(Note: this post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission if you click. But obviously, this doesn’t change my opinions!)

I’m a big fan of routines. Each Sunday night, I like to paint my own nails. I dabbled with getting weekly manicures done, but there wasn’t really a nail salon close to me with convenient hours, and so over the years, I built up quite the collection of nail polishes.

When gel manicures started to become popular, I went to a salon and got one done. I loved how long it lasted, but absolutely hated what happened to my nails when I took the polish off. I tried to be careful, and soaked my nails for a long time before trying to push off the polish, but it still didn’t help – my nails were ruined for a while. I was really turned off to gel polish after that experience.

When I saw that Essie came out with a non-LED light version of gel polish (Essie Gel Couture), I was skeptical, but willing to at least try it – and then I was hooked. It lasts at least a week with no chipping, and best of all, comes off so easily – really just like regular nail polish.

They have a great selection of colors, just like the regular Essie polishes, but they look “thicker” like a gel manicure does. You can find them at Ulta and Amazon, and they’re fairly affordable, especially when you compare them to paying for a weekly manicure! I’m now working on building a collection of these polishes to rival my old collection.