Brand: H&M

Earlier this fall, Swedish fast-fashion kings H&M launched their cosmetics line, and I finally had a chance to check it out last month. Of course, I made a beeline through all the skincare, fragrance (had a quick sniff of a rose scent, meh), bath & body stuff, and even the eyeshadows (perhaps it was the store lighting, but I wasn’t drawn to them), and went straight to a quite large selection of nail polishes! I picked up one iridescent color and made my way around to pay, but then I was sidetracked by what was the “front” of the new cosmetics display.

Apparently, I’d initially walked in through the back of the beauty department. In the front were stacks of nail polish and lipstick gift sets, and special holiday shades, which suddenly looked way more appealing than the sad little iridescent polish I had in my hand. It sat right back down and two other polishes and a lipstick came home with me.

Today, I’m reviewing Space Race, a whitened silver holographic shimmer. I don’t have a huge holo collection, so this is decidedly unique in my stash!

H&M did have an older line of nail polish that came in rectangular bottles, but I never tried them, so this is my first time trying any H&M cosmetics, at all. I’m not a huge fan of shopping for clothes at H&M (some things I’ve gotten are great, and others are just awful quality), so it’s not someplace I browse on a regular basis. I had some time to kill last month, though, so I took the time to scout out their new beauty line.

I am pretty happy I did, since the quality of the polish is quite good! Two coats applied smoothly and gave full opacity. The pigmentation is strong and the holographic shimmer is quite fine. I’ve seen more holo-y polishes, but overall, this is quite pretty. It does dry to a slightly dull, matte-ish finish (appearance-wise only; the texture is nice and smooth), so I’d recommend a glossy top coat over this one.

The brush is my only real complaint with this product. It’s the typical wide, flat paddle brush that I usually like, but it’s just a bit too wide for my smaller nails, and it’s not trimmed quite as nicely as the paddle brush on Dior’s, for example (not that I’d expect it to be for the price difference!).

The packaging is lovely, though. I think the bottle shape is adorable, and the cream cap is a nice touch—most other brands have caps in black or white. I did have trouble finding the name of the polish, however. I couldn’t find it on the side or bottom labels, and finally realized the name was printed on the back of the bottle. It was kinda hard to see the ligt gold print on my metallic polish choices!

Overall, for the price, I think these polishes are perfectly nice and are definitely worth picking up if a color catches your eye.

H&M Nail Polish retails for US$5.99 / CA$6.99 and contains 0.27 US fl oz / 8 mL. It is free of toluene, formaldehyde, camphor, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and made in France.

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, a multi-national fashion retailer, was founded in 1947 as a women’s clothing store, Hennes (“Hers” in Swedish). In 1968, the company acquired Mauritz Widforss, a hunting apparel retailer; after expanding to include men’s fashion, the company name was changed to Hennes & Mauritz. Their cosmetics range—which includes makeup, skincare, haircare, bath & body, and fragrance—was introduced in fall 2015. H&M is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.