Essence ~ Superheroes

Essence ~ Superheroes

02 The Incredible, 03 Power Girl, 04 Super, Man!, 06 The Awesome

This winter Essence came out with a collection they called “Superheroes”. There were six polishes in the collection, of which I bought the four named. The two I gave a miss was 01 Fantastic Girl, which is a pink thermal polish, and 05 Wonder wow! Man! which is a metallic gold. I knew I wasn’t going to wear any of those, and I don’t buy polishes I know I am not going to wear.

So anyway – let’s concentrate about the four polishes I actually bought, shall we? :)  

02 The Incredible, 04 Super, Man!, 03 Power Girl, 06 The Awesome

First one up is 02 The Incredible. It’s a turquoise textured polish with shimmer, and I thought it was going to be my favourite of the bunch. I turned out to be wrong about that.

The formula is OK, but it’s definitely not the best texture I’ve tried. Drying time is really slow, like it was with the first generation of textures. It takes two coats to make it opaque.

Here’s two coats:

And another shot:

Verdict:
I was really disappointed in this. I like the colour a lot, but I don’t like the slow drying time. I don’t like that the shimmers drown in the polish either, and aren’t as visible I had hoped they would be.

Next one up is 04 Super, Man! Essence calls it the polish with “holo effect”. It’s basically a metallic silver with holographic microglitter. I was really curious if they would drown in the polish too.

The formula was good, no problems with application. Drying time is faster than the first one, but not superfast. Let’s say it’s average, haha! Coverage is good – it was almost opaque after the first coat, so two coats is what it takes.

Here’s two coats, no topcoat:

And another one to flash the hologlitters:

Verdict:
Yes, this works! I like silver polishes even though I don’t wear them that often, and the addition of holo glitter is really sweet. This is really Super, Man! :D

The third one up is 03 Power Girl. Essence calls it a polish with “Oil slick effect” – in my world this is a blue/purple duochrome. Potato, Potahtoe, I guess.

Application was a breeze and it took two coats to make this opaque. Where the textured product was the disappointment of this collection for me, Power Girl is the positive surprise. I honestly didn’t expect much, but wow, this is beautiful! Drying time is average, which is ok.

Here’s two coats and no topcoat:

I mean, look at that colour change! It’s so cool!

Verdict:

Oh yeah baby, here’s the winner for me. I love the easy, smooth application and the really cool colourshift. And I love the colours!

Last one up is 06 The Awesome. “Galaxy Flakes” is what the sticker on the bottle says. In reality it’s a pink jelly base with pink, silver and holographic glitters in various sizes. Nothing wrong with that, but I see no flakes!

It’s probably a polish that can work on its own, but my guess is that it will take three coats. I wasn’t in the mood for that, so I layered it over the blue/purple duochrome, Power Girl.

The base is relatively thick, but that just works for me. The glitters don’t need to be dapped around, they just spread out effortlessly. And the amount of glitter you see on each nail is a result of one dip in the bottle, sweet ladies!

I say that this is a pretty good match, don’t you think?

Verdict:

Yes, this glitter is a keeper. I actually like how it looks over blue/purple, so it’s not the last time I’ve tried that combo!

Overall impression: Essence makes some pretty cool collections, and I’m glad I got my hands on these four.

Buy again: Yes – except for the textured product.