Essence The gel nail polish. Color, base and top coat [Review]

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Hello my sweeties! how are you today? It's time for another "wearing-test"! I have tried the recently launched nail polish range "The Gel nail polish" by Essence cosmetics, and their new base and top coats that promise 60% increase in durability. Curious to see how they performed? Keep reading then!


You know I have been looking for a way to make my manicures last a little longer, specially with the hectic times ahead once the baby will be born, changing a manicure oftenly will be nearly impossible. So far, I have tried OPI Infinite shine solution, and I wasn't seduced. Today it is time to test another brand that promises long lasting results, let's see what Essence has to offer !


As Essence recently replaced their "Colour & Go" nail polish range by "The Gel nail polish" range I have been tempted to try them, but when I saw they also launched a base coat and topcoat that promise "Extreme shine" and 60% more durability, I didn't think twice and grabbed 2 colours!

The first I wanted to try was the yellow creme #38 Love is in the air. My collection seriously lacks of midtone yellow cremes and they usually are a pain in the rare end to apply (what is with yellow nail-polish-diva-attitude?).

I have heard some good comments on this essence line. As my impatient a*s couldn't wait until the next day, I did my manicure around 10 pm in the evening :P  (that was on Tuesday 14th April).

I did not have great expectations really. But when I started to apply the base coat: WOW, it blew my mind. It really  acts like gel! I mean, the texture and density are very similar to gel, it also dries fairly fast and leaves the nail prepped to received the colour. In my mind I went like: "ok, too good to be true, so now the yellow will ruin it". But I was (oh) so wrong. The yellow creme applies like a buttery dream on nails, two coats are enough for a totally opaque and even finish, I am so impressed with the application! 

The top coat is also a pleasure to apply, but aren't all newly topcoats like that, hun? Nevertheless, it dried surprisingly fast, leaving an amazing shine. I cannot stress enough how great the application is with these.

Around midnight I went to bed. Wondering if it was really a wise decision going to bed two hours after applying the polish. next morning was hectic, and also lunchtime! I could not snap a picture of my hands before 4pm (on April 15th), that is 18 hours after the application (and all the chores I did in between). here it is:




Pretty impressive isn't it?
On Saturday 18th, after a little longer than three days (which is usually when my polish chips :P) this is how "love is in the air" looked:



If you click to enlarge you can notice a slight sign of tip wear, but not even near to what usually happen to my nail polish after three days. Did I take it off? Hell no! I am loving this yellow shade, so I decided to leave it on my nails until it chips.

So today, 21st April, almost 7 days after application this baby has not chipped. This is how the nail polish looks today:


Certainly the shine has diminished. But I thought that could have been fixed if I re-applied a coat of topcoat around the third or fourth day, which for the testing purposes I obviously haven't.

What can I say? I am totally impressed, specially knowing how affordable these polishes are, it is for me a total mystery how professional brands as OPI could be left behind by a drugstorebrand as Essence in the long-wearing department. So far, I can only say good  things about this range, if you see it: GRABB IT. And now I am off to buy some more Essence colours, I'm dying to try the white one!

Have you already tried this Essence range? and what about the base and top coats? Let me know your thoughts about it!!

Love,
Nati


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