Manicure Monday: Mint Candy Apple

I always seem to forget how much I like having my nails painted.

For me there's nothing more satisfying than having perfectly shaped, gleaming nails and a manicure is the one thing that makes me feel in control and fully put together. As silly as it may sound, my world could be falling apart but as long as my manicure's intact then I feel like I can tackle anything head on.

Everyone has different tricks and things to make them happy, and this is one of the little things that puts a smile on my face every time. As such, every Monday I'll be blogging about my manicure for the week, hopefully encouraging me to try different brands and colours, and simultaneously keeping me focused, on track and feeling invincible. Two birds, one stone.

As we're in the middle of Wimbledon I thought I'd try out Essie's Mint Candy Apple this week. I wore Lilacism when I visited the grounds a few weeks ago, so felt it would be appropriate to match my nails once again to the iconic tennis championship for its final week.

(IMAGE SOURCED FROM www.target.com)

I've been eyeing up this award winning shade for ages but have never felt brave enough to buy it - I only ever wear red or various shades of pink for fear of standing out and looking a bit ridiculous. I'm convinced I can't pull off bright colours so tend to stick to safe, muted shades, and this is anything but!

To prep my nails I removed my other nail varnish using Chanel's Dissolvant Doux. I cannot recommend this enough - the bottle lasts forever and you only need a tiny amount to remove both hands' worth of polish. Plus, it doesn't dry out my nails and never leaves stains even from darker colours: definite wonder product for me!

I then moisturised using The Body Shop's Hemp Hand Protector. My best friend bought me this for my birthday and it's absolutely amazing. I have incredibly dry hands and this kept them soft for hours without leaving a greasy residue. I'm also trying out a new base and top coat, which happen to be from Essie as well.

The first coat of Mint Candy Apple was incredibly streaky but the second easily evened it out and blended perfectly. The brushes are a bit of an odd shape so I found it a little difficult to paint my nails neatly in 3 strokes as I normally do, but that might just be because I have tiny hands and the brush is a little big for my nail beds.

The colour, though, is beautiful! It's a lot more of a turquoise than I was expecting but I still love it. I never, ever go for blue or green tones so this is a step way outside of my comfort zone, but I think because it's so summery and actually quite soft it works.

I can definitely see why this has beauty editors falling over themselves to use it! I'm in love with Essie at the moment and can't wait to try out more of the shades I received for my birthday.

Let me know what you think in the comments below, drop me a tweet or come and say hello on Instagram. I'd love to know what you think of this colour! I'm also on the look out for a much paler pastel mint green so if any of you can recommend one then please do get in touch!