Essie Gel Couture Nail Polish Review

Let me start by saying that I love wearing nail polish and painting my own nails. I’ve tried multiple brands of polish including gel type polishes so I was super keen to try this Essie one to see how it compares. I’ve only used it for one week but so far I love it. Continue reading below to find out why.

This polish has lasted really well. I have worn this polish for a week now and only one nail has started to chip (index finger on one hand). I’ve washed dishes my hand without gloves and I’m constantly typing at work too. There has been no tip wear or chipping or peeling around my cuticle area either. Please note that I have also worn this in conjunction with the Essie gel top coat.

The colour is really opaque. I only needed two coats and that was enough to get a decent application without streaks. The consistency is slightly thicker than the normal Essie polish but I like it better. I found that the normal Essie polish sometimes is too thin and you need to apply more layers. This polish went on smoothly and like I said did not leave any streaks or bubbles.

The brush is really nice to use. The size enables you to apply the polish on your nail with three strokes. The brush is quite dense which allows you to fan the brush out across your nail when you are applying the polish. The dense brush also means it holds the right amount of polish to deposit on to your nail.

The bottle is a standard glass bottle with a twisted rectangular shape. It’s easy to hold and use.

Overall I really like this polish and would definitely recommend this to everyone else. I am keen to buy more in different colours.

The shade '210 - On The List' is a bright, almost neon coral colour. This is a beautiful colour for spring and like other neon-esque colours makes me look tanner than I actually am. Unfortunately like other bright corals they are not the most opaque, so while 2 coats is okay, 3 is needed for roper coverage.

The application was a little tricky at first as the formula is very runny, but considering this was my first use it is probably good as it will thicken slightly with more uses as it dries out a little. Probably better to paint your nails on a surface rather than on the couch like I tried and almost got polish all over my pants a few times.

While it has the shine of a gel, it didn't have the staying power, although better than other formulas I have used. It should be noted I used the top coat with the colour so cannot comment on the longevity of the polish by itself although it as marketed to be used combined.

The polish dries to a consistency like a flexible plastic, so if you flood your cuticles you may get a bit of lift on the side of your nail like I did. On nails where I didn't flood my cuticles the edges stayed down fine. The polish on the tips started to wear after three days but I only had some chipping begin about 6 days after the application, so decent staying power compared to some other polishes.

Overall there was nothing too special about this nail polish, better longevity than regular polish but nothing really more than other polishes aimed at longwear.

I was fortunate enough to trial this nail polish for BR and it’s actually the perfect shade for me. It’s great for when you want something classic but more than a nude pink!

I love these essie bottles as well. They are so fun. And I found the applicator very easy to use and the perfect size.

The polish went on really easily - it’s not gluggy or too runny - and the polish (with the top coat on) has stayed on for almost a week already!

What can I say! A nail polish only to love. The stylish packaging is very cool, but if a bummer it doesn’t allow you to stack them easily together, but maybe that just my OCD talking. The gel colour went on seamlessly. Very smooth and flawless coverage. I applied 2 coats of the vibrant colour followed by the top coat. On my hands which are always in and out of water between washing them and washing dishes the polish stayed on for about 8-10 days on different nails. I’m sure if you were more care it would last the advertised 12 days. Definitely be using again.

I selected Essie Gel Couture in “Spiked With Style” (#360) for this trial. The polish is bottled in a clear twisted Essie branded glass bottle, and the colour of the deep red polish is visible through the glass. There is no base coat with this gel couture system. It’s designed to be used as a two-step process; two coasts of colour followed by one coat of ‘platinum grade finish’ top coat.

To start, I filed and shaped my nails, pushed back the cuticles, gave them a light buff and then cleansed them well with nail polish remover to remove any natural nail oils before applying the first coat of polish.

The wide, flat, round ended brush mirrors the cuticle area perfectly, making it really easy to get a perfect coat in just four swipes of the brush; one down the middle, one down each side, and then one across the tip to cap the free edge. The polish is well pigmented, gives a good opaque colour in just two coats, and dries in 30 to 60 seconds if applied correctly (thinly). By the time I’d painted my second hand, the thin layer of polish on the first hand was dry and ready for the second coat.

Something I did notice is that this polish has a very cold feel on the nails with each layer. It’s a little strange, but disappears as soon as the polish starts to dry. Any accidental messes on the skin around my nails were easily cleaned up with a bit of nail polish remover on a cotton bud.

The twisted shape of these bottles makes it horribly uncomfortable to roll the bottles before use, and Essie should have considered this, especially since they recommend that polish bottles be rolled not shaken. (Shaking polish introduces air bubbles, which affect both the formula over time and the polish application.) These bottles also don’t fit into each other, the twists and bases don’t line up, so they take up a lot more room than Essie’s traditional square bottles, or round polish bottles do.

After 3 hours of typing the next day, the tips started to show signs of wear on the tips. By day 6, the wear was quite bad on my index fingernails, and on day 7 it began chipping on multiple nails. I removed the polish and reapplied on day 8 and found that my nails had a definite pinkish tinge to them. So, yes, even though this polish is designed to be used without a base coat, the dark red colour of Spiked With Style does definitely stain my nails slightly.

With Essie’s Gel Couture it’s said that you can get up to 14 days wear, but with other enamel polishes I usually end up with wear and chipping after 2-3 days, so 7 days wear before chipping for gel couture is really not bad.

I am currently trialling this Essie Gel Couture nail polish in the shade Model Citizen which is a bright pink colour. It's a darker, bright, shade of pink not a pale, baby pink colour. I have light, tanned skintone and it makes my fingernails look pretty with my skintone. The nail polish bottle is quite cool, it sort of twists in shape, the glass which looks neat. You can see the pink polish inside. The lid is white and twists off easy. I applied this nail Gel polish in an easy, 2-step system. Step 1: Apply two coats of Essie gel couture colour. It went on smooth and the coverage was good on each of my nails. I waited a few minutes in between each layer before I applied the next coat. I didn't have to wait that long for the coats of nail colour to dry. Step 2: Apply Essie gel couture top coat to seal in your colour manicure. This is clear and again went on super easy and dried quite quickly. Afterwards, I was happy with my nail colour manicure. I used to bite my nails which I've managed to grow recently so this Gel nail colour has made my nails look much better. I've also noticed my nails are not so brittle since trialling these products. I'm a Mum of two so I'm always doing dishes with hot water and I have hot baths most nights so my nail polish usually wears off and chips but not this one. It seems to be lastimg longer than other cheap brands I've tried. I had a look online at Farmers at this Essie range, there's about 19 other beautiful, sophisticated Gel Couture nail colours in the range aswell as the Top Coat, all priced at $18.99. Pricewise, these are a little pricey for me but I think they are good quality and they are long-lasting after trying this Essie Gel Couture. I will be using regularly until it runs out to make my nails look pretty.

This gel polish is a nice consistency not to thick or thin, it applied really nice and the applicator really shaped to my nail to help get good even application. It does have a very strong nail polish fragrance, which was a little over whelming but only smelt while the bottle was open and once it was dried it was gone. This gives great coverage and i only needed 2 coats to get a nice even colour. It lasted so well on my nails i'm a mother and always have my hands in water or cleaning and i got a good 7 days with this, which i would never get out of nail regular nail polish. Its a good full bottle and i will get 13.5ml and i will get a lot for coats out of this bottle and at $18.99 (while a little pricey) i actually think is a really good price for the amount of wear i can get out of it. Its in a sleek glass bottle with a twist though it very minimal and very pleasing to look at, it the type of bottle i will have displayed not hidden in a box or draw. I really like this product and it apples well i did find it dried really quickly and you cant really go over it and make again until it dried otherwise it doesn't apply quite as smooth. Second time i found it easier and it came off easily with no damage to my natural nails. I would recommend this to anyone as an alternative to the salon polish and gel its a quarter of the price and i was happy with the results.

The colour I am reviewing is ‘spiked with style’. A deep rich red colour. I absolutely adore it and it goes with everything!

The formula is beautiful. It paints on super smooth with great opacity, you could almost get away with one coat but a second really brings out the deep colour. I was surprised at how quickly it dried! This was a huge plus for me as it made the painting job nice and quick and I didn’t have to worry about ruining it over the drying period.

The bottle is really pretty with a geometric twisted shape and the fan shaped brush is great.

The trial I did was with the top coat and I haven’t had time to try the polish alone yet so I can’t speak to how it lasts alone. I will try it out and come back to update! Overall I love this polish and will absolutely be buying more shades!

This is a great formula. The brush is flat with a domed tip which makes application quick and easy. The formula is thick and opaque and doesn’t rub off on the ends which I have found with some other gel nail polishes. The formula is long lasting but I wouldn’t say it lasts 12 days. For me it began to chip at about day 7. the polish still looks nice and majority has stayed on, other than some chipping on then end of my index and middle fingers