OPI v JESSICA v ESSIE

[Vanilla Pod]

any thoughts on natural nail care - which do you prefer and what retails better
stuck between opi, jessica, essie or orly:hug:

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

I've got a couple of Orly polishes and Orly, IMO are good quality, but I have to say that I have opted for OPI. Love the colours and the quality is fab. No streaking, goes on evenly and lasts very well. I have also taken on the mani/pedi range of products and am not disappointed. Gorgeous soft scents.

I have not tried Essie so can't comment but did look into Jessica and have to say that I was not wowed! I just can't get on with them even though I had a polish demo at Excel last year and brought some to practice. Although prescriptive to nail care, I find them too fiddley and could not get the polish to last on myself..... peeled of within 24hours. IMHO one can achieve the same prescriptive treatment with a good manicure and regular treatment oil with eg. solar oil.

OPI gets the thumbs up from me.

 

[pure]

OPI definately.
I haven't tried Essie.
I have heard numerous times about Jessica polishes being prone to peeling, now obviously that may be down to poor technique rather than the product itself, but I only ever have heard it about theirs.

So for me, OPI. Brilliant choice of colours, excellent treatment products.

 

[Bronzewolf]

OPI .... fab colours, love the wide brush(makes application easier) great customer service have a rep come out and see me when i want and good on sending you out newsletters, latest deals etc etc...
havent tried the others.

 

[kylieb]

I like O.P.I and Essie. They are both lovely to paint with and I dont find they go as gloopy as Jessica. I also think Jessica products smell of old ladies. I do like the quick dry and the base coats. I am absolutely gutted they have discontinued the Coat of nail armour.
xxx

 

[akaza]

Hi,

I have been using OPI for the last couple of years...they have a great colour range and last well. Im actually going to be changing over to Nfu oh as I bought afew colours and my clients have gone for them instead! They love the bottles that they come in and the colours are fantastic! Great if you are wanting to retail them in your salon.

hth x x

 

[xxxchezybabexxx]

im new to using the good nail varnishes but have invested in some OPI and i polished my natural nails one day and went swimming the day after and the polish actually stayed on which amazed me as i was expecting it to chip and just peel of lol x

 

[lenna]

have only tried essie but i went for opi and love them

 

[Mrs Geek]

you may also want to consider what ingedients are in the polish. In the states the consumer has been paramount in making polish 3-FREE which means no Toluene, No Formaldehyde of Formaldehyde Resin and no DBP.

Jessica IS truly 3-Free; OPI & Essie still contain Formaldehyde Resin... TBH this isn't a huge negative but worth knowing if clients ask. CND Colours and Effects are aslo truly 3 Free!

 

[Shellie xx]

I love Jessica ~ I haven't tried OPI or Essie but have used Orly and LCN and Jessica are def. my favourite out of them. I have heard from other people about Jessica peeling on theirs/their clients nails but this has never happened with me. Infact I changed from Orly to Jessica without telling my client (I was doing a french) and the next time she came to me she said "I don't know what you've done different this time but it has lasted so well!" I also love their quick dry and brilliance top coat

 

[ruthemma]

I use OPI and love them . I only logged on tonight to see if anyone who has tried Essie has found that they streak really badly - or is it just me am I crap!! (sorry oops - rubbish!!)?

 

[Nail Delights]

you may also want to consider what ingedients are in the polish. In the states the consumer has been paramount in making polish 3-FREE which means no Toluene, No Formaldehyde of Formaldehyde Resin and no DBP.

Jessica IS truly 3-Free; OPI & Essie still contain Formaldehyde Resin... TBH this isn't a huge negative but worth knowing if clients ask. CND Colours and Effects are aslo truly 3 Free!

Isn't orly 3 free then?

 

[sasc]

I have only ever used OPI, and i would never change... they have a massive range of colours, easy to paint with and it also lasts ages!

Products are great to!

 

[Martin Duffy]

I've used Jessica for the last 7 years & never had this peeling problem & had never even heard of it until coming to these forums! My clients always say how long their colour lasts with Jessica, normally growing off before chipping off.

I suspect any problems arising with Jessica is the application technique, which is very specific to Jessica & KEY to getting it to dry & last as it is a different formula to other polishes. You need to use about 10 strokes per nail MINIMUM to get it to set.

 

[Mrs Geek]

the application technique, which is very specific to Jessica & KEY to getting it to dry & last as it is a different formula to other polishes. You need to use about 10 strokes per nail MINIMUM to get it to set.

Crikey MD - doesn't that take forever? I judged the Natural Nail Catagory for the up and coming British Beauty and Spa Awards. I was very impressed with some of the girls in this catagory - very professional... but I noticed many didn't hold their bottle for polishing (mny used Jessica). As a judge I asked 'why' as most teks use balance point... anyway they said they left the polish on the table because if it got too warm in their hands in went gloopy and had to be chucked.

As I said... the professionalism of these girls was excellent, but I am surpised that people would find that acceptable from a polish... if I were in the salon doing natural manicures, I would want my polish to last and I would want it to be a reasonably fast application. Just my HO and hope you don't mind me responding!:!:

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

Crikey MD - doesn't that take forever?

You see, this is the problem for me with Jessica and it is one of the things which put me off to be honest...... that and the peeling.

I had Jessica demo'd for me at Excel last year (one on one) and I followed this through myself after purchasing some with the 10 stroke technique. Still peeled off and took too darn long.

I am not denying that it is perhaps a very good product, however, to get the application technique spot on, would have required another training day and more ££. I asked if it was absolutely essential that I do the mani/pedi training day as I am already twice trained in mani/ped and they insisted.

Now in my opinion I don't think Jessica did themselves a favour regards this as I said 'thanks but no thanks' which is sad because they lost a potential customer who was really willing to give their products a go. What is more is that I live just down the road from their headquaters.

It is almost like having to do a manicure/ pedicure conversion course with their polish, whereas I buy my OPI products and no conversion needed. I find the OPI polishes longwearing, great colour range, great price and quick and easy to apply. Full marks from me.

 

[Martin Duffy]

Crikey MD - doesn't that take forever?:!:

Well I've been manicuring professionally since 1995 & in that time I have used many other brands of professional polish and I can't say the Jessica application technique adds any significant length to application time. Like anything it comes with practice. The first three strokes can be applied traditionally & the other 7 are merely quick strokes to help set the colour, which is what speeds up it's drying time.

As to the holding question, I am aware Jessica & some colleges suggest not holding varnishes so they last longer, but I have always held mine & have thrown only 2 bottles of varnish away due to gloopyness in the last 7 years (which had more to do with age than heat I suspect). If the Jessica polish was really as bad as some say it was I very much doubt it would continuously be winning InStyle awards, making frequent appearances on celebrities & have such a massive slice of the market share.

On the subject of the Jessica training - it isn't just in the varnish application as that would be ridiculous! Varnish application is a very small part of the training, the bulk of which is learning about their natural nail cultivation system, their 'nail type' system, the products & their application, the types of manicure they offer, how to use their nail care machine & so forth. As with any product range, to get the best out of it requires investment in the training that goes with it (and as far as I'm aware even that isn't compulsory).

 

[claire1976]

for me OPI everytime x

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

On the subject of the Jessica training - it isn't just in the varnish application as that would be ridiculous! Varnish application is a very small part of the training, the bulk of which is learning about their natural nail cultivation system, their 'nail type' system, the products & their application, the types of manicure they offer, how to use their nail care machine & so forth. As with any product range, to get the best out of it requires investment in the training that goes with it (and as far as I'm aware even that isn't compulsory).

I fully appreciate what you are saying about the training, and yes, you are correct, the training is not compulsory in order to use their products.

However, my point is that I would have to invest in alot of money to (a) bring their products into my salon and (b) the training in order to get the best from their products. Now as far as I am concerned, this is as good as doing a full conversion course for nail polish and this is what put me off after all the money I spent on my 2 initial mani/ped trainings, the second of which was extremely intensive and expensive at CIBTAC level.

I personally could not justify the end result which is why I went back to OPI.

 

[Martin Duffy]

However, my point is that I would have to invest in alot of money to (a) bring their products into my salon and (b) the training in order to get the best from their products. I personally could not justify the end result which is why I went back to OPI.

That's fair enough, that's a decision we all have to make when deciding on whether or not to take on any "account-based" product range instead of one where we can buy bits & bobs from a beauty supplier; both have their advantages & disadvantages.

Nearly all of my ranges are account based (St Tropez, CACI, Decleor & Jessica), and all of them required a sizeable initial outlay in taking on the whole range & in time for training (a full two weeks in the case of Decleor, a week for CACI, two days for Jessica & a day for St Tropez). However, that's mainly because I prefer to use a whole system & buy into that system, training & all!