essie Gel Couture Longwear Nail Polish + Top Coat Kit, Sew Me, 0.46 fl. oz.

Finally a nail polish that has staying power! I’m not allowed to have acrylic nails or gel polish that requires a uv light to dry because I’m a healthcare worker & the hospital I work for is strict about this policy with those that work in direct patient care. Regular nail polishes never seem to have the staying power that those gel polishes have for me! A co worker told me to give the Essie gel couture line a try so I started with this bottle (v.i.please) & I’ve now got 14 bottles of Essie gel polishes. I’ve used 3 of the 14 colors so far & they all stayed on for 2 weeks with only the tips of my nails & the growth from my cuticles to show the wear. The color range is wonderful & the polish easy to use & easy to remove! That’s another huge bonus because soaking my nails in acetone & using the electric nail drill would thin my nails so terribly! I have tried the Sally Hensen gel polishes before & I do like them but never got the same lasting power that I do with Essie gel polish. This is just what works for me & it’s worth a try if you are looking for something like this.

This might be the longest lasting nice polish I have tried. I did use the top coat each time. Goes on nice as well.

The picture shows light pink but it’s quite white with a “hint of champagne” which is a pinkish gold gleam. Not what a wanted but it’s okay. The first coat is very streaky like many whites but the 2nd coat and topcoat smooth it out

While no polish is going to be chip proof, this is the only regular paint on style polish I’ve tried that lasts more than a few days without chipping. There’s definitely some shrinkage and wear around the edges after a few days, but I went a week without any major chips or pieces flaking off. I even touched up the edges and went another week with very minimal wear on it then. I workout regularly, wash my hands often, and do dishes without gloves. I definitely put some wear and tear on my nails and this polish still looked decent after a week.This photo was taken after 5 days of wear for reference!Tldr: it’s not gel or acrylic quality, but it’s the longest lasting and most chip resistant polish I’ve ever used.

When I first began using this stuff I was convinced it was the holy grail for me. I love the way it applies. The slightly wider than the norm brush applies polish perfectly -- at first. And therein lies the issue. In my experience, this polish degrades very quickly once the bottle is opened. I haven't documented it with any precision, but I'd estimate within a few months it becomes gloppy. And I've tried the thinning drops, which do improve a bit, but not enough. Interestingly this seems to be a more serious issue with darker colors.The next issue is the shine. It's lovely initially. But within a day or two it loses it's shine (unlike OPI infinite shine).Last, it's a slightly thicker finish. So within a few days, it's easy to peel it off, often in one sweep. This seems ideal from the perspective of a clean removal -- but it's very bad for the nail, especially if you do it more than once, leaving them weak and brittle. It does remove with remover with relative ease, but the fact it can just peel away is problematic for me (and a bit tempting -- if it happens to one, I want to do it to others).Shine