Nails inc vs Leighton Denny vs OPI

[sharonk]

I have some OPI and love them but find their colours on Q a bit boring.
I have quite a few nails inc polishes, undercoat, top coat and the gel effect under and top coats.

At the weekend I painted my mums nails with Leighton Denny undercoat, colour and top coat. I thought in for a penny, in for a pound and did mine whilst I was there.
wow, am I impressed. My nails feel like glass, the colour ( meet me on Venus) is gorgeous and my nails feel strong but here's the thing.
Mum bought 4 colours of LD in M&S at Christmas. When I was looking ( and messing with) the colours I couldn't help but notice the viscosity ( is that how you spell it) wasn't consistent. They were all plain colours, no glitter or as my mum calls it " sillyness" but one of the darker colours wasn't easy to use yet the one I used just glided on.
Has anyone noticed this with any of theirs?
Could it be that it had been sat on the shelf in the shop a long time? Or that she has a duff one?

 

[whitesnake]

I have some OPI and love them but find their colours on Q a bit boring.
I have quite a few nails inc polishes, undercoat, top coat and the gel effect under and top coats.

At the weekend I painted my mums nails with Leighton Denny undercoat, colour and top coat. I thought in for a penny, in for a pound and did mine whilst I was there.
wow, am I impressed. My nails feel like glass, the colour ( meet me on Venus) is gorgeous and my nails feel strong but here's the thing.
Mum bought 4 colours of LD in M&S at Christmas. When I was looking ( and messing with) the colours I couldn't help but notice the viscosity ( is that how you spell it) wasn't consistent. They were all plain colours, no glitter or as my mum calls it " sillyness" but one of the darker colours wasn't easy to use yet the one I used just glided on.
Has anyone noticed this with any of theirs?
Could it be that it had been sat on the shelf in the shop a long time? Or that she has a duff one?

I have lots of both Leighton Denny and Nails INC. Personally I prefer the Nails Inc as I don't think they chip as quickly. Leightons can tend to be a bit on the thick side and don't give as even coverage IMO. It is very interesting that the ones in M&S seemed to be of a different consistency. Maybe as you say they had been sat on the shelf a while. It might be worth emailing Leighton Dennys company and asking their opinion.

 

[thatu]

I've never bought nail stuff from QVC so can't compare but maybe someone here can. Which of the 3 brands gives the best coverage and which of the many products protects the nails from drying out/chipping/whatever ? Thanks for a great question, btw.

 

[spartacus]

I preferred opi for ease of application, coverage and staying power and is what I chose to do a proper manicure , ie took time to do it properly. For a quick result ill use nails inc for speed. Not keen on leighton Denny, inconsistent consistency and they peeled off my nails though did have a high gloss finish. I now only buy cruelty free brands so use Spa Ritual (new collections every season) or m&s autograph

 

[Vikki]

I agree that I found nails inc lasted much longer on the nail, at least 4 weeks on toes and up to 10 days on fingers especially with 2 coats of the caviar top coat. I found LD thick with the darker colours taking an age to dry and many were streaky too. OPI was ok but didn't wear as well as Nails Inc even with the same top coat. I haven't worn nail polish for nearly a year as I purely wear gels but if I had to choose a polish id choose nails inc for the colour range, ease of application and longevity.

 

[donna255]

Essie for me. I only paint my toe nails and Essie always lasts the longest without chipping. Butter London are brilliant but far more expensive and hard to get sometimes.

I do use the Nails Inc top and base coat as they were on offer at the time.

 

[srhgts]

I love the LD colours but I find they chip muuuch quicker than NI or OPI. They're also often thin and inconsistent, wouldn't buy them again personally. OPI are my favourite of the three, I also find Essie and Jessica to be good quality.

 

[NIKKID]

Dont rate LD at all. Prefer OPI for a longer lasting finish but colours/nail art finishes for Nails Inc are more fun.

 

[SparkleyAndrea]

I have all three brands too but by far my favourite is OPI and that's really for the longevity as well as the colours. I usually get a week with OPI and only 3 days or so with Nails Inc and LD. I always use Nail envy as a base and Seche Vite as a top coat (all from QVC). I think it depends what colours you want but I have some really lovely ones from OPI (my collection is around 100 oops) but i also like the far out colours from Nails Inc. If i want a flash colour and am not worried about how long it will last (as long as it lasts for the night) then I don't worry which of the 3 I use. In my opinion if you use a good base and top coat and your nails are decent most polish will last.

 

[Akimbo]

just my humble opinion...

Leighton's polishes are inconsistent in consistency. Some of his colours won't dry, even allowing an hour between thin coats so there's definitely a variation in their quality. The worst being any "made for a TSV" pastel and nude shades. The colours from the core range tend to be better but the mini bottles go thick and unusable very quickly. Of the QVC brands OPI are reliably good, but watch out for repeat colours under new names. Being a hoarder, and because OPI polishes stay usable, I have ones going back 15 years and obviously there are only so many colours because they do repeat polishes. My all time favourite range was the Summer For Shore (2003) including Sanderella, Crim-sun, Blue Moon Lagoon etc which are amazing pastel holographic lacquers which they later developed into the more expensive designer series. If you see one on ebay "just buy" (as Dirty Peter would say) because there's every chance it'll still be perfect. Mine are still going strong, I tend to save them for holidays as they look amazing in the sun (Leighton's holographics (2013) are pretty good too, hope he does more of these).

My oldest polish was a Cutex "Sable" (soft gold), I bought 4 bottles cheap in 1985 when Cutex first withdrew from the UK market (they've been back and withdrawn at least one more time since then), my last bottle finally ran out in 2012...end of an era!

My most recent purchase was from BidTV; I got 8 x Revlon Chroma polishes for £12.98 delivered and they're beautiful 2-tone metallics which apply and wear well.

Nails Inc creme polishes are good, but their pearl, shimmer and metallics are a bit hit and miss. Again they duplicate colours and reuse names which can be a little frustrating; they can't have exhausted the London A-Z already! I'm a bit sick of all the gritty glitters and textured effects, but if you buy a peel off polish (Andrea Fullerton at Superdrug may still sell them) and apply glitters over this they are easy to remove without sitting wrapped in tinfoil. The snowflake polish they sold this Xmas was pretty over any colour.

My final note all polishes wear longer and apply smoother over Red Carpet Manicure (or any sort of overlay or gel coat) which has meant that even the worst varnishes in my collection are being used again. I don't use RCM colours, just apply and cure a base & top coat leaving me free to change my colours as often as I like or leave it on until it starts growing out.

 

[thatu]

Wow! So many replies so quickly - thank you, everyone! Sorry for the interruption, but hope the thread can continue from where I hijacked it.

 

[AndiK]

... I couldn't help but notice the viscosity ( is that how you spell it) wasn't consistent. They were all plain colours, no glitter or as my mum calls it " sillyness" but one of the darker colours wasn't easy to use yet the one I used just glided on.
Has anyone noticed this with any of theirs?
Could it be that it had been sat on the shelf in the shop a long time? Or that she has a duff one?

Akimbo echoed my thoughts on Leighton Denny polishes - the consistency is inconsistent! I will do a manicure with one colour and get on with it really well, decide I am only going to use LD from now on, and then use a different bottle/colour of his which really lets me down. I have a massive, massive nail polish collection, 90% of which are LD, Nails Inc and OPI so I can compare. Overall, I think LD polishes are my favourite simply because (a) I love his shows on QVC and (b) most of my all-time favourite colours are his. But the inconsistency thing is annoying.

I agree with what others say about the light pastels/opaques being streaky but then I find that with similar colours in other ranges.

Sharonk, I think it would be interesting to see what response you get from Leighton Denny Expert Nails or the man himself. It's fair to say you are not the only one who has found some inconsistency.

 

[Beketaten]

I don't rate Nails Inc at all. I find they chip really easily and cheaper brands like Revlon, No7 or Barry M last a lot longer. I think Leighton Denny does the best treatments, but agree the polishes are inconsistent, but lovely and interesting colours. OPI is my favourite, but QVC have quite a poor selection.

 

[Nutsville]

I'm in the minority here as I prefer Leighton Denny with 90% of my collection being his. I also use Red Carpet Manicure with LD over the top. I've never had a problem with coverage, if the 1st layer is a bit streaky the 2nd sorts it out, but I agree some of his polishes go a bit thick. This isn't a problem as I've always got a bottle of As Good As New, which you put a few drops in (well I had to use 3 pipettes full for a 5 year old bottle of polish) shake well and let it sit for an hour before use. Even using several pipettes worth the bottle lasts for ever (I'm only on my 2nd bottle in 5 years!). I did have a couple of bottles that I couldn't rescue, but these had been left out and the sun got to them, but I've not had a problem since storing them in a dark draw. OPI never even lasted a day with me and Nails Inc caused a reaction with my skin, although I have no idea why and have tried several times with the same result.

 

[AndiK]

I'm in the minority here as I prefer Leighton Denny with 90% of my collection being his. I also use Red Carpet Manicure with LD over the top. I've never had a problem with coverage, if the 1st layer is a bit streaky the 2nd sorts it out, but I agree some of his polishes go a bit thick. This isn't a problem as I've always got a bottle of As Good As New, which you put a few drops in (well I had to use 3 pipettes full for a 5 year old bottle of polish) shake well and let it sit for an hour before use. Even using several pipettes worth the bottle lasts for ever (I'm only on my 2nd bottle in 5 years!). I did have a couple of bottles that I couldn't rescue, but these had been left out and the sun got to them, but I've not had a problem since storing them in a dark draw. OPI never even lasted a day with me and Nails Inc caused a reaction with my skin, although I have no idea why and have tried several times with the same result.

Nutsville, interesting what you say about using thinners like As Good As New. I have tried this, as well as an Orly one I got from Amazon (better value as bigger bottle and I used an LD dropper to add it to the polish). I have not had much success sadly. It definitely thinned the polish (using a lot more than the recommended 2-3 drops - like you, I needed a whole pipette full at least). But manicures using the thinned stuff take forever to dry. I am sure it would take ages without thinning as gloopy polish is slow to dry of course, but you would think the thinned polish would dry quickly. Any more tips, apart from leaving it an hour before using, which I have not tried?

 

[Anna]

I use OPI, Nails Inc and some Leighton Denny. Nails Inc are probably my favourite as I like all the different colours that you can get. Having said that I find that their pastel colours quite often are streaky and chalky - not sure if chalky is the right word, but they don't go on as well as other colours from the range that are darker. The Leighton Denny colours that I own have all been ok in their consistency, but I don't have huge numbers of his colours, as I find that his range is a little on the safe side for me - I do like my brights, and I just don't get the Supermodel hype. OPI has the best consistency and the best brush for applying. I am not fussed on the Nails Inc bottle as I find the lid too big and a little awkward in comparison with the OPI brush. So basically OPI for the best consistency and bottle design, and Nails Inc for the colours. I use Nails Inc top coat but if anyone has a recommendation for a good base coat please say, as my nails do get stained with red colours, and I find that the OPI base coat and Nails Inc base coat just don't work on these colours. I also like the Barry M range which is great with an excellent range of colours.

 

[Dips]

OPI is my favourite, have tried both LD and Nails Inc, but would never buy the latter again, chips really quickly on me. I'm interested in Donna's comment on Butter London as I've seen these in TK Maxx often but didn't know the brand, if I see a colour I like now, I'll definitely try it.

I do use RCM on my fingernails but I must have really, really misshapened feet, as not matter how I try, I can't get a cure on the gel on my smallest toe nail.

 

[AndiK]

... (1) Being a hoarder, and because OPI polishes stay usable, I have ones going back 15 years
(2) If you see one on ebay "just buy" (as Dirty Peter would say) because there's every chance it'll still be perfect.
(3) My most recent purchase was from BidTV; I got 8 x Revlon Chroma polishes for £12.98 delivered and they're beautiful 2-tone metallics which apply and wear well.
(4) Nails Inc creme polishes are good, but their pearl, shimmer and metallics are a bit hit and miss. Again they duplicate colours and reuse names which can be a little frustrating; they can't have exhausted the London A-Z already!
(5) I'm a bit sick of all the gritty glitters and textured effects, but if you buy a peel off polish (Andrea Fullerton at Superdrug may still sell them) and apply glitters over this they are easy to remove without sitting wrapped in tinfoil.

I love discussing nail polish obsessions! We should start up NPOA (Nail Polish Obsessives Anonymous)!

Anyway, sorry to chop your post about but wanted to comment on a few points:

(1) Glad I'm not the only one with a few ageing polishes in my collection. I am sure I have one from the late 1980s!
(2) Who's Dirty Peter?
(3) The Revlon set sounds lovely. Do BidTV often do nail polish? Or maybe don't tell me as I have too many!
(4) Nails Inc have definitely not exhausted the A-Z of street names. They need to venture east a bit as most of the City street names are unused.
(5) Love the idea of peeling off nail varnish when there's glitter involved. Is the Andrea Fullerton stuff any good? Does it peel off before you actually want it to or does it last a few days?

 

[iloveshopping]

5. I can't get the Andrea Fullerton to last more than 24 hours. With glitter polish over it the whole lot chips/peels within 24 hours.

 

[AndiK]

5. I can't get the Andrea Fullerton to last more than 24 hours. With glitter polish over it the whole lot chips/peels within 24 hours.

That's not good. Might be ok if just for a special occasion (under 24 hours) though?