REVIEW: I LOVE ESSIE

First off, apologies for being a little M.I.A lately. I intended on having this post up at the weekend but the UK finally got summer and it has been far too hot. I also went to see some friends in Birmingham on Saturday and then on Sunday we had a family BBQ as my niece was one, which is a little bit mental.

Anyhow, on to the blog post!

A few weeks back I made an order on Fragrance Direct. If you're not sure what that is, it is a website that sells makeup, skin care, hair products and perfume and there's a lot of products on there at super discounted prices. Some of the Dainty Doll makeup range is on there for £1.99, with a RRP of £14/15!
I saw that Essie nail polishes were on the site also for £1.99 and when they are £7.99 in Boots, I just caved.

Essie became more readily available in the UK over the last year or so and everyone went nuts over it but I just couldn't justify spending £8 on a bottle of nail polish no matter how much I wanted to. Not helped by the Essie stand in Boots being brighter than the sun and standing out way too much against the other stands.
I ended up buying two of the shades: Mojito Madness and Bikini So Teeny. I know that everyone has raved Bikini So Teeny but I'd never heard anything about the other and I don't really have green nail polishes so I decided to give it a go!

You can see that Bikini So Teeny has a slight shimmer through it which you can't really see on the nail if you were bothered by that but sometimes when the light hits you can tell and I think it's really pretty.
I didn't think the green would be as ~green but I have ended up loving it!
I could have easily have gotten away with one coat of each colour but with the blue being a bit pale, I put two coats on just to make the most out of the colour but the green was just one coat and then a Sally Hansen top coat on top.
I never thought to take a photo straight after application as I didn't expect them to be as good as they are but the following photos are taken five... yes FIVE, days after first applying with no touch ups.

I painted my nails on Sunday and these are how they looked towards the end of Thursday. Apologies for iPhone photos, but as you can see there is very minimal chipping which I was super impressed with. Usually after about two days for me, they need redoing. I ended up keeping this colour on until the following Sunday when they still looked like this. The colour is actually very similar to the Barry M Gelly in Blueberry, which I am actually wearing at the moment and it's currently on day 4 and they are looking in desperate need for a new coat.

So I took the blue off on Sunday and changed it for the Mojito Madness. Again these photos where taken on Thursday and there's literally no chipping on them! At first the colour was a slight shock but I have really grown to love it but I know it's probably not to everyone's taste.

I now definitely understand the Essie hype and to be honest they are worth the £8 price tag. The formula of them is great and if you're in a rush, one coat would be totally fine to see you through. The brush is also really good. It's a perfect size and shape for the nail and I found it much easier to paint just the nail and not all the skin around it! (As you can tell, I'm a bit of a noob at nail painting.)
I'm going to have to avoid the Essie counter in future because I know I'll end up with the whole collection!

Do you like Essie?