One of my Christmas traditions is counting down the days 'til Christmas with a beauty Advent calendar, and this year, I've gone with the Bejeweled Wonderland Advent calendar from nail polish favourite, Essie.
I mean, the calendar looked so good, I just couldn't resist the excuse to restock my nail polish collection.
But was the calendar worth the spend?
Let go through it and see.
So... Essie's Bejeweled Wonderland calendar is a twenty-four day Advent calendar filled with twenty-four full and mini sized Essie nail polishes and treatments to keep your nails looking their best over the festive season and beyond.
Inside you'll find nine full-size and fourteen mini nail polishes and treatments in a variety of classic and wearable colours, and one mini nail polish remover to help prep your nails for the next manicure.
There are a great selection of nail polish shades included in this year's calendar, from classic orange-red and delicate nude-pink to calming lush greens and gothic jet-black. They've given us a much better variety of shades than in previous years, where they've mostly played it safe with reds, pinks, and nudes, so it's great to see Essie venturing out from their comfort zone and offering a wider colour choice. The nail polish shades are still very tame compared to others on the market, but as a brand, Essie is all about classic, tasteful nail colours and less about the trends. If you want something ground-breaking, this probably isn't the Advent calendar for you, so look elsewhere. However, if you're in to more time-honoured and softer colours, it does have a gorgeous selection of shades to discover, and they're all so wearable. I haven't swatched any of them yet as I'm saving that treat for December, but I particularly love the look of Fifth Avenue (the orange-red), Off Tropic (the forest green), Suits You Swell (blushing violet), Gossip 'n' Spill (muted rose), S'il Vous Play (metallic pink-purple), and Ripple Reflect (cornflower blue). The shades are all so pretty.
Here's a full list of the contents waiting inside.
Essie Full sized original 13.5ml nail polishes:
♥ Check Your Baggage- creamy bright yellow with red undertones.
♥ Ripple Reflect- cornflower blue with red undertones.
♥ Tuck It In My Tux- elegant silken ivory creme.
♥ S'il Vous Play- metallic pink with hints of purple.
♥ Gossip N Spill- muted rose with tone-on-tone pearl.
♥ Around the Bend- vibrant, yellow-toned pink.
plus
♥ Fairy Tailor Gel Couture 13.5ml- sheer nude pink.
♥ Iced Out Expressie FX Quick Dry Nail Polish 10ml- quick dry shimmer nail polish with pearly white, duo-chrome pearls that shift from pink to purple to teal.
Essie Mini 5ml nail polishes:
♥ Wicked- deep dark sinister red (looks more like purple-black).
♥ Off Tropic- lush grove green.
♥ Bikini So Teeny- pretty yet provocative cornflower blue.
♥ Frilly Lilies- muted mid-tone orange with coral undertones.
♥ Suits You Swell- blushing violet (pink-lilac).
♥ Lady Like- elegant soft mauve.
♥ Pencil Me In- vibrant magenta with blue undertones.
♥ Fifth Avenue- stylish and creamy red-orange blend.
♥ Win Me Over- muted khaki-green with yellow undertones.
♥ Licorice- beguiling jet black.
Nail Treatments
♥ Hard to Resist Advanced Nail Strengthener 5ml- a strengthening treatment to care for and protect weak, damaged nails.
♥ Apricot Cuticle Oil 5ml- fast-absorbing, nourishing cuticle oil to condition and protect cuticles from dryness.
♥ Strong Start Base Coat 5ml- a strengthening base coat infused with biotin to reinforce for less weak and brittle feeling nails.
♥ Stay Longer Premium Longwear Top Coat 5ml- a premium long-lasting top coat to protect your manicure for up to seven days.
♥ Gel Couture Matte Top Coat 13.5ml- an ultra-glossy, quick-drying top coat to seal and protect your manicure.
♥ Good as Gone Nail Polish Remover 25ml- a mini nail polish remover with acetone and vitamin c to remove all traces of colour, leaving naturally shiny nails.
I'm also impressed to see nine full-size bottles of nail polish and not just mini-sizes hidden inside. Most nail polish Advent calendars only contain minis, with one full-size bottle for Christmas Eve, if you're lucky, so it's a treat to get so many full sized polishes. And, as each bottle would retail for £8.99 and up, it's such good value for money, too, and an economical way to try out lots of new products.
As for the packaging, the calendar itself is a massive 38cm x 38cm x 5.5cm square box with twenty-four windows cut into the cardboard. There are no fancy boxes to open and the design isn't elaborate like some out there, but it's clear and uncomplicated, and it's easy to spot the numbers on the doors.
This year, the design takes the form of a bejewelled castle with Essie nail polish bottles for turrets, which dominates a pine and snow-draped mountainscape dotted with colourful little houses, gems and jewels, and rogue bottles of nail polish. It's an attractive design, and pretty enough to keep out among your Christmas decorations.
The Essie Bejeweled Wonderland Advent calendar retails around the £60 mark, but I managed to get mine from Perfume's Club for about £48. It's currently out of stock from them, but it's still available from Boozy Shop, and Luxplus online.
Overall, I think it's a fantastic mid-range nail polish Advent calendar to count down to Christmas with. It's got a lovely variety of nail polishes and treatments, lots of full-sized products, high-quality contents, and it's so reasonably priced. I'm really pleased with it, and I'm glad I chose it as this year's calendar. I'd definitely recommend for any one who loves nail polish, so snap one up while you can!
Which Advent calendar are you counting down to Christmas with this year?
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I'm kinda sad I don't have an advent calendar this year. Craig and I usually split a lego one :P This one looks like fun! I really love the 'Off Tropic' colour!
ReplyDeleteAw, it's such a shame you didn't get one. It's such a fun Christmas tradition. A Lego calendar sounds awesome! I love a good nail polish calendar, and this one has so many pretty shades this year. Off Tropic is my favourite, too- along with Fifth Avenue- the red. I can never resist dark green polishes.
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