Seventeen Diamond In The Rough

Hello lovelies! I have a slightly controversial polish for you all today. This was another impulse buy from Boots whilst in Bournemouth (oh I DEFINITELY made the most of the 3 for 2 offer!)… It was a curiosity purchase, as I’ve now seen so many brands doing similar things and I’ve been hoping for a while that one might just make it work. I think Seventeen just…might!

I’m talking Barry M Sequins, Nails Inc Beaded, Essie Belugaria… of them all I liked Belugaria best and this one is practically a dupe at half the price. I know this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but see what you think. It’s really grown on me! Behold the Seventeen Rock Hard X-treme Nail Effects in Diamond in the Rough.

Okay. I really like this. Some of you probably don’t but I really think Seventeen have made a good go of what seems to have become somewhat of a questionable trend. (Can it really be a trend when nobody likes it?! lol). I feel like the idea of this type of textured polish is to look edgy and punky, with a teeny tiny bit of glam where the glitter peeks through. And I do honestly feel like Diamond in the Rough encompasses that… it’s certainly a lot less clumpy than others I’ve tried, especially Barry M Sequins (sorry Barry M).

I think the crucial difference is the ratio of glitter/grit to actual polish. This one seems a lot more liquid than the others I’ve tried, which makes all the difference. The base is a crelly black, which is largely opaque at one coat and dries to a slightly dull finish. Then there’s the grit (?) which does come out in uneven quantities, see pinkie finger for reference. Finally there’s holographic hexes, again at uneven quantities, but that doesn’t bother me personally.

Application:

I must stress that there is a knack to applying this polish! I would suggest you first get a feel for how to apply it first on bare nails or toes or swatch sticks before sticking it on over freshly-painted base-coat (there’s nothing more annoying than having to start over!). The basic method is to load up the brush with more polish than you’d normally use, then try to paint in 1-2 slow, gentle, controlled strokes of the brush. Try to roll your finger over to make painting down the sides easier (am I making sense?). You want to sort of dab the brush a little as you go so that you don’t just drag all the pigment and grit and glitter along with the brush. Despite all this it’s not actually that hard to apply – it’s tricky to explain but it’s actually pretty easy.

In terms of the formula, the base is relatively opaque however depending on how you apply the polish it may be streaky or uneven. You want to avoid adding a second coat as that’s when it gets chunky and not very attractive! I would recommend applying one coat over a black polish. It does dry very very quickly so try not to go back over it as you would a normal polish. I haven’t tried adding a topcoat but I think you’d be there for a while trying to get a smooth finish!

Despite the fiddlyness, I really really like this polish, and I do feel the need to congratulate Seventeen on making the best formula for this look I’ve yet come across. And for £3.99 (compared to Essie Belugaria’s £7.99) it’s a much easier texture to swallow (um… not sure how to wangle that phrase into the situation!).

It’s definitely not for glitter-dislikers, and not for anyone hoping for easy application… but on the plus side, it jazzes up any dark tired manicure if you add it as a topper, and you could even wear it as an accent nail.

What do you reckon… will you be trying this? 🙂