Essence is a brand that I’ve seen around the blogosphere for a while, but couldn’t easily get a hold of here in the States. The nice thing is I’ve been seeing more and more of their products stocked at Ulta. Enter their “The Gel Nail Polish” line, where I promptly picked up the base, color, and top coats.
If there’s a gel polish that doesn’t need to be cured by UV light, I’ll want to try it. Extra kudos when I can pick up each bottle for $2-4. The one thing that I don’t like about painting my nails is the down time of waiting for them to dry. Essentially being held hostage by your un-set mani. Without fail, as soon as I finish my top coat, I will have to pee. So in a moment of foresight, the Express Dry Drops came up to the register with me too.
Ultimately, the pros are that the system provides a really nice looking manicure. The polish looks very glossy and applies incredibly evenly. I only had to apply 2 thinner coats to get great coverage and color. The price point definitely falls under pro as well.
The good news is that I didn’t have a problem with it chipping at all. The bad news is that when I was trying to peel off something a few days later, the only thing that decided to peel off was my polish… So I only got about three days wear out of it. In terms of normal nail polish wear for me, it’s pretty average. Not great, not terrible. While it doesn’t really compare to an actual gel polish in longevity, it was still very shiny when it started to peel up at the tips. Overall verdict for the gel polish is that it’s acceptable.
The real hero here would be the Express Dry Drops. The pipette delivery is really easy to use without getting product everywhere and it spreads over the nail nicely with 2-3 drops depending on your nail beds. It was a little greasy feeling if it got on the rest of your hands, but if anything it felt more like a cuticle oil and wasn’t drying on actual skin. Oh, and I was totally able to go pee without getting those awful smudges or ruining my yoga pants (I was referring to getting nail polish on them, but make of that what you will).
Shop this post: Essence The Gel Base Coat, Essence The Gel Top Coat, Essence The Gel Nail Polish (in Rock My World), and Essence Express Dry Drops.
♡Em
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