Review: Essie Nail Polishes - Fiji and Cute As A Button
Hi everyone!So Essie has been on my radar as a bit of a must have brand for quite some time. They're a firm favourite with a lot of bloggers and I seem to be the last of my friends to have discovered their amazingness! Despite not having any nails whatsoever until very recently (i've had a horrible nail biting habit since childhood but i've finally cracked it!) I have a pretty hefty nail polish collection. I got quite into nail art a year or so ago and built up quite the collection of mostly Models Own shades, their £5 price tag and good range of colours always seemed to sway me when it came to choosing a polish brand.
Essie has only recently become available in my local Boots so i've been back and forth to the stand a few times having a look and deciding against them, i'm so indecisive at times I even annoy myself. But every time i've seen peoples Instagram snaps or reviews, everyone seems to absolutely rave about the quality of them, so on a little trip into town with the boyfriend the other day I spied a buy one get one half price offer and finally took the plunge. The polishes usually retail for £7.99 but obviously with this offer I got two polishes for around £11 which is fab!
The selection of colours really is amazing, from gorgeous pastels to lovely berry toned autumn colours, which for indecisive Sopho and a increasingly impatient boyfriend did not help the situation! Anyway, I eventually settled on two colours, Fiji and Cute As A Button (aren't the names the cutest!). I couldn't wait to get them home and have a bit of a painting session, the next decision was which one to try out first, Fiji won that battle!
Fiji is a gorgeous super pale, almost white, pink colour. The website actually describes it as an 'opaque creamy pink'. Although we're moving into the colder months of the year and as such a darker more Autumn toned nail polish tends to reign supreme, I do tend to go against that a lot as i'm just an absolute sucker for a pastel. The brush is slightly wider than other polishes i've used and seems to be of a much better quality than some, after all theres nothing worse than brush marks all over your nails. The wider brush means that you can paint your whole nail in a couple of strokes which is fab. The polish itself goes on really smoothly and seems to dry a whole lot quicker than lots of other polishes i've used over the years which can never be a bad thing can it?! I absolutely loathe waiting for my nails to dry and I always end up smudging them despite waiting an absolute age, but these ones seem to dry really quickly.
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| Essie- Fiji |
In terms of how many coats you need, for Fiji I did go for three which seems pretty excessive I admit, but as it's a super pale colour it does go on fairly sheer, a few thin coats are better than a couple of super thick ones anyways and the end result was a lovely super opaque creamy pink colour.
Cute As A Button is a gorgeous coral colour which reminds me a lot of a Shellac colour (the name escapes me now!) that I was a little obsessed with earlier in the summer. It's such a pretty colour, admittedly it's maybe a little too summery for the encroaching Autumnal weather but I love it, and whats wrong with clinging onto the summer a little longer anyways?! Again the colour is lovely but it did need three coats, but like Fiji it dried really quickly.
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| Essie- Cute As A Button |
In terms of lasting power, I popped Fiji on my nails straight after buying it on Saturday and it only started to chip after getting back to mine on Tuesday so thats 3 days no chips, I will admit though, as I was at Dans I had no topcoat so i'd imagine with a topcoat they would last far longer and I'm also a bit of a nightmare for using my nails to do things like use the touchscreen till at work and things so bear that in mind also! This might just be me but I do think that they smell much less harsh than other polishes, I love the smell of nail polish but the Essie ones don't seem to smell quite as strongly which is never a bad thing, especially for things like nail art where you'll be painting for a while, the last thing you need to be doing is inhaling a whole load of polish fumes so i'll definitely be turning to these for any future nail art creations!
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So i've loved my first experience with Essie and it's definitely made me into a bit of a convert (sorry Models Own but you'll have to take a backseat for now!). I'm thinking I might try some of the more seasonally appropriate colours next time, I quite fancy something along the lines of all of the burgundy/oxblood colours that are fluttering about so any recommendations would be very very welcome!
Have you tried any Essie polishes? Which ones do you recommend?
Cute as a button is my all time favourite favourite colour!
ReplyDeleteIt's absolutely gorgeous isn't it! Think it's fast becoming my favourite too! xx
DeleteThese are both gorgeous, I've never really got on with Essie polishes though :( x
ReplyDeleteI'd heard a few people say the same thing but i've kind of fallen out of love with the formulation of Models Own polishes recently so thought it was worth a go! I'm so far quite impressed! xx
DeleteI love the Essie nail polishes! Fiji is a colour I have wanted to try for ages but was never sure how it would look on.... but it's really pretty on you so I may pick one up! :)
ReplyDeleteKammi
xx
http://beautybookblog.com
It's such a versatile colour, all i'd say is that it does need a good few coats to get a really even and opaque finish but it's gorgeous when it's all done! xx
DeleteI love Essie polishe, the colours look really nice here, will have to check those out.
ReplyDeleteSammie
Little Blonde Life
Oh definitely do they're fab =) xx
DeleteOoooo fiji looks great! I've never tried essie :O
ReplyDeleteIt's such a fab every day colour! Essie is most definitely worth a try, i'd resisted trying it for ages but so glad that I did! xx
DeleteHi Soph love essie I've nominated you for a versatile blogger award. Check libertylovesmakeup.blogspot.com live from 24/09/2013 for details x
ReplyDeleteThats so lovely of you, thanks! =) xx
DeleteHi I'm Josie, and I nominating you for the Liebster Awards
ReplyDeletehere's the link to the details: http://picturinglifetimes.blogspot.com/2013/09/liebster.html
great post by the way! I love Essie, and I need to try "cute as a button" now
Thanks lovely =) i'll have a look, and it's a lovely colour, definitely worth a try! xx
DeleteSuch gorgeous colours! I love essie, I think bikini so teeny, a light blue would have to be my favourite, fiji is so pretty though!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog by the way, new follower here :)
Carrie:Brighton xx
I've been wanting to try that colour for ages, will have to seek it out I think! Thanks so much lovely, glad you like it =) xx
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