Nails Inc Feathers - swatch and review

Nails Inc 'Feathers' range is a rather strange and intriguing little collection of polishes. They are a densely packed mix of tiny bar glitter, and I suppose the finished effect on the nail is intended to look like a bird's plumage....

There are four colours in the collection, my pick was Chester, a nice mix of aqua, peach and lemon - the other options in the range were Cornwall (blue and white, which I've reviewed here), Edinburgh (blue and peach) and York (peach and white). I preferred the complexity of the three colour mix.

Here's my finished mani

Nails Inc Feathers - Chester

Overall, I like the effect a lot more than I was expecting. I was aiming for dense coverage, rather than a light sprinkling of glitter (as I'm not terribly fond of bar glitter in principle) so I used three coats over a neutral base (Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Crinoline). I think the colours in Chester work well together, and the finished mani is quite smooth......... but that did take a bit of work! Here's a closer picture:

Now let's talk about the application! I started with an existing neutral mani I'd been wearing for a day or so, and applied one coat of Feathers. As you can see in the pictures below, this stuff is very roughly textured! Another thing is that if you apply with normal brush strokes (from cuticle to nail tip), all the glitters end up pointing in the same direction, and, in my opinion anyway, that looks a bit odd. Easily fixed by varying the direction of the brushstrokes and a bit of dabbing to get a more random application.

Nails Inc Feathers - Chester

I think it looks quite cute at this stage (it reminds me of multi-coloured sugar strands on an iced bun), and I don't think it would be a problem to smooth it out with a few layers of topcoat. Another possibility would be a jelly sandwich......... Today, though, I was interested in getting a dense effect with Feathers on its own. I was concerned that with this level of roughness, when I put on the next coat, all the glitters would pile up and I'd end up with a horrible clumpy mess. So I put another layer of basecoat over the first coat of Feathers and let it dry before adding the next coat. I used basecoat because the one I have to hand dries quite quickly, and I was a bit wary of shrinkage from Seche Vite at this stage. I did the same thing between the second and third coat of Feathers, then applied two coats of Gelous and a very thick coat of Seche Vite. If you look carefully at the close up picture you can see how the bar glitter has sort of  'suspended' in all the base and top coats - I think this effect is quite cool. Clean up consisted of removing a few 'tufts' around the edges of my nails and cuticles with a pair of tweezers after drying, and knocking back a couple of stray strands of glitter on the tips of my nails with a glass file. I'm not sure I'd wear this type of polish without a base - I'm far to fond of a precise edge around the cuticles so I always use a base and layer glitter over it.

So quite a bit of effort to apply, but an interesting and unusual effect. Including the base of Crinoline, the mani is about 14 coats, so my nails are really thick! They look almost like stick-on acrylics! I use a modified version of the foil method for removing a thick, glittery mani like this - maybe I'll do a short post about removal soon :)

Just for completeness, here is the base I started with - Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Crinoline. This is a super slighty cool-toned porcelain pink, all the better for the fact I picked it up by chance in Poundland! Three coats plus Seche Vite. It reminds me of a delicate, shiny, birds egg!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure  in Crinoline

What do you think of the Feathers? Is it worth the effort?

I purchased my bottle of Nails Inc Feathers from the Nails Inc counter at a regional department store; it's available directly from Nails Inc at their website here Nails Inc Shop Feathers