Last year Essie brought out a new line of polishes, called Gel Couture, which come in twirly bottles. These supposedly don't need a base coat and there is a special top coat, which Essie recommend you use with these polishes. These polishes are not actually gel, but they supposed to look just like gel and have the same staying power (14 days). Beauty Marked is a red nail polish. This is my first nail polish from Gel Couture line. I am not a fan of the bottle design it wasn't the easiest to hold, but more importantly for me as a polish hoarder, it takes more space than I'd like. Before I start I need to confess that I didn't not buy this polish for its lasting power I change my nails every other day, but I found these at a reasonable price I could not resist. Red is my favourite colour, hence why I could not resist Beauty Marked. I ignored Essie's 'no base' coat suggestion I used my usual base. I then applied 2 coats of the polish (this polish is highly pigmented, but the first coat was still a little sheer (crelly?), so I used another coat to build up the opacity). I also ignored Essie's top coat suggestion and used my own QDTC. Gel Couture polishes come with the most amazing paddle brush, which makes it very easy to control how close to your cuticles you can get. In fact, I would go as far as to say this is possibly my favourite brush, ever. I can not tell you if this polish would last 14 days, as I took it off after just 2, but even so, I was impressed with its staying power. In the 2 days I've had it on I went for a swim, I cleaned my bathroom (without gloves) and there wasn't a smallest amount of tip wear by the time I went to remove it. For a red polish, that's unheard of. So, you are probably wondering why I took a point off? Well, I applied this polish in the evening before going to bed (like I always do) and in the morning I have noticed a number of small creases on the polish not noticable from afar, but I knew they were there. I am not sure if this is because I used the wrong top coat or if this polish is slower at drying. Generally this would be enough to put me off from buying this polish again, but Beauty Marked was so brilliant in every other aspect that I am willing to play around with various top coats and make it work. I am certainly looking forward to trying other polishes from this line.

MILKY WAY was made exclusively for J.Crew for the Sp/ Su 2011 collection. It is a glossy medium beige, or better yet, think of a mocha coffee with a touch too much cream; it is J.Crew's answer to the "greige" phenomenon. It is that creamy milked down coffee shade that seems to go with just about everything this season. One coat goes on semi-sheer and two coats is streak-free opaque, chips are hardly noticeable and it wears fairly tough. The color in the bottle is actually a little darker than the picture presented, but the color you see in the bottle is the color you get with two coats. I knocked it down a lippie because on my hands it brings out the red in my hands and b) I was expecting something a little lighter and more sheer... Although on toes, it is perfection. It just looks so clean and polished, I'm going to save it for pedicures.