Urban Decay Nail Enamel > Reviews (7)

I’m quite a fan of Urban Decay make-up; the eye shadows are my particular favourites. They have a fantastically wide range of bold, shimmering colours which always seem to stand out from the other brands. Not only do they look good though they actually wear really well, they last all day or night and look just as good at the end of the day as they do when you first put them on. I don’t begrudge paying £10 for them because I know they actually look great (they look great on everyone by the way, I’m not being arrogant!). Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the nail enamels.

I don’t seem to have had much success in the nail polish department recently. I tried a L’Oreal one a while ago which was supposedly chip-resistant but it was pretty useless. I expected better from a brand like Urban Decay but perhaps I was too optimistic. In fact I regret not looking the product up on Ciao before I brought it because judging by the ratings other people have given it, I am obviously not the only person who has been disappointed by its performance.

The aims of Urban Decay are pretty clear; they want to make-up for creative people who want to stand out from the crowd and give beauty an edge, in their own individual style. I’m not particularly bold with my make-up but I do love experimenting with the colours of the eye shadows and I totally support the fact that none of the products or ingredients are tested on animals. I don’t think I ask for a lot from a nail varnish, I want one that goes on easily, gives good coverage and doesn’t chip easily, I don’t think this is too much to ask especially when you are paying £8.50 for the product!

I was drawn to the Urban Decay nailvarnishes simply because they have such a fantastic array of colours. I thin there is pretty much a colour to suit anyone for any occasion, they have great names too. I went on the website to see exactly how many colours there were and found 27 shades. I have to admit the colours are gorgeous, check out www.urbandecay.com for the full range. I chose Hotpants, a super-matallic pink. In the bottle it looks so shimmery and the colour is not exactly neutral but it is not quite as dramatic as some of them such as Bruise, a reddish purple with a green sheen, which to be honest just looks like oil!

The website claims that the nail enamels are new and improved offering polish perfection. They then go on to give four perfectly plausible reasons why the nail polish is so great. I’ll take you through each one of them.

Firstly they praise the new bottle design saying it is easy to use with an all new ergonomic cap. Well I don’t have any gripes about the bottle. It is pretty similar to many others; the glass is quite thick with Urban Decay on the front and 10ml on the back. There is also a sticker on the bottom of the bottle telling you the name of the shade. The lid is silver with the brush held inside it. Ergonomic? I’m afraid I wouldn’t know even if it was but it was pretty easy to hold and use in a comfortable shape which you can see from the picture.

They then say there is a new brush which means there is no skimping on luxe or ease of application, polish has never glided on so smoothly. Well again I have no complaints about the brush. It is quite flexible and not too thick so it is easy to apply the polish exactly where you want it.

Next they praise the new formula saying it is glossier, shinier, better looking, better for you and DBP Free. Well I wouldn’t disagree if they’re talking about what it looks like when it’s in the bottle but they surely can’t be serious if they think this is what it looks like when it goes on. I found the first coat did not give enough coverage at all even after applying the second coat I was particularly impressed. It is glossy but so has every other nail polish been that I’ve ever tried. In the end I decided to apply a third coat I was a bit annoyed about this as the more coats you apply the longer it seems to take to try, though maybe this was just me getting more and more impatient.

Their final point is that there are new pigments. They call them never-before-seen multi-chromatic pigments which shimmer with an intense, yet subtle effect in many new shades, making them 4 times more precious than before. Not sure how they figured out that they are four times more precious than before but seeing as though this is the first time I wouldn’t like to comment (apart from the fact that I think this is utter nonsense). Again in the bottle the nail polish lives up to all these claims. The shade I tried did have a good shimmer to it and does look good on but I didn’t like the way I could still see the tip of my nail ( the white bit) until I applied the third coat. I’ve been back to Boots again to try on some other shades and found that they all seem to be the same except the very dark colours which I’m not particularly keen on.

There are also a couple of points that they fail to mention. Firstly after you have applied to many coats the polish forms a thick layer which consequently is very easy to peel off. It also chips easily regardless of how many coats you put on. I’ve tried putting a clear base coat on first but that doesn’t work either. I’m far from impressed. My only advice is don’t buy this nail polish, for me it has been a waste of £8.50. If you still fancy trying it out you’ll find it in larger Boots stores and some department stores such as Debenhams. I’ve given it two stars because if the quality was better then the colour would have looked good and I like the brush but I’m not prepared to spend ages applying it to find it has chipped off during the same day. This is certainly not a nail polish I would wear out, that was actually the reason I brought it but sadly it can never serve this purpose. I’d probably have to try and hide the chipped nails all night!

And so my mission to find the perfect nail varnish continues, if anyone can recommend one then I’d like to hear from you!

Thanks for reading! ☺