With all the mention Nic's Sticks have been getting lately (I could be wrong but the hype seems recent) and with Oprah's Favourite Things for the Summer featuring them it was high time I did a review.


I have two Nic's Sticks and I thought the whole concept was ingenious. The nail polish comes in a little click-pen that has a brush applicator. The positives for this product are obvious: easy to use, great for travel, and overall very quick. The polish also dries fairly quickly and you don't have to wait hours before touching it lest your get those annoying fingerprints on your nails.

All positives aside, I'm not too fond of these. The polish is very thin and the pen can dispense too much polish thereby flooding the applicator and nail. The amount of polish that you get for the price isn't going to break some record either. Shockingly enough, you are much better off investing in a conventional pot of polish.

The biggest problem I have with the Nic's Sticks is the application. Applying two coat of polish is hell as the bottom coat seems to get a slush like texture no matter how quickly or late you reapply. The polish covers pretty well in one coat but the fact that it gets gloppy when I try to intensify the colour is no excuse.

The staying power of the polish is also very inadequate. Since the polish is so thin, or so I hypothesize, it chips off very quickly. By the end of the day, the polish had worn off at the tips of my nails. I was very disappointed in these as I thought they'd make a great essential for when I'm pressed for time. I'll continue to use them until I find something better, which I am more than confident is available.

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