Essence "the Gel"nail polish Road Test.

*Press Sample.

Hi there everyone!

Today I wanted to share with you the new look Gel polish from Essence.

Photo- Essence

Recently Essence re-branded their nail polish to be what they have described as a no UV lamp needed gel polish.

The new polish is a 3 part system with a base coat, colour and Top coat.

Photo- Essence

Simple enough right? So when I was sent out the base and top coat plus 2 colours I decided to road test the product.

I had tried the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel which is a no lamp gel polish, so I had something to compare results with.

I decided to try one of the colours on my left hand. I am left handed so this would get the most wear. I have 2 kids as well so this polish like all polish I road test would get a huge workout!

*I would like to add before popping up results that regular polish stays on my nails for maybe a day before it starts to chip. Previous no lamp gel polishes lasted only 5 days before I had to remove due to chips and regular gel polish will only stay on my nails for maybe 7 days max.

 I currently do not have bare nails I have hard gel overlays on them at the moment to my results may vary for others.

Ok So I did as per the instructions. I cleaned my nails and put one coat of the gel base coat. The base coat was a little gluggy but workable. Not runny at all. It went on clear but dried a little frosted/matte looking. This was good to know that I could now place my colour on.

I decided to try Ever Young I put on 2 coats of colour,let dry then placed the gel top coat on.

DAY 1- As you can see the colour is pretty and to be honest the shine was amazing! I was quite impressed on how fast the top coat dried as well.

DAY 3- I had started to get a little tip wear on my pointy finger and some of the shine had gone. the little pinkie also had a small amount of tip wear. But I had not had any chips yet.

Sorry about the pic. it has been raining here so could not get a sunny shot.

DAY 5- By day five the tip wear was quite apparent on most of my nails and the polish has started to chip of on the side of my pointy finger. the shine was the same as day 3 which was good. At this point I needed to remove the polish, the wear was noticeable and I did not feel comfortable in wearing polish this worn. My hubby even commented on why I had chipped nails!!

All in all I was impressed on the wear. For me 5 days is a LONG time to wear a polish and really in the scheme of things the wear was not as bad as I have seen some peoples nails.

After this interesting result I wanted to check out why it wore so well on me.

I asked a friend who is in to the scientific side of polish and after reading the ingredients, we found something interesting out. This polish is pretty much regular polish. There are no photoiniators in this polish which is what is used to make a polish "cure"in daylight. Sally Hansen Miracle gels DO have photoimiators in them but the Essence does not. 

Basically the whole new "gel"polish re branding is exactly that. But why did it work so well on my nails?? 

Honestly I do not know. Essence "the Gel"polish is a play on words. they say you do not need a lamp to use this product. this is correct, but you do not need a lamp for ANY regular polish.

Personally I think the combo of their base coat, colour and Top coat is what caused the polish to last as long as it did. Like most people, when I wear a polish I use one brand of base, a different colour and a different brand again for a top coat. I think that maybe a combo of the 3 essence products work well together.

So what does this mean for you????

Honestly....nothing. Essence have always had a great range of coloured polishes for a reasonable price. and the availability is everywhere. If you like a colour, I say buy it! and the Top coat is super fast drying and gives an awesome shine. If your looking for a gel polish....my advice spend the cash and buy the real thing, none of these "no lamp"gel polishes will be the same as the real thing, but for my money, the essence polish is worth it for the colours alone.

Top and base coats are $5.10 each and the colours are $3.25 each, so a bargain!

You can purchase from places like Priceline, Target or The Heat Group.

Until next time.......