Tuesday, December 1, 2015

24 days of swatches & reviews -- essence advent calendar :: FINISHED


The essie advent calendar consists of 24 nail products - mostly nail polish or nail art/manicure supplies.

All polishes are minis and have 5ml/0.16 fl.oz. of product in the bottle.
















Day 1 - my wish list



my wish list is a pastel/baby pink creme. The swatch picture shows 3 coats. (Please excuse the green cuticles, the polish I wore before this stained :/ )
This polish dries super glossy. Formula is okay, not too thick, not too runny. Depending on your preference, 2 coats might be enough for you.








Day 2 - snowflakes are kisses sent from heaven

This polish is labeled as a 'snowflake top coat'. It consists of medium matte white hex glitter, microscopic (& very thin) white bar glitter, as well as a very subtle iridescent miroglitter.

The swatch picture shows 1 coat over essie's don't sweater it.

Sometimes, the larger hex glitters can sink to the bottom, but a little swirling helps with that!




Day 3 - kiss under the mistle toe

This is a forest green/christmas tree green creme. The swatch picture shows 2 coats. This polish is opaque in one thick coat, but I prefer doing two thin ones. The formula is a little thick, but that's necessary for a polish this opaque.








Day 4 - see you in my dreams

see you in my dreams is a pink shimmer topper. It is described as a 'galaxy lights top coat'. In the bottle, it almost looks like it could be worn on its own, but that is not easily possible. The swatch picture shows 1 coat over black. It almost has a duo-/multichrome effect to it, but it's very subtle. The formula is pretty standard. You have to make sure to do a thin coat, so it doesn't get too milky/white. This polish dries slightly dull.





Day 5 - the night of magic

This polish is a very dark, almost black, blue creme. In most lighting, this looks black, but in bright natural lights, the blue undertone is visible. The swatch picture shows one coat, and since the picture was taken in indoor lighting, it looks black. This polish dries to a semi-matte finish. The formula is pretty decent for a one-coater.







Day 6 - stocking shaped nail file








Day 7 - made with love

made with love is a nude crelly/jelly polish. The swatch picture shows four coats. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this polish as much as the previous ones. This is very sheer and also has quite a thick formula. Not a good combination unfortunately. Even with 4 coats, it was only about 95% opaque (and it started looking very goopy).

This polish dries very glossy though.





Day 8 - my dear reindeer

This polish is a medium to dark grey creme with a cool purple undertone. The swatch picture shows two coats. I think you might be able to get it opaque in one thick coat, I just tend to do thinner ones. The formula was really great with this one, just a tiny bit runny (which might make using a thick coat problematic). This polish dries semi-matte.







Day 9 - north pole princess

north pole princess is labeled as a 'jelly flakes top coat'. Basically, it consists of transparent hex glitter in a clear base. The swatch picture shows one coat over essence's miss captain. I like this. It's unique. The only downside is that you can't really topcoat this. It dries textured because the base dries down smaller than the glitter, but as soon as you topcoat it, the hexes almost disappear into the actual polish. Nevertheless, I think it's a great concept and definitely not something I expected to get.





Day 10 - rudolph's favorite

rudolph's favorite is a light to medium red creme. I'm wearing three coats in the swatch picture, but two coats might be enough for you if you're less picky or if you do thicker coats. The formula is pretty standard, not too thick, not too thin. do you speak love?, also by essence, is a dupe for this. It's sliiightly darker, but it's hardly noticeable. This looks like it has a cool undertone.






Day 11 - from me to you

from me to you is burnt orange creme that leans red. I have nothing like this in my collection. I don't even know if I defined that color correctly to be honest. The swatch picture shows two coats, but it's pretty damn close to a one-coater. The formula is nice, a little thinner than most formulas, but not unbearable to work with at all.








Day 12 - winter wonderland

winter wonderland is a very light baby blue creme. I'm wearing three coats in the swatch picture. The formula was average, but the polish was pretty streaky on the first and patchy on the second coat. The third coat evened everything out easily though. This polish dries slightly dull. It has a slightly purple-y undertone.








Day 13 - nail stickers (01 ho! ho! ho!)













Day 14 - add on magic!

add on magic! is a golden shimmer topper that dries to a matte finish. It looks okay matte, but that shimmer really pops after putting on top coat! This is why I decided to take photos of both versions. Both pictures show one coat over black. The formula is pretty standard and the shimmer is very dense.



Day 15 - candy cane lemonade

candy cane lemonade is labeled as an 'ombré top coat'. This is basically essence's version of the OPI Color Paints. This is the magenta/red-ish version. The biggest difference to the OPI ones is that this one is insanely sheer. Like, I get that they're supposed to be sheer & should be used for layering, but this one hardly alters the color underneath at all. My swatch picture shows one coat on my index finger, two on my middle finger and three on my ring finger - all over white. In addition to it being more sheer than expected, it is VERY thin in consistency and therefore tends to pool at the side of your nails. That's why I had problems applying this. It was so runny that I hard a super hard time trying to make my coats even. Also, in my first swatch attempt, I didn't let the white underneath dry completely. This resulted in the polish lifting up some of the white and therefore turning it into a patchy and streaky mess.

Day 16 - have a very pink x-mas

This is a bright pink-red fusion creme. (Fusion. Yes, that's the word I'm using.) The swatch picture shows two coats. Also, I could not get the color to show up correctly in any of the pictures I took. It leans more on the fuchsia/magenta side, rather than just being a medium red (like it looks in the picture). It's only about 95% opaque on two coats, but probably enough for most people. Had I worn this out, I would have probably applied a third coat, just to be sure. Formula was pretty stardard and the polish dries fairly glossy.





Day 17 - do you hear the jingle bells?

do you hear the jingle bells is a copper/rose gold foil. This is very sparkly! I'm wearing two coats in the swatch picture. I don't know what it is about this polish, but the formula on this is SO smooth! I usually have to be really careful not to mess up the curve at my cuticle, but this one made it so easy! I'm loving it. However, there is the slight issue of brushstrokes on this polish. They're not super terrible by any means, but if you don't have a steady hand (or you generally don't paint your nails a lot), this might be hard to manage for you. Other than that, I am loving this polish!




Day 18 - meet me at the chimney

meet me at the chimney is a beige to khaki creme. In the urbaniced collection, essence brought out a polish called 'Freak Out!' and it's similar to this one, but this is quite a bit lighter. I'm wearing two coats in the swatch picture. The formula of this polish is a little on the thick side, but it's not hard to work with. This dries semi-matte.







Day 19 - what a grey-t night!

what a grey-t night! is a light purple-y grey with orange to pink shimmer. This is really unique (at least for me)! I do not have anything like this in my collection. The swatch picture shows 2 coats, and the shimmer is way more pink in real life and the polish itself is more on the purple side as well. I could not get the color to show up correctly and for that, I apologize. The formula was good. When you apply it, there are some brushstrokes, but those disappear as the polish dries. Depending on your application, you might need 3 coats instead of two.



Day 20 - gingerbread man shaped nail file














Day 21 - sweet caramel sweets

sweet caramel sweets is a slightly muted caramel creme. It's somewhere between caramel and nude/tan. I'm wearing two coats in the swatch picture. The formula is pretty average. This polish dries semi-matte.









Day 22 - message from the north pole

message from the north pole is another shimmery topper. This one leans light pink in the bottle, but looks darker on the nail. I'm having a hard time trying to define this color, so I suggest looking at the swatch picture yourself. In the bottle, it almost has a pearly effect, but that doesn't translate onto the nail. It's very slightly duochrome too. I'm wearing one coat over black in the picture, my middle finger is topcoated, the index finger isn't. The formula was good, nothing unexpected.






Day 23 - berry-tale

berry-tale is a deep purple shimmer polish. I'm wearing two coats in the swatch picture, but this polish is nearly opaque in one. If you did a thick coat, you would be good to go with a single coat! The formula is a little on the thick side, as with most one-coat polishes, but it was still easy to apply. This polish dries sliiightly dull, but it's not bad.







Day 24 - sparkly mini makeup bag




No comments:

Post a Comment