Femme Fatale Clever Girl Nail Polish – Swatch & Review

You’ll probably have noticed a real lack of nail polish reviews since Christmas, especially in the past 6 weeks. I’ve spent probably the most time since a teenager with unpainted, or worse, chipped nails as it’s been so far down my list of priorities in the run up to the wedding I’ve just neglected the task.  I made my first Indie nail polish haul back in February, and I have worn almost all of them during that time but just haven’t gotten around to photographing them. This one, Femme Fatale Clever Girl is the one I’ve worn the most, and what a clever girl it is.

I’m not a big red wearer, but this one is the perfect off red that has me as close as I’ll normally go. It depends on which way the light hits it but it’s can look like a cherry, raspberry or even coral red depending on the light. Inside the polish is packed with a mixture of bright golden yellow glitter, with a few splashes of yellow holographic glitter as well. It’s pretty and eye-catching and utterly unique within my collection, and that’s before I get to the fact that it’s a thermal polish and changes colour.

I have a few thermal gel polishes which I adore, and having one that’s a bit easier to use quickly is a great option. When this is in it’s colder state, this is the bright red, but on warmer hands this turns a really pale pinky nude and the obviousness of the glitter transitions as it’s no longer contrasting against another bright colour somehow it becomes a lot less noticeable and looks like a more subtle glitter. While I wore this a few weeks ago, just before I had gel put on for my wedding we were in a heatwave in the UK and unless I ran my hands physically under the tap I never saw it red. However while I was wearing it in February and March it transitioned more frequently.

Compared to the gel thermal polishes it seems like this has less of a range that – it’s either cherry or nude. If I compare this to my thermal gels which can create more of a gradient, with I’ve never noticed this in a ‘mid-transition’ state, such as the picture below of a gel polish.

This applies really nicely and glides on the nails well, it’s a two coater and the glitter placement goes on dense and even. There is a little problem in that as Femme Fatale Clever Girl dries it always seems to shrink away from the tips slightly, no base coat or topcoat I’ve tried thus far has helped this stop happening. This is less noticeable when the polish is in it’s nude state, but when it’s red you can kind of notice it if you’re looking, I’m willing to overlook it as it’s such a pretty polish, and one day I’ll discover what the right combination of products this needs to stop this from happening.

I’ve found that this doesn’t have the best wear time either – another reason I can live with the shrinking. It tends to chip on the corners quite quickly, and within 1-2 days it needs removing with most topcoats, the Essie Gel Couture topcoat is the best combination I’ve found from my collection so far which gives around a three day wear.

If you can live with a shorter wear time for the price of a pretty polish, then I totally recommend this, but if you can’t cope with repainting your nails more than once a week then this polish won’t be for you.

Do you have any thermal polishes?

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr

Email: helplesswhilstdrying@gmail.com

Follow: