Essence Nail Polish - 132 Break Through & Gel Look Top Coat

Every time I go into Priceline the Essence range always seems to grab my attention as their range is super affordable and the colour range is fantastic. So, as a little treat for myself, I bought one Colour & Go polish in Break Through ($2.75AUD) and the XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat ($2.95AUD).

Break Through has really great pigmentation and dries really quickly. The most impressive thing about this polish is the applicator. Due to the shape of the brush, it makes the polish super easy to apply and really helps you control overflow while ensuring that the polish is applied to the nail rather than on the surrounding skin and cuticle. The Essence brush is amazing and I think that ALL polishes should have this brush shape.

The greatest brush applicator I have come across in any nail polish!

 The XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat is just as impressive as the Colour & Go. I love the look and finish of UV gel polish but I'm not a fan of how my nails end up once I take the gel polish off, so this product seemed like a pretty good compromise at a fraction of the price.

The top coat creates a nice sheen and really does look like a gel polish. The only down side is that if you shake it too much it creates bubbles in the finish as you can see in the image below. I found the best way to overcome that is to roll the bottle in between your hands rather than shaking it.

XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat also helps the polish to stay on a lot longer and chip free. The picture below was taken after two weeks and as you can see the colour polish has barely worn away on the nail tips.

 To see how well the polish kept over two weeks I have placed them side by side in the image below.

 As these polishes are so cheap I wasn't expecting much from them but the quality of these polishes really blew me away with their durability, pigment and finish.

Essence nail polishes are '5 Free' of which there are only a small portion of in the very big range of brands available on the market. Being '5 free' means that these polishes are free of Formaldehyde, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Toluene, Formaldehyde Resin and Camphor which can be harmful, especially for pregnant women.

The Essence range is also made in France, which is quite uncommon with cheaper brands as they tend to be made in China, which also gives them extra bonus points in my opinion.

With their cosmetic range ranging in price from $1.75AUD - $6.75AUD, Essence is definitely one to look out for as an inexpensive treat or addition to your collection.

Essence is available at Priceline, Target and online.