Sasatinnie Blue Steel nail polish review

I promised you reviews of my newly-purchased flakie nail polishes so let’s get the ball rolling with Sasatinnie’s FCGL001.

Oh dear, that’s hardly the most exciting of names, is it? In order to combat this undeserved dullardry, I decided to give it my own name – Blue Steel. Guess who re-watched Zoolander recently!

This means that FCGL001 Blue Steel has no option other than to be really really ridiculously good-looking. And I rather think it is. It’s a steely metallic blue-grey with a river of sparkling silver micro-glitter running through it, plus a scattering of those all-important flakes of rainbow awesomeness. These flakes are actually quite subtle, relatively small and a glowing pink colour but they’re still just as awesome as their showier counterparts.

As I said earlier, I was actually pretty impressed with the formula of this polish. Despite an extremely thin murky first coat, Blue Steel became opaque in just two coats, although I applied a third to intensify the gleaming depth of those awesome flakies even further. It’s also quick-drying and long-lasting, although as a cheapo drugstore polish, it’s unlikely to be part of the ‘3 Free’ brigade (reminder: free from the three biggest nail varnish nasties) and consequently, smelt just as toxic as the ones I remember from my youth. Similarly, the brush shape is nothing to write home about – medium-sized, quite flat, fans out nicely – although since these bottles are slung into a huge vat and no doubt sneakily opened and jammed back once a security guard’s caught them doing it multiple times by excitable schoolgirls, it’s worth checking to make sure you don’t get a brush with splayed bristles. The length of the brush feels rather short, like you’re having to get a bit too close to comfort to the nail to get the job done, but none of these criticisms are serious enough to make you regret the purchase. I mean, these are glittering flakes of rainbow awesomeness, remember?!

For a polish boasting so many elements from the gaudier side of lacquers – glitter, flakies, metallic and all done in blue – Blue Steel is surprisingly low-key but in a confidently gorgeous way. The dusty pewter blue is a really wearable shade that goes with most things but gets balanced out by the fine dusting of silver glitter, which gives it a sexy shimmer without turning it into a circus.

As for the flakies? Well, they’re everything I hoped they would be. They turn Blue Steel into a much more beautiful, unique polish, giving it that extra push of oomph yet staying true to its more subtle take on things. These opalescent shreds, plus the silver fairy dust, give it a depth that makes it all the more mesmerising to anyone that looks close enough. And trust me – that’s something you’ll be doing a lot of once you’ve started wearing it!

Looks good with: cool tones, metallics, doing the Blue Steel
Drying time: <2 mins
Coats required: 2-3
Chips: 3 days

Sasatinnie FCGL001 “Blue Steel” nail polish, Super Dolly Fantasy Quick Dry Collection, $24, Sasa