essie Nail Color, Encrusted Treasures, Belugaria

I remember when Essie first released this collection (Encrusted treasure). I went to my local CVS and bought Belugaria. I loved it then and I still love it now. This polish was ridiculed, made fun of, put down, was misunderstood, it was before its time. It has texture, glitter, personality, caviar! It will forever be one of a kind, timeless and one of my favorites.

I love Essie polish, but this one is a miss. The polish is extremely thick and clumpy (appears old.) When it dries, it is so cratered and weird. The sparkles aren’t prominent either. It has the texture of paint with sand mixed in. You can’t return because it’s “flammable” (despite amazon mailing “flammable” objects to start with.) I should have listened to the reviews and encourage you to!

This polish on its own is not glossy, so the title can be a little misleading. I just LOVE how it is so different. It’s versatile. you can pair it with a black undercoat for a smoother look. Or just layer on two coats for a chippy edgey look. It can be matte looking if you leave off a top coat, but be warned this only lasts a few days before it chips off. If you add a top coat it is glossier and more subtle and lasts longer. A base coat also extends the length you can wear it, depending on your nail type. I love a dark black look on my nails. This one did not disappoint.

The whole time using this polish I was thinking “is this supposed to look like this”??? It’s extremely rough and bumpy...acts as you would imagine a 10 year old polish would. Could be used if you’re going for a punk/grunge/rock look but because of the roughness this polish would be annoying to wear for longer than a night. Sparkles also appeared to be stuck to the sides of the bottle...not matter how many times I shook the polish they stayed on the sides.

The Nail polish is wrong, it should look really cool but there’s something wrong with this polish that’s giving it a chunky gritty clumpy feeling and appearance. Do yourself a favor, if you want this effect buy a good black and a bottle of Sally Hanson snow globe (if you can find it. Same look, no grit. Be warned, snow globe is a pain to take off. The photos in the other reviews are accurate. It’s bad polish. The one on the left is the one advertised and the one on the right is my diy version