If you love nail polishes and manicures, then this post is for you! I have a confession to make…I’m a nail polish addict. I have a nail polish in almost every colour and my nails are almost always painted.

A couple of weeks ago my favourite neutral French pink colour from Revlon was finished, so I went to Clicks to buy another bottle. Of course, there wasn’t any of this specific colour in stock – only a white-ish colour with blue sparkling glitter. No, thank you – pass please.

So, there I was – browsing the shelves at Clicks looking for a suitable replacement. I’ve always enjoyed the Essence brand’s products (I have some of their eyeshadows and concealers) so I spent some time looking at their product display. Then I spot a nail polish that Essence claim is like gel, but you don’t need a lamp to cure it. Plus, the three bottles that I needed (the base coat, one colour and top coat) together added up to cost less than what the Revlon colour would have costed me. So, I decided to give the Essence gel-like polish a try.

If I could insert singing voices here, I would. I’m so, so, SO impressed with these products! Firstly, it dries quickly. I have zero patience when it comes to painting my nails - I don’t want to sit around for hours waiting for the polish to dry. Secondly, it’s so cheap! At just under R50 each for the base coat and top coat and R29.95 per colour, I think it’s a steal. And thirdly, it’s durable! I’m quite rough with my hands, so normally by day two my nail polish needs a touch up.

In fact, I was so impressed, that I went back and bought four more colours. I’m currently sporting the deep red and I’m pretty impressed with how nicely it still looks – even after 5 days of wear. I applied four layers of polish: one layer for the base coat, two thin layers of colour and then the top coat. With these, I literally apply a coat to the nails on each hand and then start the process again. No waiting in between for each coat to dry. Once I’m done, I am careful for about 30 minutes or so to not mess up the mani, but I’ve painted my nails with these Essence polishes in the past just before I went to sleep, and woke up with a smudge free mani.

So seriously, go and treat yourself. I can’t wait to try all of these colours! Keep in touch on Instagram (@stylediarysa), I’ll share my mani pics there.