Essie Gel Couture Nail Polish Review

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 bottle is very cool and just looks 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.

I left my nails for about 3-4 minutes between coats and the second coat went on just as smooth.

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. These started to wear at about day 8.

I think the price is about right for a quality, long lasting nail polish.

I think this is a great polish 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!

I trialled ‘Spiked with Style’ and am in love with the colour! So rich, deep and just the right amount of ‘vamp’. I found the consistency to be creamy enough to give good coverage while also being thin enough to dry quickly which I also love. The brush shape makes for easy application-in fact so easy that I was able to apply this dark colour without needing touch ups. Although I didn’t get 12 days out of the polish I would use Essie Gel Couture nail polish again just for the reasons listed. I would also recommend it to friends.

I've been wearing this polish for just over 7 days and it's lasted quite well. There's only a little chipping around the edges of my nails and for someone who works with their hands all day I can live with that! The colour I was using was "fairy tailor" (a light baby pink shade) and looks amazing as a 1 coat sheer nude. Using 2 coats was a hit and miss for me, some nails looked great but most nails the colour was patchy. Perhaps with some practice I would get better at applying this formula, I'm not used to working with a polish that's so thin and sheer. I did end up removing the polish from 2 nails and redoing them because they looked weird with streaky patches of colour, but I at least know that the polish is extremely easy to remove. Just requires standard nail polish remover (as much as I love the longevity of gel nails I just can't stand the loooong removal process), so this is a big plus for me! Overall, I like how this polish has withstood the day to day work I do that usually sees most other polishes chip within 24-48hrs. I think I'll stick to wearing this shade as a 1 coat and maybe look at whether there are less sheer shades in this range because I'd love to try them out!

I have always been a huge fan of Essie's nail polishes and this range did not disappoint!

First of all, its so hard to pick a colour, so many beautiful shades, and iv always been a fan of their natural/nude colour range. The colour I have is in the shade 'Buttoned and Buffed' and it is a beautiful dark nude colour. I loved the shade, quite natural but also you could tell my nails were polished :)

The formula was so easy to apply, it applied smoothly and evenly. The polish gave a nice shine to my nails. It applied relatively thickly and because I was going to apply a top coat, I decided to go with only the one coat as one coat gave enough colour and coverage. The polish also dried pretty quickly too which was awesome!

The brush is standard, but wow the nail polish bottle for these are so beautiful! Its a twisted glass bottle and it looks beautiful on my makeup shelf!

Will definitely be purchasing more.

Wow I absolutely LOVE this colour. It looks so good on my nails and real gives it a nice shine. The texture is so nice and thin and slides so easy when applying to your nail. It dries really fast too so you dont have to wait or worry that its going to take long to dry. You can simply apply the next coat and continue from there and so you can go hang up your washing without it getting smudged in no time.

Using both the polish & top coat was definitely a better option. The polish did set slightly strangely, with a blotch in one corner than wasn't there when I painted them, but perhaps just a user error. Took quite awhile to dry. Quite a bit of chipping around the edges but the main body of the nail has stayed put well so may be a result of heavy usage of hands. Colour did clump in some patches.

The ted of this is beautiful and bright, would definitely buy for the colour again The brush is a round shape that I found a bit different to use so it bled a bit, bit I'm sure with practice it would work for me.

Lasted well on my toes, not great on kids hands! Smell.is low and bottle shape great!

Thank you Beauty Review for this very cool trial team product!

The bottle is a twisted version of the standard Essie bottles - a really nice touch for brand recognition but a different product.

I chose the shade Walk the Hemline, because who am I to turn down a Johnny Cash pun. And also a stunning deep mocha nude shade!

Super easy to apply, clean and quick. 2 coats went on smoothly.

Normal nail polish chips within a few days, but this lasted closer to 10 before starting to look ratty.

Highly recommend!

I really really loved the classic red colour I tried. It was so easy to apply- went on smoothly and neatly. As a mail polish it’s one of the better ones I’ve used, however it definitely didn’t last as long as it claimed

The colour range is amazing. I’ve had comments on my colour! 2 coats provide a perfect finish. So long lasting compared to lots of other brands.