My Fall Picks from Essie Gel Couture: Closing Night and Twill Seeker

As much as I love gel nail polish (the shine! how long it lasts!), I'm the type of person who gets sick of colours really quickly and having to wait around for my mani to grow out or take on the ordeal of soaking and orange stick-ing my polish off is just not my idea of a good time. Thankfully, many brands have been releasing their own versions of gel-like polish which lasts longer than regular polish, doesn't require a heat lamp, and can be removed with nail polish remover. Essie Gel Couture is one such line.

I was actually introduced to Essie Gel Couture last summer when it first debuted and was really impressed with the shine and wear time (it's advertised to last 14 days although with these types of polishes I typically switch it up around 7 days). I can definitely get away with doing my nails less than normal with minimal tip wear.

What I also like about the line is that it's only a 2-step process with no base coat required. Just do 2 coats of colour and add 1 coat of the special top coat.

Unlike regular Essie polishes, the Gel Couture bottles are twisted glass and feature a thicker brush (similar to OPI's wide brush). The brush is also twisted, as you can see in the picture above, although I believe this is more aesthetic since it doesn't seem to have any effect on the brush itself or how it's used.

Nail Polish Canada, my favourite online store to buy nail polish from, kindly offered to send over a couple new shades for me to add to my collection. With such a huge shade range it was hard to pick but I opted for two that I think are just perfect for Fall: Closing Night and Twill Seeker.

Closing Night is a cool blue-grey packed with shimmer. It's really pretty and makes for a unique neutral despite not being a pink or beige.

Twill Seeker was a hard one to photograph; although it's essentially a dusty grey plum colour, it features a shimmery green base. Essie describes it as an "enchanting pewter with sage luster".

Find a huge range of Essie Gel Couture online at Nail Polish Canada.

AERIN Tuberose Le Jour

For those of you who aren't familiar with AERIN, it is the namesake luxury beauty and lifestyle brand of Estée Lauder's granddaughter, Aerin Lauder. With a particular focus on fragrance, every season she releases something new and this Fall, it's the Tuberose Collection.

The collection features two scents inspired by the Tuberose flower -- one for day (Tuberose Le Jour) and one for night (Tuberose Le Soir). The idea behind this pairing is that you wouldn't want to wear the same fragrance for work as you would for play, but you can instead layer on something new to bring greater depth to what you're already wearing. AERIN's classic perfume packaging has also been updated with Le Jour in a pale pink glass and Le Soir in a darker rose. The result is super pretty and feminine.

I was gifted a bottle of Tuberose Le Jour at a recent media event and have been using it a lot since then. Admittedly, however, it did take me a little while to warm up to the scent because it's very different from anything else I own. With a base of white Tuberose, it's layered with Neroli, Orange Flower, Jasmine, Cashmeran, and Cedarwood. The result is a woody floral musk that almost has a bit of a "salty" undertone if that makes any sense. Overall, I really like it for daytime because it's unique but not overpowering.

At $215 for 1.7 mL, it is quite expensive (although in line with the pricing of other high-end fragrances). Nonetheless, it would make a great gift or splurge... even better if you bought both Le Jour and Le Soir!

All About The Bows

I haven't done a ton of Fall shopping this year but when I saw this dress, it went straight into my online shopping cart. I mean, I really couldn't say "no"... I love bows (evidence here, here, and here). Naturally, I also had to keep on theme by pairing it with this bag.

Dress: re:named (here) / Boots: Steve Madden (here and here) / Bag: Kate Spade