I’m not a beauty blogger, but I do enjoy nail polish, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on some new (to me) products I tried from Londontown USA.

Most of the nail polish that I’ve purchased over the years have been Essie or OPI. Those were the brands I saw in salons and they were easily obtainable at Target and drug stores. I wanted polish that was cruelty-free and 3-free, meaning that they didn’t have the “toxic trio” of dibutyl phthalate (DBP), formaldehyde, and toluene. Both brands met these criteria.

However, earlier this year I learned that Essie and OPI, owned by L’Oreal and Coty, respectively, had both entered the Chinese market. China requires cosmetics companies to submit to animal testing, which meant that these brands were no longer cruelty-free. While I didn’t throw out my nail polish (that would be wasteful), I vowed to stop buying these brands and to find new ones.

I checked out Cruelty-Free Kitty’s nail polish list and other blogs. Somewhere along the way, I heard about Londontown. This brand is not only cruelty-free, but 9-free, which means in addition to the “toxic trio,” its products are also free of formaldehyde resin, camphor, xylene, ethyl tosylamide, parabens, and acetone. (For a skeptical take, read this piece by a Refinery 29 writer who asks if 9-free is a gimmick).

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Londontown’s origin story centers on a family botanical formula called Florium Complex. It’s in every product and supposed to improve the quality of your nails and manicure. Here’s what I tried:

• Lakur Nail color (Lady Luck)
• Kur Protective Top Coat
• Kur Instant Smudge Fix

Application

Here’s how I tested them. I cleaned my nails as I normally would with rubbing alcohol and applied an Essie base coat. (Hey, I have half the bottle left to go.)

I then applied two layers of Lady Luck, which went on pretty opaque. It wasn’t streaky as some nail polish can annoying be.

I’m pretty average at doing my nails. I have graduated from applying light colors only, and will attempt bolder colors. But, results vary. Often, I fuck up a nail with a smudge or dent and have to start over on it.

But that’s what the Instant Smudge Fix is for so, I gave it a try.

Dear reader, it worked. I was amazed.

Here’s what you do: While the smudge is fresh, brush over it several times with Instant Smudge Fix and watch it melt away. It’s as magical as it sounds.

If you have a very deep dent, it may not work as well. But in this test (and other applications later), it worked!

Here’s a before and after photo. See, the dent is gone!

The nail color dried relatively quickly — I wouldn’t say super quick, but respectably quick, and had a glossy finish. The Protective Top Coat (one coat) made it even glossier. Prior to the Londontown top coat, I used Essie’s Gel Setter top coat. They’re similar in glossy level, but I feel like the Londontown one dried faster, though I can’t be sure.

Results

Here’s my fresh manicure. (Don’t look too close; I’m still practicing.)

Around the fourth day, it started to chip around the edges of my index finger.

By the seventh day, it looked like this:

That’s pretty good for me. Usually, my manicures are destroyed within a week. This lasted longer than the usual home manicure and about the same length of time as a salon manicure. Considering that I have middling nail-painting skills and applied the coats thicker than they should have been, this is actually pretty great. Maybe it would have lasted even longer if I used all Londontown products, including the base coat.

Though this brand is pricey (a regular nail color goes for $16), I think it’s worth it. It’s made in the USA too. I’m currently coveting this mauve color and curious about their Kur Gel Genius Top Coat. I’ve found Londontown to be the highest-quality, longest-lasting nail polish out of all the brands I’ve tried (not that I’ve tried a lot, but I’ve sampled about 7 to 8 brands).