Super Quick Polish Removal With Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover - Hmmm

Hopefully by now you've realised that I'm one of those people that always succumbs to the hype in the end. In the online beauty community certain products become the "it" item that you need to buy,one of the most recent products to fall into this category is the Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover.

If you've been reading LouLouLand for a little while you'll know that I'm pretty particular when it comes to nail polish remover, quite frankly the smell of some removers on the market makes me physically sick. I've found 2 removers that I can cope with and that do the job - Leighton Denny's rather pricey lavender fragranced aroma and this one from the Superdrug stable but I'm always willing to try new polish remover and this one has some pretty big claims, so I thought I'd give it a go and I added it to my Boots basket.

This polish remover has been marketed as a new concept in nail polish removal but straight away I have to disagree. Look in any supermarket, chemist, discount store or on ebay and you'll find a myriad of similar products from Sally Hansen, Pretty Quik and various other manufacturers. The design is a simple and practical one, basically the product consists of a small tub containing a sponge impregnated with nail polish remover.

To remove the polish all you do it stick your finger into the slot and give it a wiggle and the polish should start to dissolve. As I say I've tried a few similar products on the market including the Sally Hansen version, and this differs in a couple of ways first up the sponge is black, that means it looks neater and cleaners when you use, and secondly the sponge seems to be slightly better quality than some of the others I've tried, some of the sponges start to disintegrate and leave residue after a few uses, so far so good I've used it about 8 times since I got it (8 manicures not fingers) and I've only noticed a few particles of black more recently when I've been using glitter polishes (more on that later).

The remover is acetone and paraben free, and contains sweet almond oil to moisturise the nails, unlike some other polish remover post and pads though your fingers aren't left that oily or sticky so you don't desperately feel as though you need to wash your hands. Another major selling point of the remover is the smell, like all polish removers there is the initial hit of chemicals, but that dies down to a very pleasant almost raspberry ripple ice cream smell.

Now you know how it feels and how it smells, you need to now how it works, I've done a few before and after pictures so you can see how well it works - first up this is Look - Kimono, a pretty pigmented almost metallic shade after 4 days wear. On my nails were two coats of the polish and one coat of nail strengthener - The after pictures were taken purely after using the remover, I haven't used a cotton bud around the cuticles or washed my hands

Before

After

Well as you can it did the job really well, all the polish came off and there is no whiteness or dryness on the nails, but and here's the but Bourjois claim that this is a 1 second remover and you can remove one nail per second - erm no way! I spent over 20 second on each nail, maybe if you have one thin coat of polish on with no base coat or top coat it would take 1 second but for the average manicure it will definitely take longer. Removing normal polish apart from the time claim I have to say was a success, but how did it handle glitter? Here are my nails with two coats of Models Own - Disco Mix, and one coat of nail strengthener, same rules and last time no touch ups or hand washing

Before

After

Well it got the majority off, you can see the old glitter particle floating about, but it did pretty well. Again it took longer than 1 second per nail some particularly stubborn fingers took nearly a minute. The abrasion of the glitter on the sponge also lead to a few tiny pieces of sponge coming away on my fingers, this is only to be expected I guess and as I say the sponge in this remover does seem to be of better quality then some of the previous ones I've tried.

So does this product live up to the hype, well I have to be honest and say no. The concept as I say isn't new, there are lots of similar products on the market, that to be honest retail for a lot less than this one. I'm lead to believe Home Bargains has a decent dupe for less than £2 which I'm going to try and track down. Don't get me wrong I think it does the job especially when it comes to glitter polish that can be a pain when you try to remove it with cotton wool, and I love the smell but the 1 second claim just doesn't ring true, in my experience it certainly takes a bit more time and effort than that. My final criticism isn't really directed at Bourjois in particular, it's more directed at these removers in general - what about your toes??? it is impossible to remove your toe nail polish with these things, your toes just aren't long enough to fit in the pot ;) what does that mean? well you either have to buy a bottle of nail polish remover or you have to fork out for an expensive pedicure. In short I like this, it does the job but I doesn't live up to the hype and I probably wouldn't repurchase. Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover 75ml retails at around £4.99. Have you tried this product, I'd love to know what you think and I'd love to know if you've tried any of the alternatives and what your favourite nail polish remover is?