NAILS INC.

New "nail" kid, on the South African block, is nails inc. from the UK and was launched recently in selected Edgars and Red squares around South Africa . Nails inc. was founded in 1999 by a London fashion editor Thea Green, who saw a gap in the market for a much needed range of fashionable, luxurious, salon quality range of nail products.

Thea's fashion background was pivotal in the development of nails inc. and continues to be so even today. Fashion trends are reflected in the range of colours and several special effect products like, magnetic, crackle, 3D glitter, concrete, leather and I must not forget to make mention of their nail jewellery. Another distinct feature of the nails inc range are the names of the nail colours , as they all reflect famous London destinations e.g. Baker Street, Kensington Park, Carnaby Street and Pall Mall, just to name a few.

Nearly fifteen years later, nails inc. has become a very successful nail bar chain in the UK with over 60 nail bars and is infamous for its 15 minute manicure and their extensive range of products is now available internationally.

As you will already know, my polish of choice, would be either from Essie or Trind, but I recently bought a Taupe colour, which I have been looking for ages, from nails inc. called Basil Street. The outer packaging, the round bottle is simple and nothing fancy, but its the contents that I am more interested in....

Immediately I loved the length and width of the applicator brush, which was easy to handle and made the applying of the varnish a pleasure rather than a chore, which for me it sometimes can be, if the width and length are not balanced. The polish glided on evenly and the coverage was good, even with one coat, but I am a two or three coat kinda girl, which only added to the overall professional finish of my own manicure. What was noticeable, was the speed at which the polish dried and is an important feature in our hectic lives. As for the "chip ability" of the varnish, well...it was excellent, as I really put it through its paces and it passed with flying "London" colours!

Priced at R110, but judging by its performance on my nails over the past week, it's worth every rand!

Visit their website nails inc.  which has a great "try it on" feature, where you can view each polish on four different skin tones .