Models Own Hypergels - a Big Fat Fail!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a week. I've not been feeling great, and I actually had bare nails all week.  Today I've been playing with the Models Own Hypergels again in an attempt to get them to work - I bought them a couple of weeks ago, and have been having trouble. 

I started with such high hopes!  They look stunning on other blogs, so I bought five in the Models Own sale. Isn't the box gorgeous?

Look at them! Left to right, I have Cornflower Gleam, White Light, Pink Veneer, Cerise Shine and Coral Glaze. Don't they look gorgeous? The colours are really vibrant and the swatches I've seen online look glossy and fabulous.

But OH DEAR! I was so disillusioned.  The first time out, I tried the two pinks together, I did two normal thickness coats, with no topcoat. They looked lovely, although application was tricky - they were quite patchy going on. But they just didn't dry! As I was taking the photos, the middle finger just crumpled and creased. You can see the start of it here - it got a lot worse afterwards!  I took at all this off and put it down to user error.  

The next day, I tried the coral. It was really very awkward to apply, and just wouldn't dry at all, even though I left ages between coats. I didn't take photos of that.  Then I tried the white, and instead of multiple coats, I tried one generous coat. That refused to dry at all, so I took it off and started again with very thin coats, but that was really hard to apply, and was extremely streaky, so I gave up for a few days. 

Today I tried the blue one and was exceedingly careful. I applied one very thin coat and left it to dry for over an hour. It didn't look great - as you can see, some nails are barely covered, whereas some look quite thick. 

After a good hour (actually nearer an hour and a half) I applied a second thin coat. This looked better, although you can see it's still patchy, and there are some bubbly bits on a couple of nails. 

I left this to dry for another hour and a half, and applied a third thin coat. This looked nice. After another half an hour, I thought it would be safe to do clean-up and take photos. 

I was wrong. As you can see - it just isn't dry, and the polish slid around on my nails, wrinkling and moving. This happened when I gently wiped my nails dry with a tissue after I'd rinsed my fingers under a tap! I wondered what would happen if I actually put any pressure on them... 

Yeah. Don't forget, this is FOUR hours after I started polishing. This is not meant to happen with nail varnish!  I wiped all my nails clean with a finger, without any difficultly. 

Now, many bloggers have given these rave reviews, and I can see from the nail art that people have posted that obviously this doesn't happen in general. But there is not a chance I could use these in a tape mani, or for stamping, or for gradients. I don't have the patience to sit and wait hours in between each coat, or to faff about any more. The colours are great. Yes, they're very shiny and glossy. However, mine are going into my swap pile. They're not for me - unless someone can fathom what on earth I'm doing wrong??!

I'm really sad! These promised such good things, but there must just be something wrong with my chemistry, as they just don't dry. (And yes, I tried different base coats, no base coats, plus a couple with different topcoats - with not a jot of difference.)  I was really surprised, because Models Own are usually really good! I loved the My Midori collection, and the Fireworks glitters are gorgeous, and my favourite gold ever is a MO one (Gold Rush).