17 Rock Hard Nail Effects: Textured Nails Review

This past couple of months has seen an expolsion of textured nail polish's hit the nail blogging community. I personally love the look and from the swatches I've seen I think Nails Inc -Leather Effect is incredible. Leather on my nails? Oh, go on then. Nails Inc knows me too well. However, at £19 a pop (although you do get some skull nail decorations in the set...very tempting) it's a little steep on the price range. 

With that in mind I give you Rock Hard Nail Effects by Seventeen, a Boots own brand. This collection claims to give you Matt finish 'gritty' textured nails in two coats. And for only £3.99 each that's a lot more purse friendly to me! At the minute Boots have an offer on all Seventeen cosmetics; buy one get one half price. Bargain.

 Here is Black and Grey from this collection.

Black

To me this could almost be a dupe for Nails Inc - Leather Effect. I realise there are differences in the shine and 'grittyness' but from afar, would you really be able to tell the difference? I absolutely love this polish. It's perfect for leather-jacket-wearing type girls such as myself. Application was great and it was opaque in two coats.

Read on for more pictures..

Horribly flaky nails but I'm going to post anyway!

First things first, you probably shouldn't read this post if you have a phobia of awful nails and cuticles!

I have to apologise for the horrific state of them at the mo. They've been splitting something rotten recently so I had to cut them all down *cue sad face* My thumb and pointing finger are particularly bad.  As this is my first nail post I thought I'd do something simple so decided on a bright skittle and a pastel skittle.

Thumb to pinkie: Jester (George at Asda), Coral (Barry M), Spring Green (Barry M), Shocking pink (Barry M), Cyan Blue (Barry M).

I used three coats of Jester and two of everything else. I wasn't a massive fan of this; I think it was because the Jester and Coral were too similar so I decided to redo the index coral finger with Nail Confusion by George at Asda. I also added Models Own Pink Fizz to my ring finger.

I then used a coat of Rimmel Pro Matte Topcoat and I love the look!

Thumb to Pinkie: Unnamed Lilac, (OPI), Lemon Drop (Rimmel), Shade 5 (MUA), Oyster Pink (Rimmel).

I also did a layer of Rimmel Pro Matte Topcoat over this (did I tell you I love this stuff!) but I'm so impatient and smudged it. Definitely need to work on the waiting part of nail art.

As you can tell by my pictures, my cuticles are in need for some TLC so I sent Mr D (the boyfriend) to get me some Lush's Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter (or the 'Buttery Fluttery Lemony Thingie' as he asked the shop assistant; luckily she understood!). I've read rave reviews about this stuff and I've got to say it smells A-MA-ZING! So hopefully I'll have some soft and less flaky cuticles soon enough :)