Long-lasting colour, nailed!

Last Wednesday, I hot-footed it into London town for a new long-lasting manicure from revered celebrity manicurist, Tom Bachik.

Having a chat with Tom

Now, I've tried other gel manicures before - I was super-impressed with the Nails Inc 3 Week Manicure but at the time the colour selection was pretty minimal and at a starting price of £55, it's pretty steep. The new Artistic Colour Gloss Gel Polish, however, is more of a hybrid gel manicure. Like a regular polish, it is painted on in thin coats (the gel-infused polish means there's no thick gel topcoat necessary) and the range is kicking off with a nail-biting 38 on-trend colours. Like a gel manicure, it lasts for up to 3 weeks and is dried under a lamp. Oh yes, and here's another twist - other gel manicures use a UV light to dry nails, which can take up to 2 minutes a hand. This manicure, however, applies a 45 watt LED light to the gel, drying nails in a mere 30 seconds.

'Posh' inspired by Posh

The lovely Tom was at the event to chat through the product, and what is so lovely and mighty refreshing, is how palpably excited he is about the launch. In fact, us lucky Brits are getting the manicure first! He also shared some amazing A-list goss...last weekend he was in LA tending to the talons of Victoria Beckham. O.M.G! He casually (and might I say, humbly) went on to say that he had a pyjama party at Jen's that night. Jen who, you might ask? 'Jennifer Lopez.' Oh okay, just a regular sleepover at Jenny from the Block's house then. FYI, he'd done her nails that night too, in a pale nude shade. For the start of the live American Idol shows, he kept that pale base then added a deep red shade on top keeping the half-moon free. Victoria is a hoot, apparently! She must be nice as Tom has even created a shade in her honour. 'Posh' is a suits-all nude shade, the perfect colour to match every single one of her Birkin bags then.

Needless to say, the starting colour selection is impressive and the great news is seasonal collections will launch each year. For my mani, I chose 'Vogue' a gold-flecked 'grauve' shade (a word I've coined for a grey/mauve combo). I'm 6 days in and there are no chips or flakiness to be found, plus the colour is as shiny as day one - a great youth-booster! I will be keeping a photo diary, as below, over the next couple of weeks to monitor my mani. The Artistic Colour Gloss Polish starts from £25 - to find out more, go to http://www.louellabelle.co.uk/ Sx

Day 1

Day 3



Day 5