Manicure: Max Factor Nailfinity in Blue Energy with Meylon glitter polish

One of my resolutions for 2013 is to finish up all my old or unwanted makeup items and make space on my crowded shelves. So during the first ransack of the year, I found a Max Factor nail polish I had bought ages ago, when I was buying any kind of blue polish.
This shade, #724 or Blue Energy, had caught my eye at their counter. But on wearing it at home, I found it was streaky and didn't apply very well. It was sheer, so I had to apply three coats for opacity, and it chipped and faded within two days. So it was relegated to the back of my nail polish drawer till today. It went on as streaky and icky as ever today and I felt there was something missing.

Some weeks ago, I had bought the "Meylon Paris Shade 45" on the internet. It has mostly round but different-sized glitter in a pale blue gel base. That is the last time I buy anything called "Meylon Paris", no matter how it looks on the internet. This is why:

• The polish smells unpleasantly strong - like whitewash - and the smell is still in my room. I'm in for a bad night.
• It was so, so thick, it took ages to spread out on the nail and get one full coat.
• I only got the small glitter out of the bottle at first, despite shaking, stirring, running all over the room, jumping up and down, rolling the bottle on the floor and holding it upside down
• It took ages to dry.
• So I tried a second coat, and, this time, I found the large round glitter came in clumps in the middle of my nail (see middle fingernail).
• I applied a top coat and the bottle accidentally caught one of my fingers - the polish smudged :(
• The brush becomes "strandy" so you have to dip it in the bottle frequently, despite there being polish on the brush, to make the strands go away.
• My nails still smell. I'm writing this a few hours and a shower later.

On the bright side, I like the way it looks on my nails - my appalling photography skills don't do it justice, I promise. I wonder how the Meylon thing will look over Essie Aruba Blue or China Glaze Up All Night.
Do you think the end result was worth it? I really hope it doesn't smudge when I sleep. And that I don't get hair marks on my nails! Ewwwww.
Or do you think perhaps the polish wasn't so bad (both MF and Meylon) and all my problems with application, drying time, streaks, thickness and smell were because of a bad workman (workwoman) blaming her tools?