Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsIf you’re going to read a review it should probably be this one.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 October 2020
In this review I talk about the shades lavender, Black Forest, cotton, nutmeg, raspberry ripple, and mandarin. The colour lavender is absolute trash (unless you’re looking for a product that has no pigment at all). In my photos you can see it swatched (along with other gelly polishes) with both one and two coats, and compared to black and white polishes. If I hadn’t put the bottle next to a bottle of white (cotton), you would think it’s white. The product photos for this show a much more pigmented colour, so definitely be aware of that. It’s also totally unblendable and just starts picking itself up if you try to layer more than twice for more pigment, so that’s super weird - definitely no way to make this one look any better. If you’re looking for a shade that’s more like the product photos I recommend barrym gelly in prickly pear, same formula same price but actually has some colour and looks like the product photos for lavender. Black Forest is a meh black polish, but for the price it’s totally fine. Definitely not a one coater but you wouldn’t expect that from something this incredibly cheap. Be aware that you can still sometimes leave some visible brush strokes even in the second coat, but as long as you have good technique it shouldn’t happen often. Mandarin is a super lovely shade (the ombré on the tips of my nails) but does take maybe 3 coats for full pigment, especially if you’re applying with a sponge or detailing brush. Nutmeg is fine, another regular two coat polish. Raspberry ripple is a slightly odd one, again I think it’s pretty misrepresented in the product photos used to advertise it but it’s a pretty enough colour. Keep in mind though that it’s incredibly stubborn to apply with a sponge, it does not like to blend at all. Cotton is a pretty decent white polish for this price, I was actually quite surprised. I know the swatches I uploaded are against a white background so you don’t get the full picture, but I’ve also swatched it on a solid black background and it did pretty well. I wouldn’t say you should use one coat, definitely two if you can, but it’s not one of those disgusting milky ones - you could probably get away with just one coat in a real pinch. Other than that, I have no problems with the gelly line for their price point. I’m definitely a sucker for higher end products (esp. essie, my standards are high) but my collection is vast and I’ve tried everything from £1 to £30. In terms of longevity the entire gelly line usually lasts me 4-6 days before it gets unwearable and gets weird hairline cracks through it. Sometimes I’ll get the odd chip around day 2 or 3 but it’s always barely noticeable or very easy to fix. Obviously top these with a clear top coat of some kind (my favourite at a lower price point is the Revlon extra life no chip top coat - double the price of these but also double the amount of product, lasts forever). Without a top coat I have absolutely no idea how these wear, I don’t know why you would try that anyway. Yes this review has taken me a stupid amount of time to put together with testing wear, swatching etc. but labelling those swatch photos took literally 15 minutes, I hope they’re useful! Good procrastination for me, hopefully a good review for you. (This review is also specifically linked to the shade lavender, hence the 2 stars. I have put ratings for the other shades but I don’t want to dupe this review)
