Berry Nice

I have never really been a fan of dark polishes. It used to be associated with the "goth" crowd but over the past few years, celebrities like Hilary Duff, Fergie and Ashlee Simpson can be seen wearing this trend even with formal attire. Although I am not brave enough to wear black polish, I have ventured into the berry/purple shades. This is a big step for me as I usually wear sheer pink or nude colours and only last year ventured into bright red for the toes. During my trip to Vancouver, I was a maid of honour with a deep purple gown. We bought OPI's Jewel of India which was a perfect match to my dress. I was quite amazed that it looked so nice so I went in search for some other berry/purple polishes.

I found Rimmel Underground's new polishes had great reviews so I went out and purchased #430 Hard Edged and #420 Rave.

These are the first nail polishes that I have purchased from Rimmel. I am quite impressed with the quality as they dry quite quickly to a shiny/glossy finish. The brush design is flat and wide (like OPI's new Pro-wide brush introduced in 2006) which makes it very easy to apply the polish in a few quick strokes. The formula isn't clumpy or goopy so it makes it easy to give yourself a professional looking manicure or pedicure. With the darker colours, I would recommend 2-3 coats for best results and I would follow up with a top coat of clear polish after a few days to keep up the shiny top coat.

Hard Edged (pictured above or bottom left) is unassuming in the bottle but on your hands, it is a bold and chic blackened purple with lots of brown, red, plum shimmer with green and gold popping through in the right lighting. Just look at the collage of pictures I made above. These pictures are all of my bottle but just in different lighting and angles. I tried to capture various angles so you can see the complexity. You can definitely see the dark purple, green, gold, and blackened shimmer in these pictures. I am quite happy to have this colour in my collection (which is basically all nude pinks and a red and a few bright pinks/corals...so if I can get into this shade, anyone can).

Rave (pictured top right and in the collage) is a beautiful berry. While it is not as complex as Hard Edged, it is a beautiful berry / blackened burgundy with shimmer and lots of shine. Two-three coats is all you need for gorgeous nails. As you can see in the picture, I kept my nails short and rounded to pull off this look.

Oh and did I mention Rimmel's playfast polishes dry FAST? Much faster then Revlon, Salley Hansen, Revlon, and Maybelline. This stuff dries so fast that I was waiting around after doing my nails trying not to mess them up when I jammed my hand in something 5 minutes after applying and expected my nail to be damaged but they were completely dry and not damaged so I was quite impressed!

Also, the next day after I applied this polish for the first time, I went on a long and strenuous hike in Whistler, B.C. where you need to climb over rocks and grab onto branches and dirt to make your way up the steep mountain. Half-way up the mountain I regretted giving myself a manicure the day before because I thought it would just be "chip city". There is a part where you need to grab onto metal chains to prevent falling off the mountain and climb up ladders etc. While I may have been dirty, my nails were in great shape and no chipping whatsoever!!! Quite impressed. This never would happen with Revlon polish. Two-three coats is all you need for gorgeous nails.

Overall: I am very impressed by these polishes. The formula is great, they don't chip, they dry fast and I love the colour. I would definitely buy more nailpolishes from Rimmel.

Price: The best part is I picked these up for $3.99 Canadian but the price varies so you can get it even cheaper. These are comparable to OPI in my opinion and I am in love with both colours.