I’m not sure quite when Little Miss C became old enough to be interested in nail polish, but it’s happened. She’s due to turn eight next week and now the magazines she chooses come with nail polish on the front cover, and at the school fair she spent her pocket money on getting her nails done. I would previously have ignored a request to review something like the Num Noms Nail Polish Maker. I would have dismissed it as being a bit too old for her. Now though I need to accept that she’s growing up and nail polish is exactly the kind of thing that she’s interested in!
National Nail Polish Day
Friday 1 June was national nail polish day, making it the perfect time to review the Num Noms Nail Polish Maker. Although, so out of touch am I with girly things like that, that I hadn’t even realised national nail polish day was a thing!
Num Noms
LMC has been a fan of Num Noms since we were first introduced to them a couple of years ago. Since then she’s used her pocked money buy loads of the collectables, and also frequently chosen the Num Noms magazine when we’ve been on supermarket shopping trips together. The combination of Num Noms with a nail polish maker is a perfect match.
Nail Polish Maker
I can’t deny that the Num Noms Nail Polish Maker is somewhat larger than I was expecting. Significantly so. The main section of it looks like a cafe – with the components that make up the nail polish in dispenser like bottles over the counter.
The set comes with three empty nail polish bottles that you can fill up from the ingredients in the nail polish maker. They’re incredibly cute!
The bottles are shaped just like Noms, and so fit inside a Num with an appropriate hole in the top for the bottle lid to go.
The Num Noms Nail Polish Maker set comes with a Nom which its the nail polish bottle Nums inside it.
Making the nail polish
Children then use the three different scented colours (Yellow Banana, Blue Blueberry and Red Strawberry) to make the desired colour of nail polish, by adding them to the Nom shaped bottle. Along with a squeeze of glitter if they so desire.
After a few drops of the chosen colours, the bottles are then topped up by the base pearl colour. Or “milk” as it is known in Num Nom land!
Once this is done the nail polish needs mixing.
This can either be done by good old shaking, or using the mixing part of the Num Noms Nail Polish Maker. You fit the bottle in (which is a bit fiddly) and then just turn the handle until it is mixed. To be honest though we found shaking far more effective!
Once the polish is mixed you can then use the finger stool (two are included) to paint your nails. These can clip in the back of the nail polish maker shop, but I found that there was then a problem with not having enough space to actually paint the nails. So instead I just used the finger rest on its own.
Extras
As well giving you everything to make the nail polish, the Num Noms nail polish maker also comes with stickers that you can use on your painted nails. Also included are two sets of plastic nails. These can be decorated on the Donut Table and then attached to your own nails using the nail adhesives included.
Overview
Little Miss C really liked the Num Noms Nail Polish Maker, but there’s a but… The big draw back that I see is the you can’t buy refills or replacement nail polish pots. This means that once you’ve used up the flavourings and glitter in the maker you can’t make any more. It seems a bit of a shame. This also means that if your kids make all three bottles of polish straight away it’s somewhat finished as a nail polish maker.
However, on the plus side, the nail polish maker is cafe themed. This means that even once you’ve finished you could still use it as a regular Num Noms cafe play set. I do think that Num Noms have missed a trick though as surely selling replacement ingredients and pots would be a good thing. I’d expect them to have a price point that would work perfectly for pocket money toys too.
Being eight years old, Little Miss C didn’t really think through the longevity of the nail polish maker in terms of future use. I’m expecting her to be a bit disappointed though when she realises that she can’t make any more nail polish with it.
The actual making part is great fun, but again rather fiddly. I ended up doing most of it with LMC helping. A slightly older child might manage the whole thing alone, but do be prepared to help if you don’t want a huge mess.
Where to find the Num Noms Nail Polish Maker
The Num Noms Nail Polish Maker is available to buy online here. The RRP is £50, but it is often available for significantly less. At the time of writing you can get it for £29.89 on Amazon UK.
Disclaimer: We were sent the Num Noms Nail Polish Maker for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.