Essence Winter? Wonderful! trend collection

Hi lovelies,

Have you had a good week? I can’t believe it is Wednesday already but I am not complaining because that means it’s just a few hours before my cousin and her family arrives.  Yup, I am down to counting hours.  We will also be spending some time getting ready for The Color Run on Sunday.  Too excited!

If you follow me on Instagram you would’ve seen me share when I got the Essence – Winter? Wonderful! nail polishes.  I couldn’t wait to swatch them once I had finished the challenge.  Now I can show it to you as well.  I am very up and down about this collection.  So let me show you and tell you what I think.

Essence – The Frosted

This is 3 coats. My ring finger has topcoat and the rest does not.  This is a white with a white/silver shimmer that dries matte.  The polish is a nice consistency and applies nicely but that’s about where the nice stops.  Actually, I love the shimmer / colour but it’s tricky.  This is 3 coats! If you look at my nails besides ring it looks streaky.  Even though it was opaque in 2 coats and looks really good, the minute it dries it looks very streaky and patchy. On my ring finger where it is topcoated, it is streak free and really pretty.  Also, when this dries matte, the colour turns a bit boring.  The shimmer is hardly visible.  Add topcoat and it is beautiful.   So, as is I am not impressed.  I don’t love the colour and I don’t like how streaky it is.  With topcoat though, it’s a beautiful polish.  I know that I always wear topcoat so it doesn’t really matter but when there is such a vast difference it can be a bit deceiving.  This is a beautiful colour but I would not use it matte.

Essence – The Iced

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a silvery glittery polish that dries to a textured finish.  It applies well and is quite opaque too.  I thought this one was the only one that really looks good from application to dry.  Once you add a topcoat it because really sparkly and pretty so if you don’t like the textured finish don’t be put off.  It is a really pretty colour although not unique.

Essence – The semi matt

This is 2 coats and my ring finger has topcoat but the rest do not.  This also dries to a matte (almost satin matte).  It applies well but a little streaky once it starts drying.  I think this is either because it starts drying too fast or because it does have a bit of a chalky look to it.  The colour is a bit more blue on the nails but in the bottle it looks like a blue toned grey.  It’s really opaque as well but once again, without topcoat it is rather a bit eh.  Add the topcoat tough and it is smooth and really pretty.  I really like this colour too.

Essence – The crystallized

This is 3 coats with no topcoat.  This is a rose goldish, almost foil polish.  For me, it is also a bit nude so if it didn’t have the metallicy finish it would be more nude.  I didn’t love this one but I can’t tell you why.  It applied well and is thin enough that 3 coats is easy.  It is a bit sheer but it builds up well.   In some lights the colour was really pretty but in others I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. I don’t know, there’s nothing really wrong with it but it didn’t blow me away.

This collection also comes with a topper – or top coat.  I am not really a glitter or glitter topper fan but this one intrigued me from the moment I picked up the bottle.  Let me show you why.

Essence – a Winter’s tale (over The semi matt)

Here I have added 1 coat over The semi matt.  As you can see, the glitter has this blue to purple shift.  It really looks like pieces of ice.  I really like how this looks on this colour but…it is even more spectacular.

Essence – a Winter’s tale (over black)

Just look at that!  On the black it the glitters have turned to gold with a green shift and at some angles there is even some pink.  This is also 1 coat over black.  It is a really dense glitter topper.  It has micro and micro holo – glitter and the larger multi chrome glitters.  It applies really well and easily but it is a bit thick.  It is such a dense glitter though that you wouldn’t need more than 1 coat anyway.  It is really do-able in 1 coat but I think if you added more coats you would have to let each one dry before adding the next otherwise it would be very thick and take forever to dry.  Let me give you a closer look

How beautiful is that shift?

See here you can start seeing some of that pink shift.  This topper is absolutely stunning on the black and beautiful on the blue grey.  What intrigues me about this is that it almost looks differently on every different colour.  I am however in love with this on the black.  It’s beautiful on every colour but it shines on black.  Ugh who am I?  Since when do I fall in love with glitter toppers?

This collection also has a nail balm and even though I don’t have any photo’s of it I thought I would give you my impression of it.  When i saw it said nail balm and not lotion I was worried it would be a bit thicker and therefore more of a ‘treatment’ balm like before bed than an on the go lotion.  After using it though I can say that it is slightly thicker in constancy than the hand lotions I use during the day but it does absorb really well and quite fast.  The trick is to use a little bit at a time because if you use just a bit too much it will take a little longer to absorb.  It does not leave my hands greasy at all and it really moisturizes beautifully.  I don’t use this the whole day long (mostly because it is a limited edition and I probably won’t get another one when I finish it) but I do use it when I have removed polish or when I haven’t used lotion in a while. It’s so moisturizing that I try to use it when my hands need it more.  I also like the smell.  Not specifically what it smells like but because it is very subtle.  I can’t say if I love or hate the smell.  It’s pleasant but because it is so subtle it doesn’t bother me at all.  Most of the time I can’t even smell it at all.  Which is exactly what I prefer.  I do love a nice smelling hand lotion but I don’t need a lotion that is going leave a strong smell every time I use it.  I am definitely enjoying this nail balm.

What do you think about this collection?  Have you tried any of them? Which one is your favourite and which would you probably end up buying?  i wasn’t blown away by the whole collection but add topcoat to the mattes and they are really beautiful.  Obviously the topper is my absolute favourite in this collection but I also like The frosted – as long as it has topcoat – and The iced.

Thanks for reading,