I want to be the person with gorgeous, natural nails. I’d just walk around without a care in the world, no pressure to fit a gel appointment into my already busy schedule before a vacation or a first date. My nails would just be perfect, all on their own. Alas, I’ve been getting gel manicures for 15 years, only ever taking a break to stick on a set of press-ons. It’s a vicious cycle. Nails look bad? I get gels, peel them off, they look bad again. Then, I’ll stick on some press-ons in the meantime, only to pry those off and damage my nails in the process. My fingers never get a damn break.
Last fall, I had arguably my worst set of nails yet. I got a fantastic gel service in Korea that used hard gel, left it on for nearly six weeks, then sat in my apartment and forced them off my nails with a cuticle nipper. Cue the most distressed nails I’ve ever had in my life. My nails peeled off in layers, had ridges I never thought I could grow out, and were all broken down well past the nail tip.
You know when your nails are so damaged they hurt? I wanted to immediately just go put gels right back on, save for the embarrassment of such wretched-looking fingers and also for comfort. But a new launch landed at my desk right in time: Essie’s Break Fix.
Billed as a liquid patch for breaking nails, Break Fix isn’t necessarily a strengthener in the standard sense. Sure, there’s nourishing vitamin E and hexanal, an aldehyde that helps strengthen and repair the keratin layers in your nails. But it’s meant mostly to help “patch up” a broken nail for a few days before you can get to a file or the salon. The compact size is purse-friendly, and the teeny precision wand allows you to apply it directly wherever you need it.
However, I have fallen in love with this all over my nails. It basically looks like nothing, and it dries almost instantly. And it truly fixed my nails in a few days. I applied it all over my nails, then completely left them alone for a week. By the next week, my nails were nearly healed. The length will take a while to get back, of course, but my nails feel immediately stronger. With this on, it feels like their ability to withstand potential breaks is much higher too. In that way, I use it more preventatively than as a quick fix.
I have tried it for breaks, and it definitely works. It essentially helps quickly fuse your nail together so you can more gently buff out an edge with a file rather than just rip it off. But I prefer it all over my nails. It’s easy to apply under polish (I often pair it with the strengthening Manucurist Active Polish), or even just wear on its own when I’m going for a bare nail effect. Because finally, my nails are healthy enough to wear bare.
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Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan with eight years of experience researching, writing, and editing hair, makeup, nail, and fragrance stories.
Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers skincare, makeup, hair, nails, and more across digital and print. She can generally be found in bright eyeshadow furiously typing her latest feature or hemming and hawing about a new product you "have to try." Prior to Cosmopolitan, she wrote and edited beauty content as an Editor at The Everygirl for four years. Follow her on Instagram for makeup selfies and a new hair 'do every few months.
