Rimmel 2-Step Super Gel Nail Polish Review

 

Deliveries from Rimmel are always the most exciting and the ones that honestly humble me the most. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be on the receiving end of press packages from any brand let alone one of my favourite high street brands and I swear they just keep getting more and more exciting. This time around I was very generously sent the latest colours in the Super Gel Nail Polish collection along with the Super Gel Top Coat which is supposedly a self-curing top coat that gives the same nail effect finish as a Gel manicure. Personally, I love having gel on my nails and I love the look, feel and longevity of gel nails and because of that I do usually pass on nail polish samples to my friends and family as I never really get any use out of them, but for these I just had to soak off the gel and put my lamp to one side for a few weeks as I gave it a go. With a brand like Rimmel, which is a brand I have always loved and trusted, I just couldn’t pass these on without giving them a go first. At £5.99 a bottle and without the hassle of the UV lamp and everything else,  I thought it was definitely worth a go and a review!

 

My initial first impressions were that the colours were insane, the five new shades they’ve brought out for Summer are absolutely gorgeous and so so bright. At £5.99 a shade and with such beautiful colours, this was honestly the point for me that tipped me over the edge with wanting to give these a go and I really wanted these to be for me. My lamp and my Gels are amazing, don’t get me wrong, but at £15 a polish and with all of the extras you have to buy like base coats, top coats, acetone and not to mention the lamp itself to begin (which I was kindly gifted to try out) it can get pretty expensive. These Super Gel polishes from Rimmel sounded like the perfect alternative and with only 2-Steps involved and boasting of a 14 day chip-proof longevity, I jumped at the chance to get trying them.

 

As a whole I really like the polishes themselves; the colours are super pigmented, the brushes are super thick for a quick and easy application and on the whole they lasted pretty damn well without chipping and looking nasty. I firstly applied the gorgeous turquoise colour fresh from removing my gels and filing down my nails and was amazed by the pigmentation of the polish; with only one coat (and no base coat as the instructions suggest) the colour was holding well and was pretty opaque. I then waited a little around a minute or so before applying a second coat which really just solidified the colour and covered my nails more evenly. After waiting another minute between finishing my second hand I then applied the Super Gel top coat evenly over the top. The top coat definitely reminded me of my gel top coats as it was quite thick and gloopy, but it applied evenly and didn’t move the product around like I usually find with ‘normal’ nail polish top coats. Then all I had to do was sit and wait for it to self-cure and this is where I became slightly disappointed.

 

Unlike with curing my gels with my lamp at 15 seconds per hand after a lick of top coat, I sat and waited a good twenty minutes before moving my hands around too much to find that with a slight touch to one nail I left a fingerprint mark all over it. I’m just going to throw it out there now that I am really not patient when it comes to nail polish drying and for me to have waited 20 minutes without fidgeting and that to have happened I was pretty pissed off. Another 20 minutes later and they seemed dry to touch so I set about tidying away and just doing slight tasks that didn’t include too much of my nails being used (which is really bloody difficult actually). I thought I’d done well but another half hour later and I’d noticed that two of my nails had scuffed. The exact reason why I never paint my nails ‘normally’ anymore. I tried to push the polish back into place gently with the end result looking semi-acceptable and set about my day before heading off to see Ariana Grande perform in Birmingham. I was really impressed with the colour and with the gel-like shine my nails had to them but not at all with how long they’d taken to dry. I use my hands on a daily basis and having to wait around a couple of hours for them to be ‘fully’ dry is ridiculous to me. At the end of the day though, I know these never claimed to be quick-dry like gel nails are and so I was prepared to try again in a few days to fully get the look and test them properly.

 

I removed the polish the next day with some everyday nourishing nail polish remover on a cotton pad and was quite shocked to see how much the colour had stained my nails. I hadn’t used a base coat on them as the press release and copy on the Boots website had both said there was no need as it was ‘in-built’ and so I was quite disappointed again that nail polish remover hadn’t been able to remove all of the colour. I cleaned my nails up best I could, filed them down a little more and applied a standard base coat that I’ve always used to prep my nails before applying a different colour. This time I applied the bright red which was absolutely stunning and a colour I knew would easily stain my nails if I hadn’t used a base coat.

 

Again, it applied really nicely with the larger applicator an absolute God-send for quickly applying an even coat across my whole nail and the colour was so pigmented that there really wasn’t much need for a second coat. I left it (along with the top coat) to dry for about 40 minutes before doing anything this time around (thank god for long-ass weekly vlogs) and when I touched my baby nail to see if it was dry I was so happy to not have the tell tale fingerprint left behind! My happiness was short lived though as after going to the toilet and pulling up my leggings (a whole HOUR after applying my nail polish) I scuffed a nail and literally thought I would cry. My thumb as well – not an easy one to hide when you’ve scuffed your polish! Nevertheless, I was determined to see how long the polish would last and tried to patch it up best I could. In terms of chipping, the polish really did stand the test of time though and a good 8 days in and there were no ‘chips’ as such. The end of the nails did start to look a little warn and scruffy, but they weren’t so bad that I wanted to re-do them again. It’s now day 13 and although they looked quite rough before I re-painted them earlier, they still didn’t have any really noticeable chips in them which I think is a really good result for a ‘normal’ kind of nail polish!

 

Half hour before writing this blog post I re-painted them for a third time and although I had more luck removing the red in terms of my nails being stained by the colour (thank you trusty base coat) I still waited a good hour for these to dry and they STILL scuffed up on one nail a good hour and a half after I’d finished painting them. I’ll keep this colour on now for as long as I can as I really do like the colours ( I opted for the lilac) but after today I think I’ll be heading back to my UV Lamp and full on Gel nails. I loved the overall idea of this 2-step routine and was super happy with the longevity of the polish and top coat combo, but for the hassle of waiting around for them to dry for so long and for them to then still scuff two hours after being painted, I just don’t think I have the patience for them.

 

If you’re used to waiting for your nails to dry though / are far more patient than I am, I would definitely recommend these; the colours are fab and the gel-like shine is beautiful, it’s just that for me, I like the ease of using my lamp and not having to wait more than 15 seconds for it dry. Have you tried these before? What did you think of them?

 

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BekyLou, Beauty, Fashion, Fitness and Lifestyle Blog based in the South West and London.

(*this post may contain items gifted to me for PR purposes*)