Does anyone else have the following beauty product dilemma? Girl walks into make-up shop for one item. Girl becomes mesmerized by glittery enticing products and picks up a shopping basket. Girl then loses all rationalization and finds herself in the nail polish isle surrendering to the sweet promises of nail formulas that claim to be long lasting. With lipsticks and compacts in her eyes and maybe a few hearts, girl fills basket, forgetting the fact that she had come in for just one item.*
Having heard a great deal of positive reviews on Sephora’s Formula X The System nail polish range, I went to have a look at the colors and was dazzled. Aside from the usual gamut of standards hues, many of the shades were different and fun. According to their website, the polish lasts up to eight days compared to a leading salon color.
Eight days! Eight days? Hmmmmm… eight days. This was my process of rationalization as I plopped a handful of bottles of Formula X nail polish into my Sephora basket and made my way to the till, stopping to admire the mini-beauty versions of everything one can possibly need in the checkout isle. Those few rows of tempting pint-sized best sellers are beacons for the weak. How can anyone resist? Don’t answer, no one can resist.
Verdict?
Formula X nail polishes are fantastic! Yup. That’s my review. Ok bye. Seriously, I’m impressed. I have way too many nail colors in my possession. I just gave away forty bottles, so I’m a bit obsessed, but… but that leaves me room to squeeze in more. From Tom Ford, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Essie, OPI, NARS, Anna Sui, Nails inc, Deborah Lippman, Ciaté and Azature**, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana plus many other brands, Formula X has chipped the least.
Yes, really:
I love Sephora’s products and I’m a little too keen on their pro-make-up brushes but when they launched Formula X, I was skeptical of the chip-proof claim. If anyone can put non-chipping nail polish to the test, it’s me. As a writer my hands are always clicking away on the keyboard. I also love to create fun dishes in the kitchen and am constantly chopping, cleaning and washing. Plus, there’s this obsession with over-Windexing everything, I go through bottles of that stuff. So when I dunked some really gorgeous colors in my basket, I couldn’t contain my excitement! I don’t know about you, but I find painting my nails utterly relaxing. I usually have a bottle of polish in my hand at six am, sipping tea, coloring away before I start my day.
Does it chip before eight days?
Yes. On me, it didn’t last eight days but it did last five on holiday, not a single chip when I was in England but that’s because I didn’t have to lift a finger. Does opening and closing a gazillion suitcases count? *** On a normal day when I’m back to reality I get three good days and then I see one or two small chips and the fourth day I need to change the color.
Do I recommend it?
Yes. Most high-end brands that accompany beauty products have gorgeous nail colors with great shiny formulations but fail to impress me in the longevity department. I like the Formula X System a lot. They have such a vast range of colors and formulations.**** The best way to wear these colors is by using the recommended system: basecoat, color and topcoat. I’ve tried using the Formula X colors with top coats and base coats from different brands but I find that my polish chips faster when I’m not using the system.
Other great products from Formula X:
– The Nail Drying Drops- shown below left: better than any salon brand.
– Delete Nail Polish Remover: hands down the best polish remover. The only downside is that it does dry my nails out a teeny bit.
– Delete To-Go Nail Polish Remover Pads: I used these on holiday. One sachet supposedly removes all the nail polish but I found I needed two.
Not loving:
–Nail Cleanser: This contains witch hazel and vitamin E to prep your nails before you add a basecoat. It really didn’t do anything special for my nails.
–The neon colors. Major flop. They chipped instantly on me. The shade Oopph should have been called oops. There’s nothing neon about this chippy, watery orange. Another flop was Jolt– A shimmery pink that frankly looks better in the bottle.
–The Power Couples. Great little kit in theory but I did not like these. The brushes are too small and crappy and I actually needed glasses to paint my nails. Flop.
–Drying Spray. What is wrong with this bottle? Is it just me? It leaves weird streaky marks on my nails. Not purchasing this again.
Favorite colors:
Ignite – Current favorite. I’ve finished half a bottle already; it’s in-between a deep red and burgundy. That’s actually a really hard color to find. This is a universally flattering shade and super sexy. ****
Frenetic – Shocking pink, or as my friend calls it – Slutty pink. I think I like the original name better.
Monumental – A pastel-ish taupy-beige color that I love on my feet. It’s weird for the feet right? I thought it would be too tan looking but it actually looks very sophisticated.
White Matter– Remember way back when liquid paper came in bottles in high school? Yes, basically that would be when dinosaurs roamed the earth. This hue reminds me of the times I would be bored out of my mind in math class. I find irony in the name of this color, it sounds mathematical. Incidentally, I failed that class twice.
Legendary- Shown below: the best way I can describe this color is like a Tiffany blue, I don’t know if it’s just me but this particular color lasts longer than any shade on my nails. It’s probably just me.
Flashy – The perfect orange shade, which I shall wear in the winter in-between dumps of snow to remind me of better days ahead.
*It has dawned on me that I probably have the same dilemma with shoes. Sigh…
**One of my absolute faves – maybe because they have real diamond dust in them and look stunning on. Utter pain in the arse to get off, it’s like a mini-workout.
*** It totally does! I had to jump on mine to close, gave up and packed another one. British Airways allows three! Thank the lord! I know, total first world problems.
****To the girl that looked at me and told me that red is too much for day, thanks but you’re totally wrong and from some alien universe where people are colorblind. Red is fantastic for anytime of day!