Essie

Knotty or Nice is from Essie Winter 2019 Collection. It's a red, shimmer polish with gold glitter. It's fairly unique (I don't have a dupe in my collection), but it is definitely best suited for holidays. It applies really well - I used two coats, which gave me full opacity. The glitters are easy to spread out too. I had no problem with drying time, possibly due to my Quick-Dry Top Coat. The glitters will leave you with an uneven surface, so you might want to use a thick topcoat to smooth it out. After 2 days I had a chip, which was due to the glitter getting caught. All in all, it a nice enough polish, but too restricting for me, as I don't see myself wearing it all year round.

Chocolate Cakes is a red-based, brown crelly. I needed 3 coats to get the opacity I wanted. But, it was easy to apply, fast drying and it lasted really well on me. I am not usually a fan of brown polishes, but this has so much red in it that it works and I loved wearing it. I only have a miniature bottle (it was a free gift with a purchase of a full-size bottle), but I will be looking to replace it with a full-size one.

I am not a fan of the regular essie polishes, but when I saw this quick dry line come out in my local Walgreens, I grabbed a few. I think these are great, but as with most quick dry formulas, the formula can get goopy while exposed to air when applying so I have a feeling these will turn goopy and thick after several uses. The color is rich, pigmented, and bright. Not streaky. The brush is angled and wide. I bought 2 shades, bolt and be bold, which is a beautiful red brown rust shade, and seize the minute, a blue-toned red. I love both colors, and want to go back and grab a few more! They do dry quickly but I always use a quick dry top coat either way. I purchased a regular essie polish, geranium, at the same time as these, and geranium stained my nails and skin badly. These expressie reds do not stain and clean up around the nailbed easy, no stain or smearing. As for chipping, I cant say, but I’m hard on my hands so most polishes dont last long on me in general.