Essence Christmas advent calendar: contents & swatches

If you follow me on Instagram, you may already have seen a few of these polishes, but I thought it would be good to show you these in a proper article with better pictures and swatches. Because it isn’t every day that I get my hands on 20 (!) different nail polishes in one go. I decided against opening everything all at once and look what was inside and that is why I am bringing you a grand round up post today. I will be showing you everything that was in the calendar and I swatched out all polishes too. Let’s have a closer look!

The 20 polishes from the Essence Christmas 2015 advent calendar

The calendar boasts 20 polishes, of which 15 are colors. The other 5 polishes in here are top coats. The colors come in a number of different finishes. There are 4 semi-matt, 1 perfect finish and 10 high-gloss colors. In addition to the polish there were also 4 nail related items in the calendar: 2 nail files, a set of nail stickers and a miniature make up bag.

I bought the calendar at half price a few days into the advent. Here you can see what it looked like when it was pristine and unopened.

The four additional items were cute, but not necessarily my cup of tea. I like how they shaped the nail files as a stocking and a gingerbread man. The nail stickers also featured bows, reindeer and the like: very Christmas appropriate. The make up bag is covered in gold sequins which looks festive but the sequins were everywhere immediately so I felt this was a bit cheaply made. All of these items I personally won’t use. I really bought this calendar for the polishes.

The range of colors and top coats was quite interesting and most of it fits a Christmas theme. There are a few odd colors in there such as a bright coral and a green toned grey that just looks super gross. But other than there is a good range of darker colors such as a deep midnight blue, a darker red and a forest green. There are a few duochome polishes, a few creamy pastels, a metallic polish, a holographic polish and don’t forget that some of these will dry matte.

Below you will find pictures for each individual nail polish, including a swatch and close ups. I will be showing them to you in the order I pulled them from the calendar. Since the names aren’t always clearly written on the bottle as the writing disappears into the polish, I have written the name of each polish underneath the picture. I will briefly describe each polish and tell you whether I like it or not. Each swatch is two coats of polish and some shades I put over a darker background so you can see the effect much better.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Message from the North Pole (semi-matt)

The very first polish I pulled out is a holographic nail polish that dries matte. This isn’t listed as a top coat, but I would wear it as such. It has a very fine flaky look to it and I absolutely think this is a wonderful polish. Off to a good start!

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Do You Hear the Jingle Bells (high-gloss)

No. 2 is a metallic bronze shade. It has a very golden tone to it, which makes this a little bit more special than most bronze polishes I own. Yup, another good one.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Sweet Caramel Sweets (semi-matt)

Sweet Caramel Sweets is one of those shades that looks hideous in the bottle and the swatch, but looks very classy on the nail. It is a pinky toned brown that makes for a great neutral. Me likes, but of a semi-matt polish, this isn’t all that matte.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Rudolph’s Favorite (high-gloss)

A deep dark red isn’t something I wear very often as I find you need the exact shade that suits your skin tone. I like this one though, but it is nothing groundbreaking.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
See You in My Dreams (Galaxy lights top coat)

The first top coat in the bunch is a pink shimmer, almost holographic looking polish. This will look great over black or dark blue polish.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Winter Wonderland (high-gloss)

Baby blue! I love me some baby blue polish. And this is a very fresh and pale looking one. Like crisp snow. That is what this reminds me off in any case. And what an apt name that is.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Add on Magic! (Sparkling matt top coat)

Another top coat and this time it has a matte finish! Interesting concept. This has a golden sheen and I think this can be a very subtle look when topped over a light or dark shade. Chic!

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Snowflakes are Kisses Sent from Heaven (Snow flake top coat)

A snowflake topcoat?! Why yes, please. This is a very cute top coat. The pictures don’t really do this enough justice. Apart from the little white flecks and tiny bar glitter this features tons of multicolored glitter.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
My Wish List (high-gloss)

Pastel polish no. 2: a baby pink that is fairly sheer but still very pretty.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
The Night of Magic (high-gloss)

A deep dark navy blue is a great polish to have. On the first coat this went on very patchy though. A second coat fixed it, but I have better dark blue polishes with a better texture, so I will be passing this along.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Have a Very Pink X-Mas (high-gloss)

Not sure how I feel about a raspberry pink in a Christmas nail polish set. This also went on patchy on the first coat, like the blue and this is not as creamy. It has a jelly texture and I am not a fan of jelly textured nail polish.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
What a Grey-t Night (high-gloss)

Luckily the set also features some stunning shades. This is one of my favorites from the set: a light grey shade with a subtle golden duochrome shift. Very pretty!

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
North Pole Princess (Jelly Flakes top coat)

From all the top coats, this is my least favorite. It is a thick, almost gloopy textured polish with (wait for it…) transparent (!!) parts floating inside it. According to Essence it is supposed to give your nails a textured look. To me it just looks like this polish went bad.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
From Me to You (high-gloss)

Coral & Christmas? Do those things even go together? It is a pretty polish though, good texture and all that, but I am not feeling this shade for Christmas. This is something I prefer to wear in spring. It is also a tad too pink for my tastes.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Meet me at the Chimney (semi-matt)

I’m sure Essence had envisioned this polish to look like smoke or ash. Instead, it came out as a greenish grey that just looks yuck. The matte texture doesn’t help much either. Nope, not a fan of this one. Not at all!

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Kiss Under the Mistletoe (high-gloss)

Dark forest greens are some of my favorite shades to wear in winter. They go great with gold or silver glitters and top coats. But are also stunning on their own. Again, a shade I already have plenty of, but this is a great polish.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Made With Love (perfect finish)

By ‘perfect finish’ this polish is meant to give your nails that classy French manicure look, I think. However, this ultra sheer polish looks very patchy. This may be a good polish for you if you want to make your nails look well maintained yet you cannot wear noticeable nail colors because of work.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Candy Cane Lemonade (ombre top coat)

Ombre top coats are one of those nail trends that I hadn’t yet tried. So to see one in this set made me very happy. I will surely be playing around with this to see how it works. Not sure how a red tinted polish is going to create an ombre effect just yet, but we’ll see how this fares.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
Berry-Tale (high-gloss)

Towards the end, the offerings got a whole lot better again. Meet favorite shade number two: a deep purple with a stunning, duochrome like shine to it.

Essence I <3 Trends Nail Polish Christmas Advent Calendar
My Dear Reindeer (semi-matt)

The final polish was another winner. I am a sucker for grey with a purple/ mauve undertone and this falls right into that category. It swatches a tad darker and has a nice satin matte finish.

All swatches

What is your favorite polish from this set?