Beauty

[Rachb]

I applied the gel couture in Sit Me in the Front Row Sunday afternoon. It's a great, smooth formula. No basecoat needed. Because of this, I can see the ridges in my thumbnails through the polish. But I can just buff them a little more next time. Two coats of polish have really nice, opaque coverage. The topcoat left some very slight brush marks even though I applied it pretty thick to try to avoid this. It's probably not really noticeable to other people looking at my nails but it bugs me. I might tweak my application technique next time to see if I can avoid it. It dried to the touch in 5 minutes and was rock hard after an hour. I do feel I can be a little less ginger with my hands than with regular polish. My nails grow really quickly and I keep them on the shorter side so there's no way I'd go two weeks even if it didn't chip or peel in that time. It's now been 5 days. I changed my watch strap this morning and you have to use your thumb nail and index nail to apply pressure to tiny little levers when both removing and replacing the strap. I thought for sure my polish would chip doing this. Index nail is unscathed. Thumb nail has a chip in the topcoat but not the polish. Also, my index nails grow at a slight angle and typically the polish toward the outer corners tends to crack/split after a few days because of the way the nail bends. No crack yet. However, there's a lot of loss of shine as compared to my usual quick drying topcoat, HK Girl. And I like shine! I'll update again a couple of days. Again, my nails grow fast so I wouldn't keep this polish on for longer than 7-8 days anyway.

[jackthebear]

thanks

[juperier]

@Rachb I would recommend trying a ridge filling base coat and seeing if that works with the gel couture. If it doesn't affect the wear time negatively, that's a far better option than filing. Ridges are not due to the nail being thicker at the high points, but rather because the nail is thinner at the low spots. 

[wvumountiefan]

@Rachb  Thanks for the review. I was wanting to try these new Essie polishes. Keep us updated. 

[Rachb]

@wvumountiefan I will post an update Saturday or Sunday when I most likely will change the polish. I also bought a sheer pink so I'll try that next. I like it enough that I'm going to get more colors.

[jackthebear]

@Rachb   do you think they are worth the extra cost, even at Harmon they are $9+  or $2/ 19

[Rachb]

I pay 11.50 each, which is the retail price. I'm fine with the cost. It's still cheaper than a manicure.

[VaBelle35]

Thanks for your review.

I read the reviews on Amazon and ordered this yesterday.  I go to the salon every two weeks and wanted to try this for my in between week.

[VaBelle35]

I used this for the first time last Friday.  I took off my salon polish and used this.  I'm not impressed and I don't think it wears any better than regular Essie.

At Red Door, they use both alcohol and acetone on your nail to make sure all the moisturizer and goo that they've used on your cuticles is complete gone.  Then they rough up your nail a bit with a buffer. I have them use my own polish.  I use Orly Bonder as a base coat, 2 coats of ESsie and then 1 coat of Seche Vite (I put a second coat of Seche Vite on when I get home).

I am careful with my nails. I use rubber gloves anywhere near water.  I don't do any cleaning, gardening or cooking when I get a manicure (I save that for my off week).  I get at least 8 good days from a manicure, sometimes 10 before it starts to come off.

I am on day 6.  On Sunday night, I was showing wear around the tips so I re-did the tips and put a second top coat on.  3 days later I am showing even more wear around the tips and sides.

I like the color, I like the finish.  I just don't think it's doing anything extra for me for the price.

[Mrsq2022]

---

@VaBelle35 wrote:

I used this for the first time last Friday.  I took off my salon polish and used this.  I'm not impressed and I don't think it wears any better than regular Essie.

At Red Door, they use both alcohol and acetone on your nail to make sure all the moisturizer and goo that they've used on your cuticles is complete gone.  Then they rough up your nail a bit with a buffer. I have them use my own polish.  I use Orly Bonder as a base coat, 2 coats of ESsie and then 1 coat of Seche Vite (I put a second coat of Seche Vite on when I get home).

I am careful with my nails. I use rubber gloves anywhere near water.  I don't do any cleaning, gardening or cooking when I get a manicure (I save that for my off week).  I get at least 8 good days from a manicure, sometimes 10 before it starts to come off.

I am on day 6.  On Sunday night, I was showing wear around the tips so I re-did the tips and put a second top coat on.  3 days later I am showing even more wear around the tips and sides.

I like the color, I like the finish.  I just don't think it's doing anything extra for me for the price.

---

I'm not impressed either, but since the only one I own is from the sale bin from Ulta for $5, figured maybe it was old?  I thought that it was thicker going on than regular or gel polish (which I don't particularly like because it's hard to get smooth even layers) and it did did cover in two.  It dried pretty quickly but not no faster for me that when I use Seche vite over any old nail polish.  

For me it lasted no longer than a regular polish and did not compare to gel.