Review: Essie Nail Varnish (Mint Candy Apple)

Mint Candy Apple seems to be one of the hottest shades around by America's nail brand Essie, and the internet's full of glowing reviews, so I thought I'd take a look at myself. I've never bought anything from Essie before, so I figured Mint Candy Apple was the way to go for my first purchase.

Now this may sound quite shallow, but packaging is very important to me- I like things to look pretty if they're going in my makeup bag or on my dressing table. The good news is, the Essie bottles are exactly that. They look chic and minimalistic-with a white lid, clear bottle, and the Essie logo imprinted on the side, it looks like a more expensive brand (and at £7.99, it is on the more pricey side of nail varnishes).

The application was great-  it has a wide brush so that only one stroke is needed on most fingers For an opaque colour, however, you'll definitely have to apply at least two coats (as I have in the pictures below). The colour itself is great, although a little bluer than I imagine something called 'mint' would be. It's still a lovely colour though, and very summery. Usually I wear much darker colours, so this is a big change for me, but I've had a lot of compliments already, and I've only been wearing it a day! It hasn't chipped yet either, whereas usually I see at least a few chips after a day's wear in my normal shades.

(I'll work on my hand poses, I promise...)

After all the hype, I was expecting to be disappointed by this Essie shade, but in fact, I was pleasantly surprised. The application is great, the colour is lovely, and it'll definitely be making its way into my list of top summer nail shades. The only downside I would say is the price- when you have Rimmel and Barry M doing very similar shades for only £2.99, it's hard to justify spending £7.99 on a nail varnish. As much as I liked the polish, I think Essie will have to be an occasional treat for me :(