ESSIE LUXEFFECTS COLLECTION

I’m a huge essie nail varnish fan but their glitters are always something else. Every year they release a Luxeffects range in the run up to Christmas and it’s always a sparkly, shimmery, festive explosion.

The essie Luxeffects 2015 collection was much anticipated…so when I saw that the whole range contained bar glitters I was a little disappointed. I’m not a huge fan of bar glitter as for some reason I always think it looks itchy…! Luckily, I soon changed my mind when I got the polishes onto my nails.

At first glance this looked like a standard clear polish with silver bar glitter, but close up you notice the blue circle glitter which makes it a lot mored interesting. As with all of the polishes in this collection, the glitter is easy to apply and doesn’t require much placement. I only needed one coat of Seche Vite over the top to make the finish as smooth as I’d like, which is good as some glitters remain a bit bobbly and rough even after top coat. This polish feels very Christmassy to me – it kind of reminds me of the Snow Queen when over the white polish!

This one instantly caught my eye just because I love fuchsia pink anything. This has pink/purple bar glitter with multi-size black circular glitter in a clear base. I love the combo or black and fuchsia: it’s pretty with a bit of an edge.

Gold and copper are some of my favourite glitter colours when it comes to nail varnish so this one was always going to be a winner in my book. The combination of gold and copper in the clear base is very eye-catching and unusual. There are no contrasting circle glitters in this one.

This is the stand out shade for me, just because it’s an unusual combination of colours that doesn’t instantly grab you but definitely holds your attention once you see it on. It’s a clear base with rose gold, blue-silver and dark grey bar glitters in two different sizes. In some lights it leans to mauve, while in others it’s very blue-toned. Again, there are no circular glitters in this one. I think this would look super pretty over a pale grey or a pale pink toned greige.

Here are the shades over black so you can see the colours a bit better. Doesn’t ‘tassel shaker’ look stunning in contrast to the black? LOVE. These are shown without top coat so you can see the finish – slightly mattifying so I’d definitely recommend a top coat to add shine as well as smoothing out the finish.

Finally, I wanted to show you the essie ‘all I want for christmas’ gift set that’s currently in stores – a super cute set that contains 5 of the most popular (and seasonally appropriate) essie nail varnishes. The polishes included are: fiji, cocktail bling, fishnet stockings, licorice (american spelling, before anyone corrects me!) and bahama mama. All beautiful shades that will see you through winter, spring and beyond!

This gift set is £24.99 (plus there is a free gift in Boots if you spend over £15 on essie)