Champneys Blush, Nails Inc Leicester Square, MaxFactor Diva Violet and Mac Rougemarie
If you ask us, it's nail varnish, not diamonds that are a girl's best friend! After all, diamonds don't really come around often enough to qualify for that on-trend treat. Nail varnish, however, is always there when you need a little beauty pick-me-up.
Whether it's nude, lilac or jade, each season brings a new must-have colour. But with so many beauty brands offering products, it can be hard to know which will keep its shine, remain chip-free and come off without leaving a stain. Luckily for you, the MyDaily team took it upon ourselves to test every brand we could get our hands on (yeah, we know - hard life!). After weeks of diligently repainting our nails every three days, there were clear winners and sadly a few disappointments. Check out our top buys below and see the full gallery to guide your next polish purchase.
The winners are:
Best All-round Performer: Champneys
Price: £5
It was easy to apply; each coat barely took a minute to dry. Nails kept their salon shine for over four days, and toenails were still perfect after ten. Our tester described it as "the best polish I've ever used".
Best Gift: Nails Inc
Price: £15
The polish performed well; a fab colour that remained chip-free for three or four days, and who could resist the diamanté-embellished bottle?
Best High Street Brand:MaxFactor
Price: £3.49
The polish was a great consistency and easy to remove. The colour is both unusual and striking, and particularly suits dark skins. The price is a bonus, too!
Best Splurge: MAC
Price: £8
The bright red shade not only looks fantastic, it came through in just one coat. It held its shine really well, so there was no need for a top coat to get that extra gloss. The drying time was really fast and it didn't chip easily. An exceptional nail polish.
Take a look through our gallery below to see how the rest of the polishes fared and check out Sophy Robson's - fashion's go-to nail artist - top tips on how to get the perfect manicure at home.
Tried and Tested: Nail polish
Brand: Essie
Colour: Van D'Go
Price £8.95, essie.com
Rating: Average - This is a great colour for the summer. It lasted for three or four days without chipping, however its thick consistency made it quite difficult to apply. It needed three coats to avoid it looking streaky.
Brand: ElegantTouch Professional
Colour: Garnet Red
Price: £4.64, eleganttouch.co.uk
Rating: Poor - Two coats were applied, each took two minutes to dry and it was easy to remove. It was very difficult to apply however and looked very streaky. It did last longer than I expected and was still wearable on the third day.
Brand: L'Oréal Resist and Shine
Colour: Pink Sherbet
Price: £4.99, boots.com
Rating: Average - Only took a minute or two to dry after two coats, and it's a gorgeous colour that kept its shine. However, it started to wear a little on the tips after a few days, not after seven days, as the bottle says.
Brand: Nars
Colour: Dovima
Price: £13, nars.co.uk
Rating: Great - A fabulous dark red colour, but more suited for winter. Easy to apply using two coats and nails were left stain free, despite it being a dark shade. A more expensive polish, but worth the money.
Brand: No7
Colour: Beanie
Price: £7.25, boots.com
Rating: Great - A perfect shade of grey, it was easy to apply and remove. It remained chip free for at least three days.
Brand: Dior
Colour: Poppy
Price £16, houseoffraser.co.uk
Rating: Great - A brilliant, bright colour! It only needed one coat and still had a shiny finish. It was easy to remove, but because it was so resistant, the nails did require a proper cleaning for a non stain result.
Brand: O.P.I
Colour: Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It
Price: £9.95, lookfantastic.com
Rating: Great - After two coats, it was a little streaky, but it dried quickly and had a high shine. It was easy to remove and didn't stain the nails. A great colour too!
Brand: Revlon
Colour: Minted
Price £6.29, boots.com
Rating: Average - Three coats needed to be applied before it looked like the colour in the bottle, but the drying time was surprisingly fast for a polish that has such a thick consistency. Despite the extra layer, it was easy to remove.
Brand: Zoya
Colour: Nephratti
Price: £8.95, buyorganics.com
Rating: Average - Only one coat needed, it was easy to apply and had a great shine. It chipped after only a day and a half however.
Brand: Estée Lauder
Colour: Amythest
Price: £12, esteelauder.co.uk
Rating: Average - A few coats were required before it started to look like the colour in the bottle, however it didn't stain the nails and looked great once dry.