Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Essie Braided Manicure

Good evening all. I hope you all are enjoying your Wednesday night. I have a really fun manicure in store for you, and a pretty in depth review of the new Essie Mirror Metallic line.

As I'm sure all of you know, Essie came out with the Fall 2012 Mirror Metallic line. I was so excited about this line, I literally went out and bought each and every single one of them. I couldn't wait to try them!

The line is made up of five different colored polishes. There is:
  • Nothing Else Metals - A light pink metallic color
  • No Place Like Chrome - A very metallic silver
  • Blue Rhapsody - A stunning blue metallic
  • Penny Talk - Copper colored metallic
  • Good as Gold - A gold metallic 
I paid $8.00 a bottle for each one. (Totaling out at  $40 without tax...sheesh) I found all of them at my local Walgreens. I am happy/upset that I purchased these. But first, I will show off the manicure I created using Nothing Else Metals, No Place Like Chrome and Blue Rhapsody.



First off, these were nearly impossible to photograph...so I'm sorry if you can not see the detail very well.
Here's what I did:
1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Gelous
1 coat Nothing Else Metals
Then I used the combination of Nothing Else Metals, Blue Rhapsody, and No Place Like Chrome to create the braided effect.
I topped this all off with Seche Vite.



Ok, these polishes are a PAIN to apply. The application is horrendous. You have to be pretty quick, or else you see beginning to dry brush strokes. If you want to add more on top of the starting to dry polish, forget about it. It creates bald spots. 
These polishes are also NOT forgiving at all. They will show every single flaw about your nails and your painting skills. 
I had to wait for my coat of Nothing Else Metals to COMPLETELY dry before starting on the braided look. I found out waiting for it to dry to add on top is the way to go the hard way. 
After it was dry, I started on the braiding effect. I started on my ring finger, not sure if I wanted just an accent nail, or to do all of them. As you can see from my photos, I had to LEARN how to apply this polish in the braiding manner before getting it right. It is a PRO that this polish dries quickly, but it can also cause your designs to look like poo. I started getting bald spots, the polish started creating poc marks on the areas where the polish overlapped. So my ring finger looks pretty bad.
After learning what to do, it was smoother sailing after that. The trick is to blow on the polish while you are applying your strokes. Then I waited a few seconds before adding another color. 
Now, on to the chore that is the clean up. THESE POLISHES ARE A POLISH ADDICT'S NIGHTMARE! As I was trying to clean up my horrible painting job (Due to having to RUSH RUSH RUSH to get smooth lines), it left this awful silver dust residue. It was SOOO hard to remove. Not that the polish is ACTUALLY hard to remove...it's just that I had to practically scrub my cuticles and skin with acetone to remove the SUPER shiny silver residue. If you look closely at my photos...my skin has a silvery "glow" to it...that isn't good genes or good skin...it's the polish that wouldn't come off. After sleeping/washing my hands/showering, the residue did disappear, but it will take you forever if you rely just on a brush and acetone.



As for the braiding technique...I loved doing it. It was easy peasy, and it turned out sooo stunning. Because this manicure was so subtle, I did opt to do all of my fingers. I got a lot of compliments. And even though the nail polish is a HUGE hassle, the end result was extremely beautiful.

All in all, I DO like this manicure. I DO like the end result of the polish. I DO like the colors of these polishes. I just dislike the application and clean up. I don't know if I will be using these polishes again for a little while...only because I just don't want to do that much work for a simple manicure.

What do you all think about these polishes? Do you have the same problems as I did? Have you ever tried the braided technique? Any tips and tricks I should know about?

I hope you all enjoyed my ranting.

Until next time...

Christina


Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

2 comments:

  1. For such a dear brand you'd think the formula would be better on it!

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    Replies
    1. I agree. I've talked to other nail polish addicts, and they feel the same about these polishes. Such a shame too, cause the end result really is so beautiful.

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