essence gel nail polish: Review + Swatches

Colour and quality and price, oh my!

Gel nail polishes are taking the world by storm, and luckily for us, they're also taking over the drugstores at affordable prices.

One brand that's embraced the at-home gel polish is essence cosmetics.

 

If you're not familiar with essence cosmetics, they are a German based makeup company that focuses on creating high quality makeup with low prices. Their line, which ranges from nail polish to concealer and just about everything in between, is always staying on top of the latest trends (they release 6 limited edition collections per year) while still giving us the good ole classics. With prices that range from $0.99 -$4.99 (and the occasional item at $9.99), it's easy to try and experiment with the newest colours and trends without breaking your beauty budget.

In March 2012, essence expanded to the Canadian market and can be found exclusively at Shoppers Drug Mart (and Pharmaprix in Québec). essence is currently sold in 60 countries and is the #1 brand in 11 of them! If all that isn't enough, they also do not test their products on animals. 

essence gel nail polish has replaced their colour and go line and is available in 15 colours + clear, a base coat and top coat. They did keep most of the colours from the previous line.

The colours, in order as shown above (incl. clear):

01 - Absolute Pure
33 - Wild White Ways
06 - Space Queen
05 - Sweet as Candy
07 - Party Princess
09 - # Lucky
24 - Indian Summer
47 - Va-Va-Voom
16 - Femme Fatale
52 - Amazed By You
30 - Lets Get Lost
27 - Don't be Shy
40 - Play With My Mint
49 - Turn the Lights On!
53 - Rock My World!
46 - Black is Back
Base Coat
Top Coat

They kept the same great, wide brush and the formula feels the same. The polish itself seems glossier and lasts for almost a solid week before it needs to be changed (due to chipping). At $2.99 per colour, this is a perfect way to add some colour to any outfit.

33 - Wild White Ways  06 - Space Queen  05 - Sweet as Candy  07 - Party Princess
09 - # Lucky

24 - Indian Summer  47 - Va-Va-Voom  16 - Femme Fatale  52 - Amazed By You
30 - Lets Get Lost

27 - Don't be Shy  40 - Play With My Mint  49 - Turn the Lights On!  53 - Rock My World!
46 - Black is Back

Here are four colours that I have from the colour & go line compared to the new gel formula.

Have you tried these out yet?