In the back of my mind, I’ve been mulling over purchasing Guerlain Le Top Coat ever since my friend, Sybille, wrote a guest post extolling its virtues a couple of months ago. The only thing that has held me back was the $23 price tag.
While working on a project for essence, I was given a variety of products to try out so I could get a better idea of the products.
Since then, I have bought a number of essence products myself because they’re such a great bargain. essence has a wide range of nail polish shades that change with the season. I’ve used a few of them, and though I adore many of the colors, I found that the nail polish chipped at the tip of my nails after a day or two. That made me less enthused about using them because it was too much work to change my polish every couple of days.
At the end of the project, I was given a bottle of essence Limited Edition nail polish that currently is not available in the U.S. I’m hoping it will be some day because it’s a lovely shade of pale mint green called “grunge me tender”, 03 from their Floral Grunge collection. Also, it’s quick drying, and it dries to a matte finish that’s a nice change of pace (they call it The Suede — those crazy Europeans!). On Sunday, I decided to try it, along with one of the essence colour & go nail polish colors, a beautiful coral shade called “off to miami”, 109.
I dug down into the bag of promotional products they gave me and came up with a little bottle of essence gel-look topcoat. I decided to try that instead of the random topcoat that I had been using. I think I’ve discovered the secret to making essence nail polish last: using their own topcoat!!
It’s 6 days, and my nails have not chipped. I reapplied one coat of topcoat after the fourth day, just to be on the safe side. I am 100% satisfied. No matter that I didn’t actually buy any of these. But even if I did, I would be very happy. No chips, great colors, extremely affordable!
essence is a European brand, and the vast majority of their products are made in Europe. The nail polishes all seem to be made in France. The essence gel-look topcoat contains 0.27 fl. oz./8 mL and costs $2.49. The “off to miami” polish, 09, is the same size, but it costs $1.99. essence products are available in the U.S. at Ulta, ulta.com, Fred Meyer, and select Walgreens. essence polishes are free of formaldehyde, toluene, and pthalates. And they are cruelty-free.
So before you spend the $23 on the Guerlain topcoat, give this one a try. At this price, you can’t go wrong.
NGREDIENTS: ETHYL ACETATE, BUTYL ACETATE, NITROCELLULOSE, ACETYL TRIETHYL CITRATE, PHTHALIC ANHYDRIDE/TRIMELLITIC ANHYDRIDE/GLYCOLS COPOLYMER, ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL, ADIPIC ACID/FUMARIC ACID/ PHTHALIC ACID/TRICYCLODECANE DIMETHANOL COPOLYMER, MEK, CI 60725 (VIOLET 2).
Love the look of this top coat, the Guerlain one is actually a lot more expensive here in Australia but essence is cheap here too, so I will have to check it out 🙂
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If you try it, I hope you have good luck! I’m wearing the essence gel-look topcoat now with one of the essie Naughty Nauticals, and it’s day 4 with no chips. For the price, I’m satisfied with the essence gel-look topcoat! I’ll save my $ for a more glamorous Guerlain product. 🙂