Is this the perfect blue polish? Um, YES.

I love the idea of bright colours on my nails, but they never seem to translate very well when applied. Yellows, greens, blues... I often love what I see in the bottle but then don't like how they look once applied. I'm not sure if it's my skin tone (very pale!) or the shape of my nails (quite narrow and small) but certain 'non-traditional' colours look a bit bizarre on me. Take the pale mint green phase, for instance. Unless it's super pale, almost white, green just looks weird on my hands. I can't carry teal or grass green, and you can forget about neon! 

I've always loved the idea of blue nail polish, from deep dark navy to light baby shades, but I've never been able to find a shade I feel totally comfortable with. Until now. 

I have finally found the perfect blue and I'm obsessed with it! Allow me to introduce you to Maybelline's Super Stay Gel Nail Colour 7 Days in 'Surreal':

It's actually a little paler in 'real life', with more of a creamy white base. But you can see from the photo that it's a sort of mid-denim blue, a pastel with punch. But not too much punch. Because too much punch in blue polish doesn't seem to suit my nails! This, however, is just PERFECT. 

Swoon!

Everything about this polish is brilliant, from the colour to the formula to the brush. It has a good thick formula which delivers a high shine finish without the need for a top coat if you happen to be in a hurry. I can't stand it when you apply a nice nail polish only for it to dull straight away. I always use a top coat, but it's nice to think that should an emergency arise you can skip one! Plus, this is the ONLY polish I've used claiming to give a 'gel nail' finish that actually delivers on its promise. I'm looking at you, Barry M and Rimmel...

One coat of this gave pretty good opacity, although I prefer applying two coats for maximum colour depth and shine. It's totally streak free, doesn't drag at all and comes with a wide brush, making it quite easy to apply neatly. I'm definitely not the neatest at applying polish, but I think I did a pretty good job this time, all things considered (i.e, my complete lack of hand eye coordination). Drying time is around two minutes per coat, which is a little longer than some polishes but I'm happy to wait considering the shiny end result! As well as delivering glossy shine and streak-free colour, the Super Stay range is fortified with strengtheners, which my brittle nails seriously appreciate! And, on top of this, each polish promises to deliver 'up to 7 days' of chip-free colour. I'm currently on day 2 and so far, so very, very good. I can't fault the quality of this product at all. It really is my perfect polish.

Another pic!

I would have thought I'd need a lighter blue but I just love this mid-blue hue. I did actually pick up two other shades from the Super Stay range as I'm loving the range of colours available:

L-R: '615 Mint For Life', '635 Surreal', '265 Divine Wine'

Look, a gorgeous super pale mint! And I always love a good red wine/raspberry colour, especially for my toes. Maybelline just keep on impressing me at the moment, with my love for their Colorsensational lipsticks also remaining strong. Their Super Stay polish is definitely my favourite high street formula out there at the moment and I can't emphasise enough just how good the quality and shade range is, a snip at only £4.09 each at Superdrug.