As you are probably already aware, I love nail polish, and out of all the beauty products I own, my nail polish collection is my biggest collection and despite owning much more nail polish than I need, I still find myself buying more and more.
Recently a polish that caught my eye was the L'oreal Infallible Nail polish, a 2 step product that claims to give a gel like or UV finish and also 12 days wear time.
L'oreal Infallible polish in Fuchsia For Life
In the past I had gel nails applied quite frequently and always loved the way they looked and also the longevity of the colour and shine and since many brands have released their take on the "gel polish" I have been on the hunt for the perfect high street brand of polish that delivers that gel finish for a fraction of the price of a salon manicure.
When I read L'oreals description of the infallible polishes I was impressed and thought I'd give it a go, I've always loved Essie polishes and L'oreal own Essie so I thought I had nothing to lose. I picked up the colour Fuchsia for Life, in the bottle it looks like a nice corally pink colour, a colour I am always drawn to. There are currently 12 shades in the range which will be extended to 21 shades over time.
As you can see from the photographs above, the polish comes in 2 stages, the polish and then a top coat.
Here's what L'oreal said about the product.
Introducing L’Oréal Paris Infallible Nail Polish. A sleekly designed two-step process that delivers on-trend shades, hard as nails toughness and magnifying shine.
A stunning, show-stopping hybrid gel-lacquer result, which defies a UV manicure.
UNIQUE TWO-STEP SYSTEM
STEP 1: High-intensity, super-fine pigments deliver an outstanding opaque colour. Containing a new generation of resin, Flex-ResinTM, hailed for its second to none flexibility and adhesive properties. Slicked across the nail it creates an indestructible supple mesh that moves with the nails to resist chipping.
STEP 2: Smart magnifying agents crystallise the mesh, effectively curing the colour to a rock-solid surface. The gel formula contains crystal polymers that rise to the polish surface amplifying colour, magnifying shine and plumping nail volume.
ZERO COMPROMISE. COLOUR IS SHINIER AND DEEPER... NAILS ARE PLUMPER FOR UP TO 12 DAYS.
My Thoughts ~My very first thoughts when applying the polish were "its red" and it is, the polish is not fuchsia at all or the corally pink it looks in the bottle, it is red a definite red, but that didn't put me off as I do like red nails, I would just have preferred the colour I thought I'd bought.
I loved how the polish applied the brush is nice and wide and the polish applies really well and with ease, I used 2 coats of the polish which dried quite fast in between coats and then I applied 1 coat of the top coat. I didn't use a separate base and top coat as I wanted to test the polish on its own.
I was really impressed with the finish of the polish, it is super glossy as you may be able to tell from the photographs, it is red and not fuchsia for life but hey ho. I would say this is the first out of all the polishes I've tried that claim to have a gel like finish that actually does have a gel like finish, my nails were super glossy and opaque and looked lovely.
The only thing I wasn't happy with though was the wear time, I only got a couple of days wear out of the polish and within 48 hours my nails were chipped, I've tried the polish a couple of times and the second time I wore it I got more wear time from it but an Essie polish can last me a week and this didn't last anywhere near a week, so I was very disappointed in the wear time. That said I would try more colours in the range purely because of the finish, I really liked the glossy finish I got from the polish and it was really easy to apply so I won't let the wear time put me off I shall just bare it in mind when painting my nails, if I need a polish to last me a few days I shall choose a different polish.
Overall despite being disappointed in the wear time I was impressed with the polish, it applied well, the colour was lovely despite not being what I expected it was still a beautiful shade, and the shine was amazing and a definite gel finish, so I will be buying more of this range, I just hope next time I get the colour I think I'm getting!
I thought I'd include a comparison photograph of actual gel nails with the polish to show how like gel the finish is.
Left pics are a Gelish manicure and Right is the L'oreal Infallible polish
The finish is very similar to a gel manicure and as I said so far the most gel like I've found, I am going to try some more brands 'gel polishes' so watch this space for more reviews.
JANUARY 2015 UPDATE ~ Since writing the post in September, I noticed all the infallible polishes I owned (3) had gone sticky and gloopy and I had to throw them in the bin, this was at the end of November 2014, I had only had 1 of the polishes for 5 weeks. I loved the finish of the polishes and did buy more of them but since they dried up and went gloopy I wanted to update this post. I don't think they are worth the price tag, yes the finish is amazing but the chipping and the way the polishes ended up isn't worth it, I am going to contact L'oreal about it so watch this space.
If you have any comments or questions please leave them below as I always reply to all my comments and questions.
Thank you for reading, much love as always,
Zoe x
