Essie Gel Couture Nail Polish and Top Coat Review

I was really impressed with the Essie Gel Couture nail polish and top coat. Used together they rivaled real gel polish in a way that most regular nail polishes can't. I usually prefer gel polish for it's longevity, but this polish seems to hold up just as well so far, with the added benefit of being able to be removed with just regular nail polish remover! The colour I used was "fairy tailor" a beautiful baby pink sheer polish, one coat worked perfectly as a nude for me (two coats ended up a bit patchy/streaky, but this may be from user error?). The top coat dried quickly and shined well. I'm excited to keep using these polishes as an alternative to gel polish, and I hope to get my hands on a few other shades in the range too.

I've found the Essie Gel Couture Nail Polish and Top Coat an absolute delight to use. Both products have excellent brushes and a high quality formula so my nails end up looking salon-perfect every time with minimal effort. The nail polish is highly pigmented and you can achieve full opacity with 1-2 coats, and the top coat really locks it in place and gives it a beautiful shine. When using these two products together I can go a good 3 days without any chips, which is great for me because I find most polishes start to chip after day 1. I'll be trying more of the gel couture nail polishes, and the top coat is my new go-to!

I chose the shade 'Take Me to Thread' - its a mauve-y nude.

The twisted square bottle is super easy to hold while applying - why do they make round bottles anyway?!

I tried this on both my hands and my toes. It was really easy to apply the colour coat evenly and smoothly and it only took a couple of minutes between coats to be dry enough for the next layer.

The colour is deep and quite true to the bottle and without the top coat has a nice finish, smooth and semi-sheen.

The gel top coat makes this colour shine! It's stunning! I love it! The top coat definitely adds that gel longevity and finish. As per the instructions I reapplied the top coat every couple of days to my fingernails for the duration of the trial - I'm on day 13 (I think) and they actually still look really fresh and neat!

I only used the gel top coat on my toes once, upon the initial application. The colour hasn't chipped, or disintergrated at all. I think my zombie corpse will still be rocking perfectly pedicured toe nails, 5 years into the apocalypse.

Colour me impressed!

Also - shout out to the shade namer who came up with sexy-sewing themed names! They gave me a chortle!

I chose the shade Rock the Runway as my shade to trial. It was described as 'a fierce classic red nail colour. Gorgeous. Striking. Untamed.' and oh my god...it really it is! It's a deep but bright red, perfect for summer toes!

The bottles are very cool and just look that little more edgy on the dresser. The brush is very easy to handle and use, you can do the classic, 'middle, side, side' and cover your nail in 3 strokes. It applies really evenly too, its not too thick, but also not runny.

2 coats and the gel top coat took, maybe 10-15 minutes to apply. I don't mind that, I enjoy not rushing my nails.

I'm quite hard on nails - I'm pounding the keyboard for many hours a day, so I usually see the first signs of wear right on the tips. I followed the instructions to reapply the top coat every couple of nights, and noticed they started to look a little worn at the tips by day 8. Not too shabby!

I think this is a great duo for long lasting nail colour that you can achieve at home. I'll definitely be picking up another shade...maybe one of those stunning nudes!

The Essie gel couture system is the same as many mail polish applications, containing a colour coat and a top coat to lock in the coloured coat. This range is meant to have the shine of a gel, and increased longevity of a gel without the need for a UV lamp. It has the shine but I found the longevity similar to other long wearing top coats, although certainly better than normal nail polish. The edges wore off at approximately day 4 and started to chip off the bed of my nails about day 6.

The formula was a little hard to work with as it was so runny but I imagine after a few uses and it has dried a bit this will not be an issue. However because it was runny it flooded my cuticles quite easily and because the polish dries like a flexible plastic I found it started to lift here first as the polish was wearing off.

So I was fortunate enough to trial the polish and top coat!

This new packaging is so fun and I got a millennial pink colour that I was super keen to try.

The applicator and texture for both products are perfect so you get a really easy even layer and it’s not too runny or gluggy. The top coat also works perfectly to smooth over any uneven parts of the polish.

I’ve been really impressed with how long it has latest as well. It’s been over a week and I haven’t had any chips and the colour still looks fresh and strong.

So all in all I love the colour and I’ll definitely be getting some more shades of this polish and the top coat will be my new go to!

A nail polish combination that everyone should use. The stylish packaging is very cool, but if a bummer it doesn’t allow you to stack them easily. Following the instructions I applied 2 coats of the gel colour and followed but the top coat. The gel colour went on very smooth and had a thick flawless coverage. The top coat seemed to make the gel colour shine even more and just seal in the vibrant colour. Once again easy to apply. As always needs a decent arount of time to dry just to make sure you don’t ruin the overall finish. On my hands which are constantly being washed, the polish stayed on for about 8-10 days on different nails. I’m sure if you were more careful it would last the advertised 12 days easily. Definitely be using again.

I really like Essie Nailpolish, it's one of my favorite Nailpolishes to use. it lasts long on my nails and the colours are fantastic. You just need two coats and it's perfect.

I bought this in shade Fairy Tailor, which is a lovely pale pink. I dont do my nails very often, as if the colour is too dark, I notice it all the time and it annoys me for some reason! So this colour was is perfect. I find the brushes very easy to use, and are a nice wide brush. The polish dries quickly, and is hard wearing. I used two coats of colour, and one of topcoat, and my nails looked good for a week. My only slight negative feedback would be that the polish peeled off a few fingers, which made me wonder if I just hadn't prepared my nails properly first? But overall, great, easy to use product that lasted well. I will branch out an try more colours!