Essie Gel Couture

Hello everyone, no doubt you have all seen or heard about the new Essie gel couture line and today I have review of it for you. Personally, I have seen so many reviews and I really just wanted to try it out myself and see how it holds up. Some basics behind this two step system is that it comes with one color coat and a top coat. The main claims behind this line is that you are supposed to be able to get 14 days of wear and an instant gel-like shine. Which means it is another nail polish system that is supposed to give you a gel-like manicure without the need of a UV or LED light. An interesting feature behind the polish is that the barrel and brush are completely different from what you normally see from Essie. The brush is very wide so that you can do your whole manicure with a few easy swipes. In addition, the barrel is supposed to be curved in a spiral so that any polish on the barrel is deposited onto the brush in a way as to not flood your cuticles. 

Before talking about the formula and wear test I want to mention my experiences with the features of this line. The spiral barrel was only on the color coat which was really disappointing to me because it ruined the continuity of the bottles for me. The top coat can still flood your cuticles and cause your manicure to chip or peel from the cuticle line. So I did not understand why they did not keep the same barrel. In addition, while doing research on the line, I found that one of the reasons Essie chose the brush was that so it could form to different nails. You are supposed to be able to compress or flatten the brush by wiping it on the bottleneck to get the shape that you need. I felt that was really hyped up, the brush did not show any particular flexibility nor did it hug my nail spectacularly enough for me to attribute to this Essie brush only.

Two coats of hang up the heels

The formula of the nail polish was really lovely. It absolutely glided onto the nail and applied pretty evenly. This shade in particular is a gorgeous black with a green shimmer. The green is visible in direct light but this shade looks black otherwise. The top coat was a great success for me, it did not disturb the layer of color I had underneath and dried fairly quickly. I really loved the shine that the top coat gave me, so much so that I would use this top coat separate of this system. 

Day nine 

I did not make it to 14 days, but I really feel like this color would have lasted nicely up to that point. My nails first chipped in the morning of the ninth day of wear. Usually when I get a chip, the polish will just continue to chip away at that point, however I wore this polish until day ten and found that the chip did not spread. The tip wear you are seeing on my other fingers started being prominent around day four or five. But the tip wear was not enough to make my manicure look bad.

The reason I did not take a picture of day ten wear was because it looked the exact same as day nine. I only decided to end my wear test because I was tired of the color and the space between my cuticle and the polish was getting too big for me. Also, once it chipped I just wanted a fresh manicure. Overall, this polish lasted beautifully for me and I would 100% recommend it to others. I don't want to compare this to the Wet n Wild one step wonder gel because that is an unfair comparison considering this is a two step system. But in comparison to the Sally Hansen miracle gel, I enjoy this line ten times better. While both the systems last fairly similarly over ten days in terms of chips and tip wear, the miracle gel cracked on me. The Essie gel couture did not crack and in addition, the top coat for this line performed very well. Whereas the miracle gel top coat actually ruined my manicure. So if you are wondering which between the two works better as a system and overall, I would recommend the Essie gel couture. 

Now to discuss prices; I have seen the individual color coats and top coat retail for around $12-14 CDN. There is also a set which includes a top coat and a color coat for around $24-26 CDN. It is an investment to make but I do think you will be pleasantly surprised by the wear of this line. If you have tried out this line, leave me a comment about how you found it!

Pretty Woman Bamboo Cream nail treatment

Hello all,

I did receive the nailmedic treatment, bamboo cream from Pretty Woman quite a while ago and have been testing it out for you for a month! This bamboo cream is supposed to be a hydrating cuticle cream that can also help to strengthen your nails. Now the main claim behind this product is that it will hydrate your cuticles and improve the appearance of brittle and dehydrated nails. This product comes in a traditional nail polish bottle so you can brush it onto your cuticles and nails. Then you just need to massage the cream into your skin in circular motions.

The cream itself is not too thick and does not leave behind an oily residue. My favorite part about this cream is how quickly it sinks into my skin! I had just applied the product before taking this picture but it sunk in so quick. The cream always feels very cooling on my skin and smells very lovely and spa-like similar to their other products.

Most of the time, when I take the time to moisturize my cuticles, they get dry usually later that day because of how often I use and wash my hands. No big surprise there. But while using this cream, I noticed that the moisture lasted longer throughout the day.I really appreciated this because I felt like it really helped protect my cuticles from all the acetone remover I use. My favorite way to use this product was for my pedicure since they kept my cuticles hydrated for a longer amount of time.

As far as strengthening went, I felt like this product really helped my nails but did not make them too stiff. They were still flexible and hydrated, providing me with a nice way to maintain my nail health.

As always, Pretty Woman offers free shipping on their website for all orders so you can try out this product without worrying about shipping fees. It retails for $8 US and even after using it for a month, I have not made a large dent in the bottle so it will last you! If you do decide to try it out, I would love to know how it worked for you.