{in which the future Aesthetician talks about Beauty things.}

Imagine a wind swept beach, white sand glinting golden in the rays of the setting sun. A thick tropical forest of flowering trees and fruit trees lines the edge of the beach. Succulent aromas of the growing fruit and flowers perfumes the gentle beach. The water, tranquil and clear laps the shore and spans out, brilliant aquamarine, a dazzling cerulean jewels. You lounge near the water, serene, drinking in the last of the warm light of a perfect day.

Now that you have this image of paradise and absolute serenity, transform this image into a color, bottle that color and sell it to a beauty brand. What you have there is “turquoise & caicos” (752) nail polish by Essie, a bright aqua color which reminds me of the warm waters of my favorite beach in Kauai, Hawaii.

Other than a sampler kit of the OPI Hong Kong collection a year ago, I have only ever used drugstore brand polishes, like those of Rimmel London and Sally Hansen, but have always bemoaned the inevitable letdown; they never lived up to what they claim in the polish titles. “10 Day Fast Dry No Chip” polishes crack, peel or chip within three or four days. “2 minute fast quick dry” smeared or got dented two hours later, or when I got in the shower five hours later and had to wash my hair. The only Essie product I have ever used is the “fill the gap” ridge filling base coat, which I felt performed at least 60% better than Sally Hansen base coats.

So when I saw my local Walgreens had gotten Essie nail lacquers in the entire color catalog, I pretty much decided to go for it. Considering that some of the more salon-quality (purportedly) versions of Sally Hansen polishes can run close to $6 without that much better staying power, paying $7.99 for a bottle of Essie wasn’t that much of a stretch. I grabbed the first color that reminded me of spring and summer, that pop of aqua amongst the deep blues and corals and baby pinks. I also reached for a deep blackish aubergine-y, plummy color called “devil’s advocate.”

Essie polishes are renown among beauty and style bloggers, but having never given it a fair shot myself, I had no idea how good they are.

{reaction}

The colors go on with a very crystalline finish, in other words, it’s very, very shiny–glasslike. Being a newer bottle, the formulation is pretty sheer. So instead of the normal two coats to get a nice opaque layer, you probably need three or four.

What floored me is the staying power. Most drugstore polishes I’ve tried usually start cracking (hairline fractures on the surface of the polish) within two days and chipping on the nail tips after two or three. By day four the polish is cracked off to the point of looking gnarly. Today is the fifth day I have the polish on (I did my nails on Sunday afternoon) and there are only two or three microscopic chips in the corners of a couple of nails, and a bit of wearing down on the nail tips. If I look closely in the light, the hairline fractures are there, but there’s only a handful, whereas a SH polish or Revlon or Rimmel would already have chipped off to show half my nail.

And the color. Not only does it remind me of a perfect beach in a garden paradise, it also reminds me of the glow of Mako in the Lifestream in Final Fantasy VII. Yes, it’s a video game reference, and the fact that a nail company had gotten the color exactly right inadvertently–that is to say, presumably without even knowing what the Mako Lifestream or Final Fantasy VII was–pleases me to no end.

I can only assume that most of the Essie top coats will prolong the color even more and probably prevent the tiny cracks from happening as fast as they did. However, getting a polish to last the better part of five days is a miracle for any non-gel, non-acrylic color to achieve, so I’m not complaining.

Over all, I’m pretty darn amazed with the Essie polish, moreover, I feel that it is a superior to the OPI polishes I bought last year, and astronomically better than the Sally Hansen “Salon Manicure” iterations.

I’ll give the dark polish a go next, and if that performs as well as turquoise & caicos did, I’m pretty much going to be a believer forever.

{Final Rating}: 4.75/5 (because getting a perfect should be a bit hard)

{What are your favorite polish brands and/or colors?}

FTC Disclaimer: I was not solicited, provoked or compensated in any way, shape or form to compose this review. I bought the product with my own money, for my own enjoyment, and this is my 100% honest reaction. This review is not endorsed by Essie LLC in any way. But if it could be one day, awesome. Hopefully the writing speaks for itself.

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