Collection 2000 Lasting Colour Nailvarnish - Vixen Red

I have been doing a lot of nail varnish posts at the moment...I think I have gone a bit nailvarnish mad.  I am blaming this though on the sudden influx of gel-nailvarnishes that are flooding the high street at the moment.

I am an absolute sucker for a shiny nail, always have been, always will be.  So these new generation of nailvarnishes are temptation in a bottle for me.

My latest purchase has been the Collection 2000 Lasting Gel Colour varnish in 'Vixen Red'.  I'm trying to be a good girl money-wise at the moment, so this seemed a good compromise to quieten the little shopping voices in my head, seeing as it was only £3.18. £3.18!! Cosmetics under a fiver always fill me with joy.

Regular followers of my blog will know I have about a hundred variations of this dark wine-red colour, but this one offered to be shinyyyy!! Sold.

I must admit, for the price tag, I was impressed with this product.  I don't normally like to say "for the price..." as I am a bit uncompromising and fussy with my cosmetics, but in this case it definitely applies.

For £3.18 you get....

1. A brush that is nice and wide, and fans out well on your nail, meaning you can actually cover it in one or two swipes.  I love wider brushes, I think they are the secret to an even coverage, so this ticked a big box for me. 
2. You get decent colour coverage.  I say decent because it doesn't match up to the coverage you get with the No.7 gel nailvarnishes, which in my opinion are SO good (see my blogpost here) but for a dark nailvarnish, it doesn't go on too weak or watery. I'll be honest, I preferred this once it had had 3 coats, and I did what I normally do when I 3-coat it up, I apply two before bed then a third in the morning, as I find it dries better.
3. You get a decent sized bottle. Collection 2000 have always made cheap but quality nailvarnishes, but they are normally teeny tiny.  This is a proper decent sized bottle, which will last.

So, photo time...

These are my lovely little nails after two coats of the nail varnish and no top coat

And here are those same bad boys after a 3rd coat and a clear top coat

I think the 'shine' of the varnish on its own is pretty good.  I haven't yet found a gel nail varnish that doesn't look better with a clear top coat, but then as I have said, I am all about the glossy finish. I think that for a £3.18 nailvarnish with a £1.20 Miss Sporty clear top coat, the bottom photo looks a lot more luxury than what I paid.

The varnish lasted well too.  It didn't last 10 days as promised on the bottle, but this is because I am an impatient little lady and I can't be dealing with one nail colour for 10 days.  Plus I bite my nailvarnish off (dirty habit I know) so 10 days just ain't going to happen in my world.

But for reference here are my nails 3 days later....

Oooo, pretty (cheeky little leg in there too!)

Summing up on this product, I'd say it is a decent nail varnish for a really good price.  My only issue is the amount of layers it needs to get good colour depth, but for half the price of the No.7 one I can't really moan about having to do an extra layer.

The colour spectrum for this range is also a bit more commited than other brands.  They do a really nice range of nude/taupes which I've seen other bloggers review and they look really high end.  There is also a really nice poppy red and a gentle coral which will look amazing in the summer. I am going to go out and buy the crystal clear, as I've seen lots of good reviews about it as a glossy top coat, and I haven't dabbled yet in using a gel top coat (it makes sense though?) I'll keep you updated, but in the meantime, happy shopping!x