After the joy I felt when I first sampled a nail polish from Models Own Sweetshop collection, I couldn't wait to get my hands on more of them. If you're not familiar with them; the entire collection is made to look like and smell like traditional sweets from old fashioned sweet shops. The latest I've added to my collection is Rhubarb and Custard.
Rhubarb and Custard is a gorgeous red almost-jelly-like polish that contains lots and lots of hex glitter. Although in this photo the glitter looks silver in the bottle, on the nail it appears a different shade of red, which is what gives it its 'sugar coated' effect that the sweets it represents display.
I found the formula really easy to work with, it applied evenly over the nail and didn't drag or get too thick or gloopy as some glitter polishes do, but because it's almost a jelly polish I did find that I needed three coats for full opacity. Personally, I don't mind spending a little more time applying an extra layer for the finish to look better, but I know a lot of people get frustrated with it so it's worth noting. Although it did dry very glossy on its own, because I had to use three coats, as well as base coat, I felt the need to apply Seche Vite to help speed up the drying time of all of the layers, I'm just not patient enough to sit and wait for all those coats to dry on their own. Besides that, I have nothing bad to say about the look and application.
As it's a scented polish, and I love the smell of rhubarb and custard sweets, I couldn't wait for it to dry so I could sniff my beautifully sweet nails, but I was so disappointed. Rather than smelling of sugary goodness (or badness, however you want to look at it), I was reminded of burning plastic - not a smell I think you want to walk around with. I got a second opinion and they thought it smelled like fresh rhubarb, but not in a pleasant way. Thankfully the smell does dissipate over time, so your nails aren't going to smell for the entire time you're wearing the polish.
I love the look of my nails with this polish on them, it's just such a shame that the smell has put me off it. Saying that, it hasn't put me off trying out more from the Sweetshop collection so expect to see more scented polishes in the future.
Models Own Rhubarb and Custard nail polish is available online for £4.99.
