Essence Cute as Shell Nail Polish [01 - You're An Ang-Shell!] Review
By Maychiri's Thoughts - November 22, 2023
The second item for today is the Essence Cute as Shell Nail
Polish, shade 01/You're An Ang-Shell! Sheesh! That pun is really stretching it!
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I actually really wanted the Cute as Shell Lip Balm, instead of
this nail polish. I’ve always been kind of ehh about peach nail polishes, so I really
wasn’t sure whether or not to buy this polish. But since nobody had the lip
balm in stock, I decided to get the nail polish. Heck, I just wanted to have a few items
from this LE. Speaking of, this LE was so summery and cute! Just look at all the products it had! So many interesting items, especially that konjac sponge! Indeed, I ended up buying that cute sponge... don't want to spoil the review – check it out here, you'll want to! So, is this lil nail polish any good? Let’s see!
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| The entire LE; source: essence.eu |
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Packaging: typical Essence nail polish packaging. Just a
clear, albeit robust, glass bottle with a rounded large cap. In this case, the
cap is white. The cap closes extremely tightly. The text is gold, not the best
choice when you have a peachy nail polish, but okay. It’s a pretty basic
design, but I like the white cap, I think it suits the peach very nicely. Also,
look at the cute little scallop!
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| Source: essence.eu |
Ingredients: nothing nourishing. No harmful ingredients,
including the three very bad ones (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is
your normal nail polish scent. The expiration date is 36 months after opening.
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Since this collection is inspired by the beach and
seashells, you’d expect this nail polish to follow suit. And it does! This is a
surprisingly pretty peach colour with a ton of shimmer that is mostly pink,
giving it a pink shine. The pink shine really complements the peach very well!
The shimmer just makes it look otherworldly! It’s a really summery colour, for
sure and, combined with the muted gloss, really does remind me of seashells!
Specifically, the nacre layer of their shells. Really beautiful, though I do
think it would suit slightly darker skintones better than us pale folk. It
would be perfect on tan skin, I think. I expected this colour to be quite
garish and vibrant, but instead it’s such a subtle colour on my nails; I never
thought I’d like it this much!
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The brush is excellent! It’s a wide, flat brush that picks
up a ton of polish, so don’t forget to tap off the excess! Speaking of which,
it always looks like there’s loads of polish on the brush, but when I go paint
my nails I get a thin, sheer coat! Anyways, the brush deposits the polish
evenly and richly and it’s big enough that only a couple of swipes are enough
to get a good, even coat. It’s also precise enough to avoid getting too much
nail polish on your cuticles. All in all, it can definitely rival Catrice nail
polish brushes with how good it is!
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The formula is interesting. It’s very, very thick but it’s
still extremely easy to spread across nails. It’s also quite gelly, yet also
very creamy. It reminds me of the old-school type of nail polish formula in
some ways. Also, when you look at the brush it always looks like there’s so
much more polish on it than there really is. And when you spread it across
nails it suddenly feels not as thick as it looks. I was honestly surprised to
see that this polish is actually sheer, especially after seeing the formula! I
totally thought it would be a rich, opaque formula! It’s really interesting how
it’s so thick and gelly, yet so easy to make it even and nice. Quite a
perplexing formula, indeed!
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One coat is very sheer. You can see the nails under it
clearly, so you definitely need to build it up. Indeed, it is much better with
two coats, but still not perfectly opaque. It’s about 90% opaque with two
coats. You could go for three to have 100% opacity, but I think it would be too
thick, so I’d just stay with two coats, max. The texture is quite interesting
as it’s not your standard glossy texture. It is glossy, but not in a glassy
way, it’s more like a muted, waxy gloss. In a lot of ways it reminds me of
mother of pearl, only without the iridescence. There is also loads of (mostly
pink) shimmer to give it a sparkling appearance. It’s a beautiful, pearly finish!
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Longevity was quite good up until day 4. There weren’t any
scratches, or if there were, they weren’t visible thanks to the shimmery,
pearly finish. It was in perfect condition until day 3, when I noticed some
chipping, but it wasn’t bad. It did, however, become bad by the end of the
following day. There was a ton of chipping, all along the free edge of most
nails. A hair wash made it even worse, so it ended up looking pretty bad. The
only saving grace is that it’s a very subtle colour, so chipped off parts don’t
stick out as much.
This polish is pretty easy to remove though you do have to
be persistent in order to completely remove the shimmer. It didn’t require a
whole lot of scrubbing to remove, which is good! And it didn’t leave any
stains.
In conclusion: this is a surprisingly good nail polish! The
formula is very thick and creamy but it’s, interestingly, also super easy to
use and spread across nails. The brush is fantastic and both picks up a ton of
pigment and spreads it perfectly evenly across nails! One coat is totally
sheer, so if you want a more opaque finish you will need at least two coats; I
wouldn’t apply more than two coats though, it might be too thick. I really love
the colour, even if I, at first, thought that it would be garish. Instead it’s
so subtle and beautiful! And the shimmer makes it so sparkly and special! And I
love the pearly finish! I thought it would be a standard glossy texture but this
pearly texture fits it so much better! The only bad thing is the longevity,
which isn’t the best. It stays in amazing condition for a few days but then it
starts deteriorating fast. It chipped off the free edge of most of my nails within
a day after it first started chipping. Fortunately, the chipping isn’t too
visible because the colour is so subtle. At first I more-or-less forced myself
to try this polish out, I ordered it in place of something else I wanted; I
didn’t actually want it that much. But it turned out to be actually really good,
both in its quality and in its beauty! And it fits with the theme of shells, it
really looks like a seashell! I definitely recommend it!
Rating: 7.5/10
Would buy again? Maybe YES
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