essie gel couture fairy tailor Review + Swatches

essie gel couture fairy tailor swatch

Updated 2024.11.04. This page contains affiliate links and this site earns from qualifying purchases made through these sponsored links. 

essie gel couture is a two-coat longwear nail polish system, it does not need a lamp or a base coat. 

It is called “gel,” perhaps to indicate the longwear qualities in this line that traditional gel manicures are typically known for, but it is not salon gel. It is designed for at-home manicures done without any UV light.

In this line, the system for the perfect manicure is the same - two coats of your selected gel couture color, plus one coat of the gel couture top coat, and in return, you get over a week of wear.

fairy tailor (color #40) is one of the best selling colors within the gel couture line. It is a sheer, milky light pink-beige neutral nail polish. To get the best results with fairy tailor:

1. To start your manicure, buff out your nail beds with the fine-to-medium side of a buffing block before applying the polish, then wash your hands. 

2. Roll the bottle to evenly distribute the paint particles throughout before applying. If you know your polish has been sitting for a while without use, you certainly want to do this.

3. Apply the paint color to the nail by dotting a bead of color at the top center of the nail, then lightly pull the brush downward, parallel, almost floating it over the nailbed, in feather-light strokes. 

4. Wait a minimum of 10 minutes between coats. 

essie gel couture is a regular dry polish. Dry time can depend on your environment’s temperature and climate, and each coat can take up to 20 minutes to dry.

That said, this is a longwear polish, so the effort you put in to let the paint set properly, does pay off in the end, by giving you a longer wearing manicure.

Now that the finer details of how to best enjoy this polish are out of the way, let’s look at some essie gel couture fairy tailor swatches:

essie gel couture fairy tailor swatch in two coats

essie gel couture fairy tailor swatch in two coats on grey background

essie gel couture fairy tailor swatch up close in two coats on grey background

essie gel couture fairy tailor swatch in two coats on grey background

These swatches are shown under daylight LED lighting, with two coats of fairy tailor and one coat of the gel couture top coat (00).

The gel couture top coat is amazing. 

Any perceived imperfections in the color or way the paint chose to set, the top coat just blurs over it. It’s a true glaze over the color. 

If you have any doubts about the color during the first or second color coat, hold them until you apply the gel couture top coat. Then make up your mind.  You do need the gel couture top coat to get the full longwear benefits of essie’s prestige gel couture line.

All in all, fairy tailor is a lovely, palette-cleansing sheer neutral pink-beige nail polish. As mentioned above, it does have a slight milky sheer look, which is a signature look to essie sheers.

It’s a great choice for in-between more vibrant, color or design forward manicures or if you want a clean, natural, done-but-not-overdone look.

Get essie gel couture fairy tailor at Ulta HERE. Get essie gel couture fairy tailor plus the gel couture top coat bundle on Amazon HERE. If you don’t have the gel couture top coat, consider getting it in the kit, you do save money when getting them together.

Other Articles You May Enjoy:

• essie gel couture fairy tailor VS sheer fantasy

• essie gel couture Nail Polish Review

• essie gel couture Swatches

• essie gel couture Nail Polish Colors

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