Wear Test Wednesday: Essie Fondant of You

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Recently I mentioned that I’m planning a new series of nail polish wear tests, and I decided to dive right in! My plot to make myself actually wear nail polish is semi-working, at least so far. I recently got a couple colors from the Essie summer collection (kindly provided by the brand) so  today I present to you the first edition: Essie Fondant of You.

Fondant of You is a really pretty pastel orange that reminds me of orange sherbet. It’s a great summer color but since I don’t put a whole lot of stock in seasonal colors I can see myself wearing it pretty much year round. It’s a creme glossy finish that was opaque with three thin coats.

As I mentioned last time, I followed my basic nail routine:

• Cut & file
• Push back cuticles
• No buffing
• Remove oils with nail polish remover
• Paint with no base coat
• Finish with drying drops (I didn’t use a top coat)

Freshly Applied:

Day zero saw no chips, of course, and the polish dried quickly enough with OPI Drip Dry that I managed not smudge them even when I went to bed.

Day 1:

After a full day, so far so good. Still pretty pristine, but I need to work on my hand model skillz.

Day 3:

Likewise, they still looked pretty good after 3 full days. A few scratches on the surface, but other than that smooth sailing.

Day 5:

The fifth day is when my manicure started to show its age a bit. There were chips on 3 nails right at the corners which is pretty common for me – my nails are a little soft, so they bend slightly if I run them into things. They might have fared better if I used a top coat, but by that point there was some visible growth anyway. I didn’t take pictures, but bicycle maintenance on day 6 definitely put a nail in the coffin. That’s maybe the world’s fastest way to ruin a manicure so no big deal.

In Short: I think this is a really pretty color and the application was easy. It’s not bullet-proof but I was pretty happy with the wear time, especially considering I didn’t have a top coat on and I wasn’t especially careful not to damage my polish.

Essie Fondant of You ($9) is available at Kohl’s and Target