When I first saw these polishes in the drugstore this week, my first thought was, “Yay! Sally Hansen decided not to do away with their square bottles!” only to discover that these were not Sally Hansen at all, but Rimmel. The bottle itself is very, very similar to the Sally Hansen Salon polishes, but the handle is not made of rubber, making them a tad difficult to open.

Regardless, I was more than happy to have Rimmel step into Sally Hansen’s empty shoes for square bottles. (Have I mentioned yet I think the new SH Salon bottles are fugly?) I was pretty excited about these polishes until I sat down and went to apply the first one. Not only did Rimmel pick up on SH’s old bottles, it seems they’ve also absconded with their Insti-Dry-wide-as-my-ass brush.

While I’m sure there is some lucky girl out there with elephant hands who will be thrilled with these, the rest of us women generally suffer the lack of nail width to warrant these spatula brushes. Since the bristles seem to be bound wide at the wand and taper at the tip (exactly the opposite of the OPI Prowide), it makes for a very stiff brush that doesn’t seem to splay right while stroking on the polish. Needless to say, application was not easy – especially on the pinky nail. Shown to the right: top – Rimmel, middle – Prowide, bottom – typical brush.

The actual colors are beautiful. All but Gold Silk were two coaters and the consistancy was perfect. Gold Silk is a bit sheer and I probably could have gotten away with two coats, but opted for a bit more opacity. Marine Blue was my favorite out of these four. I love this color. It’s a tad more greyed on the nail than in the bottle, making it different than most colors sporting “Marine” in it’s name. Violet Metal has some heavy blue flash, giving it some beautiful irridiscence. Midnight Blue I was not as thrilled with. Not that it’s not a nice color, it is. But in indirect light, it appears to be a creme. It’s not until you get some strong lighting do you see the shimmer.

Square bottles – YAY! Spatula brushes – BOO!