a nail polish display caught my eye. 'Rimmel 60 Seconds Extreme' the shelf screamed at me, 'I'll be dry before you can say Rimmel Is For Kids.' Not in those words, but this is how my (rather strange) brain converted the message that Rimmel was trying to get across.

I was sold. And having a glance at the little 8ml bottle I found that apart from drying in 60 seconds, I'd get perfect coverage in just one coat. Bonus! Definitely sold, all I had to do was choose which colour I wanted to try. And there are plenty of colours to choose from, my local Lloyds stock 18 different shades but a quick glance at the Rimmel website tells me there are a further 4 shades of polish for me to look out for. I was torn between a girly pink polish called Girl Power and the wonderfully dark and sexy shade that I eventually decided on, the deep purple polish going by the name of Zeitgeist.

I was in the house for roughly five minutes before I tore the chemist bag open and started to paint my nails. Rimmel have made the brush applicator quite short which makes it easier to keep a steady hand while you're painting (this comes in especially useful when you're doing 'the other hand') and it's also a lot thinner than the brush on my usual Revlon Speed Shine nail polish, which I find is so long and thin that my nail corrector pen gets used on each nail because the brush is so hard to control. The lid of the polish (which doubles up as the handle for the brush for any guys reading who don't know the basics) is a perfect fit and shape for me to hold comfortably while I'm applying my nails polish. I recently used a nail polish by Boots No.7 and the lid was square. This made it almost impossible to get a good grip on it and the polish went all over the edges of my nails - not a good look! My polish glided on beautifully and because the brush was just the right size and shape I managed to paint each nail in the three strokes (one up the middle and one either side) that any manicurist will tell you is the best way to ensure even coverage of your nails and stops you getting those horrible brush lines.

I noticed as I was applying my nail polish that the colour of the polish as it came out of the bottle was different to how it looked inside the bottle. As I finished each nail and checked it for smudges I noticed it was more of a golden brown colour than the shiny aubergine I was expecting. I've used nail polish in the past that looked red in the bottle but was dingy terracotta once it was on my nails, but I've never used a polish that completely changes colour before. I thought this was a bit odd and then, being my usual perceptive self, didn't think about it again. Until roughly 60 seconds later. The name of this polish is definitely not a breach of the Trades Descriptions Act, it does exactly what it says on the tin (well, cute little bottle) and was dry enough for the second coat in 60 seconds. I know I said earlier that it would give me a good finish in just one coat, and it did. The colour just wasn't as deep as I like, it looked slightly sheer despite the fact that it is quite a dark polish. So I opted for a second coat and waited a further 60 seconds for this coat to dry.

And once dry it's gorgeous. To be honest with you, I left the second coat for 90 seconds (I timed it) before I touched it and it had hardened beautifully. It was lovely and smooth with no evidence of brush lines and pressing it lightly with my nail, it's set hard as well... nails! Revlon Speed Shine also claims to dry in 60 seconds but actually takes a good while longer to set hard enough for go about everyday tasks, but within three minutes of painting my nails I was changing my mates six week old babys nappy and there was no sign of my polish not being dry on either nappy or baby. I have been guilty in the past of leaving small smudges of nail polish on babies bottoms and this is the only reason I decided to look closely at a newborn babys used nappy! Afterwards I washed my hands in water as hot as I could handle (it was a very messy nappy) and combined with using those cheap baby wipes which smell very acidic I was surprised that my newly applied polish was still looking perfect, so I can assure you within minutes of applying this polish it really is hard enough to do anything.

I first noticed something strange about the colour when I was halfway through taking Jordans nappy off, it had a glint to it when the light hit my nails in a certain way. And then I noticed the golden brown colour had gone and the aubergine was back. And then I noticed the aubergine was gone and the golden brown was back. And again. And again. An absolutely gorgeous effect. Holding my hand in front of my face and looking directly at my nails the colour is a deep, shiny aubergine and then laying my hand flat and looking down my nails it changes to a beautiful sparkly dark gold. Both colours are so deep that they shimmer when you look at them and the aubergine has the same sort of effect as spilt oil, swirled red and dark blue. I saw a car today with the same sort of effect paint work and Mark informs me that on cars it's called 'metallic two-tone'. For ages I kept moving my hand about to see the colours change but even when the novelty wore off I found myself catching glimpses of the gold when I was driving or typing. With this shade aubergine is the dominant colour but every so often the gold will flash through and when it does it's such a gorgeous shade you feel glad to have seen it.

The polish lasted well too. When I use Revlon I find I have to touch up my polish after two days and completely remove it and re-apply between two and three days later. I didn't have to touch up this one until three days after I first applied it and even then it was only because the edges of the nails on my little fingers had chipped very slightly, I could easily have got another two or three days out of it. I removed it after six days when it started to peel, but in my experience six days on one coat and a touch up is brilliant. It was a bit tough to remove with my nail varnish remover but that's a small price to pay for beautiful nails. One thing I would recommend is using a base coat if you're going to be using this nail polish regularly because it's so heavy it will stain your nails.

And the best bit is I only paid £2.99 for it. I usually pay double that for my Revlon Speed Shine and Rimmel 60 Seconds outstrips it on every level. The colour is much more beautiful, the polish is easier to apply, it lasts better, dries quicker and it just looks better. Admittedly, Revlon comes in a bigger bottle (15ml) but who actually finishes a nail polish bottle? I'll be going for Rimmel every time now, I've got to go and pick another prescription up tomorrow... let's have a look at those colours again.

Thanks for reading.