Manic.Monday: Essie Raisinnuts

December is just flying by - yesterday it was already the 3rd of advent, which means that again it was time to light candle no 3, eat some ginger bread and crack out another bottle of Glögg. Some of you may remember that I have mentioned Glögg before in a post, but if you didn't see that one I can tell you that it's a traditional Swedish hot winter drink, quite similar to mulled wine i.e. it's based on red wine and it's rich with invigorating and warm spices like orange, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and cognac. You usually serve Glögg with raisins and nuts, so I can't think of a more suitable nail polish for this Manic.Monday than Essie's Raisin Nuts (£7.99).

I know I recently did another post on an Essie nail polish (St. Lucia) that wasn't entirely positive, but since I then also mentioned that for me the more pigmented Essie shades are - the better the quality is, I wanted to balance my previous review by showing a good shade with lots of pigmentation... and Raisin Nuts is a really good one.

There's no denying that the formula still is quite thin, but it does feel a little bit more creamy when you apply it. The brush is also still the same, i.e. quite narrow and when I apply it I need about 4 streaks to get a good coverage. Now had that been in a lighter shade, I know from experience that the first coat would have been streaky, however the pigmentation makes all the difference and with Raisin Nuts I get a really nice and even finish. Raisin Nuts is a warm, sweet dark red shade that creates a lovely satin finish. For me it's not opaque enough when I just use one coat and since I really want to bring out the lovely depth of the color, I always apply two coats with this shade. The formula dries very quickly and evenly without any gloopyness and in the photos I've also followed up with a high shine top coat.

I love to wear Raisin Nuts and the sophisticated deep wine shade really reminds me of the color of Glögg and for me it's a great soft shade for autumn and winter that goes with most outfits. This particular shade from Essie lasts about 3 days on me before it starts to chip even if I'm wearing a good base coat and top coat, so for me long wear is still an issue - but not a big one so let's call it an issuette. It's not going to stop me from getting any Essie shades that I really like, however I have to be honest and say there are other brands that I prefer to use. If you have any tips on how to get Essie nail polishes to last longer, I'm all ears!