VELVET nails have been one of this year’s hottest trends as textures and nail art replace the traditional one-colour polish.

Gone are the days where we’re happy to just sweep on a coat or two of our favourite shade, and it looks like statement nails are here to stay.

I’m no artist, so crafting unique designs on my own nails is never going to work well, so I’m always on the look-out for something simple which is going to make my fingers stand out.

But I have been a little bit late on the uptake when it comes to the velvet manicure. I’ve seen it in magazines; I’ve admired it in press releases but have only just got around to actually trying it for myself.

I tried Velveteen, the velvet manicure by Original Sugar in Baby Blue. Created by international nail artist and expert Sam Biddle, it is designed to make your fingers look like they’ve been dipped in soft, velvety fairy dust.

It is described as simple to use – just paint your nails, dip them in the velveteen, dry for a minute, blow away the excess and you’re good to go.

It comes with a very easy to follow instruction guide on how to use.

First of all you need to paint your nails with two coats of polish. You obviously need to choose a colour which matches your velveteen as this is not supplied.

I used Miners Nail Colour in Bermuda Blue (£2.99 from www.minerscosmetics.co.uk) as this was almost an identical shade.

Once the colour is dry, you apply a top coat and then dip the nail into the velveteen bag, ensuring the whole nail is covered.

This is easy to do, and once you have the nail covered you just remove it from the velveteen and allow to dry for up to one minute.

Initially it looked like I had a massive amount of it piled onto the nail and I was a bit concerned if it was going to stay like that.

After a minute you just blow off the excess product. I was pleased to see the velveteen blew off easily leaving an even coat on the nail.

It works on exactly the same principal of dipping glitter, so you do need to take care that you apply your topcoat evenly. As you may notice from my photograph, I went a little bit over onto the fingers, and it isn’t very forgiving as it does stick to skin too!

However it was very simple to use. Once you’ve applied the colour, each finger takes about two minutes so you can be finished both hands easily in 15 minutes. Once you’ve blown off the excess velveteen, you’re done.

I really liked the end result. It looks and feels like velvet and you find yourself unable to stop touching it.

And remember, when you wash your hands it is going to get wet. You sort of end up forgetting about it until you do get your hands wet and you’ll find your nails are soggy for about 10 minutes. It does dry quite quickly, but it catches you out that first few times.

Durability-wise, you’re not going to get any more than a day or two out of it. It’s perfect for a night out as it won’t chip, but by the end of my second day of wear I noticed a few worn patches.

By day three it was looking pretty tired and it was time to remove it which was easy. You simply remove it with your usual nail polish and it comes off very cleanly without any need to soak or scrub.

I actually love this for a fun night out. Like me you probably need a couple of tries to get it perfect, but you can’t really go wrong with it and the final effect is very striking.

Velveteen is available in 16 different shades and costs £4.95.

This month it has been joined by some new editions, the Glitter Velveteen Winter Collection with six new shades. The product is almost the same, but is laced with a little more glitter for that festive sparkle. It also costs £4.95.

You can buy Sam Biddle’s Original Sugar Velveteen products online only at www.originalsugar.com