I was introduced to Bikini so Teeny by my favourite beauty guru,the gorgeous Nur (known as nurberxo on youtube and twitter – watch her videos, in case you haven’t done so already). This is a cute summery light blue nail polish. The Essie website describes it as a sparkling cornflower blue nail polish – an apt description. However some may also describe it as a baby blue color with a hint of lavender. It has very fine silver glitter. One has to look at the bottle very intently to see it. It is even tougher to see the glitter once the polish is applied on the nails but it imparts a beautiful shine to the color. This color sets a very youthful mood – it makes me feel as though I am back in my high school days. If you like blue nail polish, you will love this interesting shade of blue.
This color looks best after three coats. The first coat goes on very streaky – it almost made my enthusiasm hit rock bottom because it didn’t look like one could build up the color. However, the second coat went on smooth, covering most of the bare patches left by the first coat. And the third coat gave the perfect crème finish. I did not use a base coat or a top coat.
The polish wears well up to 5 days with heavy duty exposure – 6 showers, hand washing every waking hour, dishwashing and lots of typing…the three coats survived it all. There was a little chipping around the sides but the brush is ideally suited for repair work (the brush is narrow and gives very good control). I was able to touch up and everything looked just fine.
The challenge is getting Essie Nail polishes in India. Most websites mention that Essie nail polishes are not available for delivery in India. I have come across two websites that deliver Essie nail polishes to India. They are http://shopping.rediff.com and occasionally http://www.snapdeal.com. To make things tougher, the price on these websites is about 3 times the actual price (and sometimes even higher for few shades).
Essie is known for its unique and classy colors so it is sad that nail polish lovers can’t get Essie nail polishes easily in India. Hope someone from Essie reads this review and helps us get these lovely nail polishes in India too. I sourced my Essie Bikini So Teeny through my brother who studies abroad.
US customers can buy this nail polish directly from the Essie website for $8.5. UK customers can buy is from the Superdrug website for £7.99
Yays!
• Very beautiful color for blue nail polish lovers
• The color lasts for good 5 days with heavy duty exposure
• Essie nail paints are 3 free (which means No Dibutyl Phthalate, Toluene, and Formaldehyde)
Nays!
• First coat is depressingly streaky
• Very limited availability in India
