For Christmas last year, Liam's sister gifted me some gorgeous UV nail colours to add to my collection. I've previously used CND (the original) and also Bluesky Shellacs, and whilst I find that CND is clearly the best quality of the two, it can get very costly.
The opacity of Bluesky is quite poor, and requires quite a few layers. Once you've managed to get it to the desired thickness however, the quality is quite good and will last a good couple of weeks, chip-free. Unfortunately, it stays on so well that it is an absolute nightmare to remove. I've tried the foil wrap method as well as soaking my nails in pure acetone, and it never seems to turn flakey like it should. For that reason, I avoid using it too often as I can't bear the thought of trying to remove it.
I was excited to test out this CCO brand, which is quite a clear copy of the CND.
As you can see, the boxes and packaging are all quite similar. Unfortunately, that's about where the similarity ends. For my first time testing this brand, I chose a brilliant pink shade, and applied to the whole nail, using about 2 - 3 coats of colour. Whilst it looked great, and had that brilliant shine that comes with UV nail polish, it lasted only 3 days before chipping off!
I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, and tried it again, this time pairing it with a hardier Bluesky polish to achieve this pink tipped look.
Apologies for the bad lighting! It really does look much better in sunlight!
I suppose, as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for! There are plenty of shellac dupes out there at the moment, but for quality you just can't go past the original.
