My birthday at the NYC Ballet + Essie's Gel Couture Ballet Nudes review

It's my 24th birthday!
As a little girl, I had always been a dancer, and still to this day, it's a dream of mine to learn how to dance ballet en pointe. This year for my birthday, I wanted desperately to see the ballet, and lucky for me, The Sleeping Beauty (one of my most favorite fairytales) was being performed at the NYC Ballet.

​Although February is notoriously icy in New York, the warm weather made my night at Lincoln Center particularly breathtaking.

As the curtains rose, I watched the dancers in a dream-like state, hypnotized by their effortlessly graceful, yet precise movements. The Lilac Fairy (danced by Miriam Miller) in particular caught my eye throughout the show, with her elegant lines and fluid arms. And seeing the youngest dancers gave me serious (and emotional) nostalgia for when I danced ballet in the The Snow Queen as a little girl in California.

After watching these incredible dancers, I am all the more inspired to explore the discipline of ballet once again (and as an adult!). Perhaps one day I will be able to slip into a pair of pointe shoes and live out my life-long dream...

As some sort of sweet poetry, Essie happened to release their new Gel Couture Spring 2017 Collection of nude nail polishes inspired by ballerinas just before my birthday...

+ Top Coat (left)
With Essie's new Gel Couture range, the classic bottle everyone knows and loves has gotten a serious upgrade. The curves and contours of each bottle rests nicely in your hands as you paint your own nails, and the brush is quite large and rounded for easier application (though everyone has their own preference, I find that this type of brush works best for me). With the Gel Couture polishes, the Top Coat to be absolutely necessary. It thickens the polish for long-lasting nails, creates a gorgeous "glossy" finish, and has managed to keep my nails chip-free for about 10-12 days.

+ Lace Me Up (center)
Although the Gel Couture formula is not quite as thick and long-lasting as a normal gel manicure, I do find it to be a touch heavier than Essie's normal polish, making my nails stronger and less likely to break or chip. Lace Me Up is a gorgeous petal pink with full pigment (no sheerness whatsoever) and no specks of glitter or shimmer, and an absolute classic staple in any polish collection. I was pleasantly surprised with how durable this formula was, though at around day 12-14, I did notice some uncomely cracking of the polish on my nails. To combat this, I noticed that using the Top Coat as a base coat as well keeps my mani en pointe longer, though I would be interested in seeing an official base coat added to the range.

+ Perfect Posture (right)
Though I normally stick to classic shades when it comes to my nails (I'm a nude, red, and black type of girl) - I am seriously in love with this powder blue shade. Perfect Posture glides on smoothly onto the nailbed, with full pigment and no glitter (similar to Lace Me Up). The cool-toned pastel reminds me so much of The Sleeping Beauty's romantic color palette, and is the shade I will be wearing most often throughout the warmer months.

​Any Pisces babes out there?
Happy birthday to us!