Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish & Top Coat Duo Pack, 1 oz, Birthday Suit Color

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I was a nail biter for about 15 years of my life and it was super hard to break the habit. It took many years, but I am finally bite free! Ever since I have grown my nails, I have wanted to wear nail varnish as I never got to throughout my childhood and teenage years. As an adult, I love experimenting with different nail polishes. I have only ever tried gel polish once before and I hated it. I remember the fluid being very thick and messy. It looked terrible and just broke off. It wasn't good. I was a bit sceptical when trying the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polish. The Red Eye shade was very similar to my signature shade. I usually wear red and pink tones as I find they compliment my skin and hair tones, plus the formula of red toned polishes seem to be easier to apply. I absolutely loved the shade as it was bright but still a gorgeous shade. The instructions of the product were easy to understand. The box contained a colour along with a top coat. I applied two coats of the red shade after putting on a base coat. The box said that you didn't need a base coat but it feels wrong if I don't do that. The brush shape was large and easy to use. I did make a bit of a mess but it was easy to tidy up with my favourite polish remover pen. The product dried really quickly, but not too quickly. Some nail varnishes dry before you have finished the nail and it leaves streaks, but this product did not do that. I left around 15 minutes between coats but it was actually dry before then, I just wanted to be sure. I had no streaks and left the polish without a top coat for 24 hours. This is because I had guests arrive and didn't want to put it on when they were with me in case it wasn't as quick drying as the colour did. When I put the top coat on the next morning, it dried so quickly and went on very nicely. I did get some on the skin but this washed off after a quick bath. It didn't need to be put under a UV lamp either! I was really pleased with the way my nails looked. It lasted just over a week for me which is fantastic. I am lucky if I can get my nail polish to last five days let alone that length of time! I had a couple of bits come off at the ends of the nails which usually occurs from using sticky tape! I have my hands in water a lot also and I was really pleased that it lasted this long. Overall, I am really happy with the product. It came off easily when I went to remove it. The only negative is that it stained my skin for two days where I made a mess of it. Other than that, it is one I will be purchasing in other shades! What a fabulous product.