NOTD: Essie Gel Couture "Fairy Tailor"

I needed something new and nude for my nails for some upcoming events, so I decided on this combo - the new Gel Couture from Essie. Gel Couture is a no UV gel nail polish, so you have to use the proprietary top coat with this too. The polish and the top coat retail for £9.99 each but you can get buy 1 get 2nd half price in Boots right now on all of Essie's range!

I had seen some swatches of this online, and I must say I am possibly doing something wrong but this is very streaky. I followed advice from the Essie rep in the video in this review by Beautygeeks how to apply it and how long to wait in between coats, but damn, it's not pretty. It's wearable if you don't look too close (or know anything about manicures), and I intend to give this it's 14 day run for a proper wear test. Or as long a run as it gets before it's chip city. However based on this initial experience, it's likely this set will go to my mother...

The colour is very close to my wedding manicure from Essie, "Vanity Fairest", minus the shimmer. I really like a slick of "Vanity Fairest" and some super-shiney top coat for a last-minute chic manicure (sometimes need those), and was hoping this would be similar.

It does apply smoothly, and is fairly quick dry, but I just didn't feel the formula gave me the finish that I was looking for in terms of the coverage.

I will update you on the wear test in a couple of weeks time :)