ND LACQUERS NAIL ESSENTIAL COLLECTION REVIEW

Good afternoon Lovelies!
 I'm really excited to be sharing this post with you guys today because I've been testing out ND Lacquers Essential line since the beginning of July and it's been so hard trying not to say anything about it until now! :P ...and I just want to give you guys a heads up right now, this will be a pretty lengthy post because I wanted to make sure to give you all of the details :)

The Essential line includes a Base coat, Top coat (both of which are 5-Free), Peel Off Base Coat and Cuticle Oil.

The reason I'm so excited to share this post with you guys today is because I know for any nail artist out there whether a beginner or a more advanced nail artist, you need the essentials for a good manicure, and we all know that base coats and top coats are essential for a good manicure, right? We also know that we need to take good care of our cuticles. Plus, all of us nail girls LOVE our glitters! ...and you all know I'm right about that! ;) But they're a giant pain in the ass to remove! So Natali has really thought of it all for us with this collection and I'm excited that I was able to be apart of the few girls who were able to test out these wonderful products!

*These products were sent to me for review. Please see my Disclosure Policy listed in the tabs above.**

Top Coat, Base Coat, Cuticle Oil & Peel Off Base Coat

(Yes these have been used...I forgot to take a pic of them when I first received them :S)

Let's start with the base coat...since that's what we'd start off with if we were sitting down to paint our nails ;) This base coat right off the bat looks very different than pretty much all other base coats because it has a milky consistency. Now at first I was a little confused by that, but as time went on and I played around with this set I actually decided I really liked that! One thing that I haven't liked to much about using Seche Vite base and top coat is that I have a hard time telling the difference...I don't like that I constantly have to read each label to make sure I'm not putting my top coat on in place of my base coat or vice versa...so I really really like that this base coat is a milky color!
(Photo below shown with 1 coat of base coat).

Base Coat - $7.50 (13mL) $2.50 (5mL)

Another thing I absolutely love about this base coat is how fast it dries. I literally feel like within seconds of applying it it's completely dry, and I'm sure we all know what it's like to have to sit and wait for a base coat to dry...it sucks! So I am loving this this one.

The only thing I can't tell you for sure about this base coat is how long it lasts...mainly because I redo my nails 2-3+ times a week, so I can't really say how well your mani will last. But! I did use the base coat and top coat on my mom while she was here for my wedding and when she got home she had to help my sister move, and you know how moving really takes a toll on your nails and polish...well she told me that she was really impressed because other than some nail breaks (due to picking up heavy boxes and what not) there were no chips in the polish! And this ended up being about 1 1/2 weeks after I did her nails! So I guess that says it all right there!

Peel off Base Coat - $5.50 (only available in 13mL)

Photo shown with 1 (wet) coat.

Photo shown with 3 (dry) coats.

 This one is actually my very first peel off base coat. I have seen a lot of other Nail Bloggers use peel off base coats before and I have wanted to try them out myself, I just never got around to finding one...so I was excited to try this one out. Because it was my first time I did have trouble with it...I wasn't quite sure how to use it, because every time I tried to peel it off it seemed harder than just removing my polish with remover. So I got some tips from Natali and started over, and although I still need some practice, because it's not a polish I use every day, I do think it's a great polish.

It works best if you apply 2-3 coats (I was originally only applying 1), and it really does make it easier to remove stubborn glitter. Another trick I learned for when I have a hard time getting it to peel off is to soak my nails in warm water for a minute, and that really helps as well. I did try to use it around my cuticles, for when I was doing a water marble or a gradient, and it helped my clean up process so much! It does take awhile to dry because it has a thicker consistency than a regular base coat, but it's worth the wait. 

Oh, and one more quick thing about this peel off base (that I know some of you may be wondering), it did not damage my nails. Apparently some Bloggers have tried peel off base polishes that have damaged their nails during the peel off process...that makes me cringe just thinking about it...but I didn't have any problems with this one.

Cuticle Oil - $7.50 (13 mL) $2.50 (5mL)

I know a lot of you probably want to see before and after photos with the cuticle oil, and unfortunately I don't have one :( ...a few months ago I started my current nail care routine and I've taken really good care of my cuticles, so by the time I received this line I already had really nice cuticles. But with that being said I do have to tell you that I love every about this cuticle oil! Apart from the scent, just because I'm more of a fruity person and the scent is more of a floral type smell to me. But I do like that the scent isn't strong. It's a light smell, which is so nice when it comes to cuticle oils. I have tried some cuticle oils that have had such a strong smell that within minutes I have a huge headache and I can't get the smell off of me for hours and hours...this is definitely not one of those :)

I also really like that this oil has a brush and not a roll on applicator because personally I feel like I have more control of how much cuticle oil is on a brush as opposed to a roll on. Plus the most impressive thing for me about this cuticle oil is that it soaks into the skin really quickly and makes the cuticles so nice and soft! I've tried several cuticle oils over the past year and a lot of them don't soak in very well at all...so if I had to give this a rating I would give it a 4.8 out of 5 :)

As I mentioned before this is not a before and after using this Cuticle Oil, I just wanted to share a picture with you that shows what my cuticles looked like before I started taking extra good care of them. I'm a little bit amazed at the difference now that I see these 2 pics together :P

Top Coat - $7.50 (13mL) $2.50 (5mL)

I had to save the best for last! ...and if that's the only thing I said about this top coat, you should trust me on that! This topcoat gets a 5 out of 5 in my book! I've been an avid Seche Vite girl for a few years now and have yet to try another top coat that I like...but I've been wanting to find something better than Seche Vite because I don't like that the Seche Vite top coat shrinks my manis. I also don't like that once I get half way through a bottle of top coat it gets really thick and goopy real fast. So the first thing I have to tell you is that if you have tried Seche Vite, you know how fast it dries...pretty fast. Well this top coat dries faster! And I mean it literally dries in seconds! 

When I was doing my moms nails I applied a white base coat and then several neon colors with the dry brush method before I was going to stamp an image over the top in black (pictures below). So just to make sure the polish was smooth before applying the stamp I applied the ND Lacquers top coat and told my mom we needed to wait for it to dry, and she actually pressed down pretty hard on her nail and it was completely dry. I was shocked! I had applied the top coat on all 10 fingers, closed the bottle, set it aside and was getting the stamping tools ready and it was dry...and not just top dry, completely hard all the way through! I did not expect that at all!

One thing I wasn't quite sure if I liked at first was that this top coat applies pretty thin, but after working with it I decided I really like that! I think I've been working with my Seche Vite getting pretty thick for so long that I didn't know what to think about such a thin top coat. My mom really liked that as well.

I used 1 coat of Top Coat for my 4th of July mani (2 coats over glitter).

1 coat of top coat for photo below. Polish is by ND Lacquers. I applied 3 coats for full opacity.

So there you have it! If you have stayed with me through this entire post Kudos to you ;) I know it was long, but for an Essential line I felt that I needed to share a more in depth review for you guys. 

I hope you found it helpful. If you would like to try this wonderful line out for yourself, you can find it here: http://ndlacquers.bigcartel.com, you don't have to wait! The entire set together is $22, which is a really decent price for all 4 if you ask me!

And I just want to say a Big THANK YOU to Natali for sending me this line to review! 

XOXOXO!