essie

Yesterday I was invited by Get Lippie as her plus one to the Nicky Hambleton-Jones Glam Show at London's Earl's Court. She won tickets via the magic of Facebook, and was understandably anticipating a fun day with plenty of opportunities for shopping and ogling nice things.

It's billed as a high-profile fashion mecca with displays, treatments, dancers etc. But when we got there we discovered what was basically an indoor market with a rather basic catwalk bolted on. They did have quite a nice glitterball hanging from the ceiling, and there were plenty of dubious-looking fliers in our "goodie" bags... but basically the "glam" was distinctly absent.

There were a few talks and stages, but most of them seemed to be a thinly-veiled opportunity for a sales pitch, and the speakers were "recycled" around the different stages. Other stalls included tarot readers, debt management solutions, and most woefully in my eyes a Sunday-market type stall selling 99p-type no-name nail polish and eyeshadow, billed with flourescent hand-drawn "BARGAIN!" signs. Not glam, Nicky, not glam at all. And tickets were apparently worth £25! For shame.

On the up side however, part of Lippie's prize was a free manicure courtesy of SFB Mobile Spa, one of the more enticing stalls there, and we both enjoyed having our nails MOT'd by Tiffany, who had a range of OPI, nails inc. and Essie polishes to choose from.

I opted for the hilariously named Essie "Mink Muffs" (pictured), from the new Autumn collection. It's a glossy creme taupe shade, quite cool toned and very unique. Tiffany filed my nails, pushed back cuticles with a scary metal implement (always mistrusted this aspect of the manicure process since a merciless manicurist in a New York "salon" hacked off all my cuticles completely) and finished it off with two coats of Essie and a coat of Seche Vite.

She also had a very neat trick that I want to share with you - once she had finished applying colour, she soaked a fine eyeshadow brush in nail polish remover and used it to clean up around the edge of the nail. It worked a treat and as she explained, it's much more precise than a cotton bud and doesn't risk leaving snaggy bits of cotton around the nail. Win!

This is Essie's Spaghetti Strap, a pale pink cream which is just sheer enough to let the whites of the nail shine through for a French effect, while being opaque enough to even out the colour of the nail bed.

It's a very grown up colour.  So much so that I've been peering at my fingertips a lot whilst wearing it - I'm much used to brights and glitter, so this level of sophistication is not something I'm used to!  I can imagine this would be a fantastic wedding colour, and is also appropriate for interviews or for work.

This is my first Essie; the formula is smooth, of medium thickness, and very easy to apply.  The polish is spreadable and two coats provided a very even finish.  Wear is pretty decent - two days later and I can't really see any tipwear, even if I look closely.  That said this is a pale and fairly natural colour, and shades like these disguise tipwear very well.  I will definitely be trying out more Essie polishes.

Also, mental note - keep cuticle oil on desk and stop nibbling fingers when concentrating.

If you'd like to grab a bit of grown up sophistication for yourself, you can find this polish at BeautyBay.com for the reasonable price of £7.50 for 15ml, which is a nice mid-end price - cheaper than OPI, but better quality than cheaper high street brands.

Would you wear this colour?  Is the French manicure look passe or is it still a classic?

I just love that you can, if you so choose, purchase a shade of nail polish that is exactly a match for wet cement. It looks slightly cooler in the bottle but there's definitely a dirty khaki hint once it's on the nail. Consistency is quite watery, which I believe is typical of Essie polishes. It layers up well enough though. Retails at around £9 per bottle. This is three coats plus Seche Vite.

Click through for more pics.