SoSu Polish by Suzanne Jackson - SoSu or So-So?

Hi,

The world and its mother have now heard about SoSu, Suzanne Jackson's beauty line. The first product from the line is a 25-strong range of "gel finish polishes". You can watch Suzanne speaking about the launch of the polish below.





I have absolutely nothing against Suzanne, I am most definitely not 'a hater'. I congratulate her on her success, and on building her name and reputation over the past 5 years. Fair play to her for building something so recognisable, she is a very good businesswoman. I appreciate her hard work and her dedication, and I appreciate the amount of work it takes to launch a brand.


These aren't gel polishes. Nor do they have a gel finish. Nor are they salon quality. Nor do they give a perfect wash of colour in one coat. Nor do they last longer than regular nail polishes.

When my sister tweeted me a few months back to tell me about this launch, my response was lukewarm. At one point last year I owned over 500 nail polishes - what was special about another collection? I was passing my local chemist about a week after, and saw one of these posters on the window.

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The colours caught my eye immediately - gel finish polishes in nude, pastels, dark vampy reds and blues, and glitter? Sign me up. A white gel? A beige gel? A coral gel? Yes please!! I bought two that day, and went back for a third a few days after. They cost me €7.99 each.

They have a long, thin brush. The shape of the bottles is great, and the logo is crisp and clean. They're very attractive to look at and they look fantastic lined up on a dresser or shelf. The first one I wore, I wore it without a basecoat or topcoat. It's called "Coral Reef" and it's a bright, vibrant orangey coral colour. A little darker than it appeared to be in the bottle, it applied really well and gave a nice shine in two coats. On day 1, it looked like this:

On day 2, this - the shine had dulled and I had slight tipwear on my ring finger but nothing too drastic.

By the end of day 3, it looked like this (photo taken on phone):

3 days. From a gel finish polish? Right, no problem, I'll try the next one - with a basecoat.

This is Rock Candy, a stunning baby pink that reminded me of a polish from Spectacular that I wore years ago. It's beautiful, I haven't come across a colour like it from any brand in years. It took 2 coats, but was still slightly streaky after coat 2. Most definitely not a gel finish, it had no more shine than any other normal polish brand (Catrice, No.7, Sally Hansen).

On day 1 it looked like this:

On day 2, this:

I purposely applied this after I had done housework, on a Friday, when I knew I didn't have much to do that evening. On the Saturday, the most I had done was cook dinner and go for a walk, I hadn't even done any typing - so why did it chip like this?

At this point I started to look for other reviews, wondering what I was doing wrong, and kept coming across claims of the polish lasting a week. I also saw comments on facebook and twitter about the polish chipping, plus when I mentioned it on Snapchat I had several messages from people who had the same issue. I took to Suzanne's instagram to see if there were any comments there about chipping, and there were plenty - her suggestion to those who were having chip issues was to use a base coat and top coat. With a base and top coat she had been wearing her polish for a week, on holiday, in and out of salt water, and had no chips. Her own range carries a base coat and topcoat for €7.99 each.

I'm not going to go and spend another €16 so that the polishes I shelled out €24 for can do their job properly - if a polish range is marketed as a gel finish, salon quality range, that's what it should be. Regardless, I took Suzanne's own advice and picked out a base and top coat from my stash.

I used a Butter London basecoat with the final shade I bought.  "I do"  is one that has been suggested as the perfect Bridal polish. After two coats it was still streaky, it took ages to dry, and it most definitely did not have a gel shine. It looks milky. I used the big daddy of topcoats this time - CND Vinylux Weekly Top Coat.

Here is the polish on Day 1 with topcoat:

And lo and behold, Day 2:

I can't recommend these. If you're looking for a long lasting polish, try CND Vinylux weekly polish. I've now tried three shades from them and they have lasted well into day 6 or 7. If you'd prefer a cheaper price, have a look at the new Essence gel finish polishes. Róisín has some fantastic swatches - and if ever there were someone who would tell you the truth, it's her. I trust her 100% when it comes to nail polish, she is a fellow polish addict and absolutely knows her stuff.

I'm disappointed with the SoSu range - and I'm disappointed with the number of inaccurate reviews around. I bought these because they were marketed as gel-finish, long lasting, salon quality. Would I have bought them if they were marketed as normal polishes? I'm not sure. Would I have been as annoyed had they cost me €3.99 each instead of €7.99? Probably not. There's no way this polish lasts without chips for 7 days, unless I've been terribly unfortunate with the three shades I chose. If yours has lasted 7 days, please tell me what you did - because I'll absolutely do the same and see if it lasts longer, and I'll do another review with daily photos, because the colours are stunning and I'd love to support an Irish blogger with her business.