Accessorize Illusion Nail Polish

This was the first ever Accessorize makeup item I bought. For weeks and weeks I had been eyeing up a polish from the same Illusion collection in 'Aztec' - a lovely blue/green/purple toned polish. I don't know why, but when at the stand around 3 weeks later I was compelled to pick up 'Bronze' instead. It was probably its lovely Pink/Yellow/Copper shimmery tones that brought me towards it. I mere £4 later I had it in my possession at last, I came home around 10pm, tried it out as soon as I got home and what did I find? 'UHH' that's it, just 'UHH'. The same shimmery loveliness I had seen in the store did by no means transfer onto my nails. All I saw was an odd, ugly, streaky looking shade of purple. I had never been so disappointed in all my life, at this point I was kicking myself telling me I knew I should have picked 'Aztec' instead. But I'm so glad I didn't. I woke up the next morning, went to open my curtains completely forgetting I had the polish on my nails, a beam of natural sunlight entered my room and low and behold there was that magical colour I had hoped for. Moral of the story - this polish looks atrocious under artificial light but freaking amazing under natural. Don't wear this on a night out, just don't.

After getting over the initial disappointment this soon became one of my favourite polishes, I must have worn it on my nails everyday for what? 5 weeks? I do find its consistency to be a little watery, the photo shows this quite well. Because of its runny nature on the first coat it is streaky, there's no denying that. But build it up to maybe 2/3 coats and the streakiness is long gone. It takes around 2/3 coats to build up an opaque colour anyway. Now the liquidness(?!) of the polish does have its benefit, its drying time is immaculate to say there were layers upon layers of the stuff.

This is under artificial light. You see, nothing like that gorgeous duo tone in the bottle, right? I tried to get a snap of the polish under natural light but every time they came out just looking as though I was wearing gold polish. Its just one of those beauties that need to be seen with your own eyes, not through a computer. Chipping is just like any other polish - without top coat you see a bit of tip ware within 2-3 days but with top coat around 5-6 days. But if your anything like me, its very rare I keep the same lot of nail polish on for any longer than 3 days.

The packaging is the typical gold, butterfly clad cardboard which in my opinion just makes the product look that tiny bit more luxurious. Lets face it, even if its just a bit of cardboard its still better than getting just a plain old bottle of models own, for example. I intend to buy loads more accessorize cosmetics, their lipsticks are probably next for me ...and one day I WILL get my hands on Aztec, even if it kills me.

Summary:

Product - Accessorize Illusion Polish in 'Bronze

Advantage - Dupe for chanel duo-tone polishes

Disadvantage - Doesn't look great under artificial light

Suits - Anyone with nails!

Pigmentation - Medium, 2 coats and your fine

Availability - £4 - Superdrug and Accessorize stores

Overall score - (7/10)