Essie Spring 2017 Collection

Hi friends!

Press Sample

Today, I have a fun collection from Essie with vibrant creme shades inspired by road trips to Baja, California.  These six colors are bright and opaque with a surprisingly great formula.  Not your typical pastels for the season.  These colors will be available through the end of the month, but will work for any season.  Let's take a look!

Essie - Resort Collection 2016

Howdy!

Purchased by Me

I have something a little different to share with you tonight.  It's Essie!  I never really buy Essie polishes because I just haven't been in love with the formulas, the color selection or the price.  So what possessed me to pick up the mini set of the new Resort collection for full price while at Ulta a few weeks ago is beyond me.  When I got home and was emptying my bag, I pulled out the little box of mini polishes and shook my head.  Why did I buy this?  Well, it must have been divine intervention telling me to give Essie another shot because I freaking love these polishes!  I am shocked, for real.  So, I just had to share them with you all.

Click through for all the pics!

Essie - Comfy in Cashmere

Hello all!

Purchased by Me

Today, I just have a quick look at one of Essie's new Cashmere Matte shades.  Essie came out with a small collection of suede matte shades last month and I was intrigued.  I really enjoy a good matte polish but I am not a huge fan of Essie.  I just find their formulas unpredictable.  I heard mixed reviews about the formula on these mattes as well, but I had to try them for myself.  "Comfy in Cashmere" was the first one that I tried.  It is a grey/taupe base with a lovely shifty shimmer.  The shimmer in this polish sort of shifts from blue to purple.  It looks amazing in the bottle!  You can definitely see the shimmer on the nail and I am positive it jumps out better with a glossy top coat.  But I wanted to wear this polish in the intended matte suede finish it came in.  So no glossy shot for you guys, sorry!

For this manicure, I wore a base coat of OPI Nail Envy and did three coats to Essie "Comfy in Cashmere".  This polish did not self-level out very well at all, so I had to be extra careful with the amount of polish I used.  I had to use a little skill to make it look completely even.  I thought it was going to be a disaster, but once it dried completely it seemed much more uniform.  This dried very quickly, which is likely why it didn't self-level.  I really liked the satin sheen of this shade and the purple undertone the shimmer gave the neutral base color.

My overall impression was pretty good.  I thought the color was very interesting and I loved the suede finish.  The formula could be better though.  Hopefully, the others in this collection that picked up will behave!  How have you guys liked this collection?  Did you have any issues with the formulas?

Thanks for stopping by!

Amy McG aka McPolish

*this product was purchased by me*

Double Stamping with Essie Leading Lady

This mani was inspired by the fabulous Marta of ChitChat Nails when she did a double stamping over Soulstice Napa. I was in love with how hers turned out so I just had to try it myself! I started with Essie Leading Lady, a gorgeous blackened red jelly loaded with glitter. I stamped with my BM-314 plate first with Essie Good As Gold and second with Cult Nails Nevermore.

It's definitely not as gorgeous as Maria's version, but I love how these colors play together. :)

Essie Leading Lady Swatch and Review

I was really looking forward to Essie Leading Lady. I rarely order Essie nail polishes online since my local Walgreens gets them pretty quickly. As soon as I saw Leading Lady it was on my must-have list and I ordered it online. Dark red with glitter, love it!

Leading Lady is a blackened red jelly base with metallic red glitter. It's from this year's holiday collection and it definitely says 'holiday' without being just like every bright red sparkly polish. The blackened base makes this one pretty yet slightly vampy.

The only bad part about Leading Lady is that the formula isn't perfect. I really struggled with this one, it's a bit thick and goopy, and the glitter doesn't like to stay on the nail. I've never used an Essie glitter before but I'm not hugely impressed. It was nearly opaque in one coat, but it took three in order to have an even coating of glitter. The formula was incredibly fast drying, which both contributed to a bit of my difficulty and my love of this polish. I can deal with three coats if they dry quickly!

It dried a bit rough, but not gritty. I could have gotten away without top coat but it took two coats to have a completely smooth surface.

Leading Lady is gorgeous and some suggest it as a great alternative to the now hard to find Essie Ruby Slippers. I think I like the darkened color of Leading Lady better than Ruby Slippers, but I'd still love to own both since I'm obsessed with red glitters.

Up in Flames Mani

Hi Y'all!
I hope everyone has been having a wonderful weekend. Today I have a stamping mani to show you! I'm quite proud of this one. When I first started stamping my nails I wasn't very good at it and I feel like I've come a long way.

I started with Zoya Sarah, a gorgeous sparkly metallic red. I then stamped it with Essie Penny Talk and MASH plate #40. Penny Talk is absolutely fantastic for stamping, it dried fast (but not too fast) and transferred perfectly. It makes me want to pick up the rest of the Essie Mirror Metallics just to have them on hand for stamping!

Zoya Sarah stamped with Essie Penny Talk (MASH plate #40)

Zoya Sarah stamped with Essie Penny Talk (MASH plate #40) 

Zoya Sarah stamped with Essie Penny Talk (MASH plate #40) 

I finally have a setup for taking decent pictures at night. What do you think of the new pictures/watermark?

Half Moon Mani!

Today I have a fun half-moon manicure to show you! this is my first attempt at a half moon and I really loved wearing this mani. The colors worked together so well!

The blue is SOPI Mermaid to Order and the black is Essie Licorice, a great black creme.  I started with Mermaid to Order, then used Sally Hansen french Manicure guides to form the half moons and used two coats of Licorice on the rest of the nail. 

If you haven't tried the half moon manicure yet you should definitely try it! It looks great and is rediculously easy!

Blue and Silver Glitter Gradient

Today I am leaving for vacation for one week! I should have posts ready to go while I'm gone, so unless something goes wrong I don't expect a hiatus. I've packed about 10 polishes in my suitcase, most fun neons or subtle pinks. :) nothing new though. Maybe I'll pick up a couple of new ones while I'm here.

Today I have a fun glitter gradient I did a while back with Essie Aruba Blue and OPI Crown Me Already. I love the combination, and its a great way to cover up some tip wear to prolong a mani, or just to spruce up a mani when you don't want to give up on a fun color.

Essie Jamaica Me Crazy Swatch

My NOTD is Essie Jamaica Me Crazy. Jamaica Me Crazy is a great magenta pink with purple shimmer. I used 2 coats, the formula was great and I love the result. I really don't have much to say about this one except it's a really great color and I'm sure I'll be turning to this one a lot this summer. Jamaica Me Crazy was released as part of the Dive Bar Holiday 2011 Collection.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Set The Stage layering

A few days ago I decided to layer glitter over the bright Essie Aruba Blue (sapphire blue with silver frost). I picked up Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Set The Stage on the sale rack at my local Walgreens and I love the combination. I got tons of compliments on this mani from unexpected people and random strangers!

Set The Stage is a sparse glitter (intended as a glitter top coat) with small gold glitter pieces and large gold hexagons. I used two coats here and somehow it looked like stars on a bright blue sky.

Essie Aruba Blue before the top coat.

Essie Poppy-Razzi Collection Swatches and Review

Today I have a whole collection to share with you! Yes I know I said I wasn't buying any new polishes this month... but I really couldn't help it!

This is Essie's Summer 2012 collection of neons called Poppy-Razzi. The four shades are Lights, Camera, Action, and Bazooka. This collection seems to stick to the fashion colors this summer with coral-pinks and oranges.

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Direct Sunlight

Indoor lighting

Lights is a bright fuchsia pink. It reminds me of a neon version of "barbie pink" because it has that slight blue hue. The closest pink I own is China Glaze Pool Party, but Pool Party is a much brighter highlighter pink and leans more towards orange than Lights (and has a streaky formula). I almost didn't buy this color and it might be my favorite!

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Camera is a neon pink coral - sort of an orangish-pink color. This one is the most neon of the bunch and the picture doesn't do it justice. On the nail it just glows, and I'm sure it would look awesome over white.

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Direct Sunlight

Indirect Sunlight

Action is a bright tangerine orange, much warmer and more peachy than the pictures show. It dries significantly darker than bottle color, which kind of disapponts me. I was looking forward to this one the most, as a pale yet neon pigment-packed orange, it was unique. The bright orange is still very pretty but not as unique as the bottle color, and doesn't work with my skin-tone very well but it's a fabulous orange I will be wearing again.

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Bazooka is neon orange. It is easily a 2-coater and the most opaque of the bunch. I don't really have much to say about this one, it is a nice medium orange with a lot of pigment. Very bright and quite pretty.

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Overall I am really impressed with these polishes. Although the colors aren't terribly unique I think they will be quite popular. The formula was quite fantastic for neon polish. I used 3 coats of each, but I easily could have gotten away with just two coats for most of them if I was more careful with application. The polish wasn't streaky and was self-leveling, even with my horribly impatient application.

All of them dried to a semi-gloss finish rather than matte as neons typically are. They all had more of a jelly finish than a neon finish. I haven't seen the official Essie description as to whether they are supposed to be jelly-like. Either way I hope that this means better wear times than matte neon polish. They all looked incredibly gorgeous and shiny with a coat of Seche Vite. Action had the worst formula compared to the rest, but was still very easy to work with.

*Aren't my changing backgrounds obnoxious? I spent all day yesterday chasing the sun on a "mostly cloudy" day!*

Essie Dive Bar Swatch

I've been really into Essie polishes lately. I think this is because I run into them quite frequently and it's so easy to just slip one into my basket at the Walgreens/CVS. Regardless... they have some fun colors!

I've wanted Essie Dive Bar for some time. You see, I love diving. I've been a certified SCUBA diver for 8 years. I know that "Dive Bar" refers to an alcohol serving establishment (Bar) but I can't help but imagine that this deep blue instead refers to diving, my passion.

Anyways, Dive Bar is a darkened blue shimmer with a hint of teal. In the bottle it deceptively appears to have a beautiful purple duochrome, but I can't see any hint of purple on the nail, and I looked at this color from every angle! I was slightly disappointed, but still it's very pretty.

Indoors with flash:

Formula was great, two coats and it applied beautifully. I did have a slight issue with tip wear, but I'm horribly rough on my hands.

Do you own any polishes you've purchased just because you love the name?

Essie Aruba Blue

Essie Aruba Blue is a beautiful sapphire blue with silver frost. On the nail it looks like a gorgeous metallic blue. If you like blue, go out and buy this polish now! It's the perfect blue, absolutely, positively, perfect!

Wear Blue for World Autism Awareness Day

Autism, officially autism spectrum disorder, is a neurodevelopment disorder. Autism affects most people differently. With some, an outsider may not notice that the person is affected with the disorder, in other cases the symptoms may be severe.

Autism is usually associated with some form of social or communication difficulties.

There is no "cure" for autism and the cause of the disorder is unknown. Very little funding is available for autism research compared to other forms of disease even though autism affects more than one person in every hundred.

People affected with autism are subject to the exageration and overgeneralizations that the media produces.

Be aware.

Essie Mini Duos

I picked up a set of Essie minis on the sale rack the other day: Jazz and St. Lucia Lilac. Both of these colors are great for fall, a nude and a light purple. I used two coats of each with top coat.

Normal Essie bottles: small and cute. Essie minis: adorable!

Jazz is a yellow-toned nude. I had to take these pictures right outside my house to catch the setting sun and I realized it's the exact same color as my house! I'm still not a fan of nudes, but I thought it would be nice to have one in my collection.

With flash:

St. Lucia Lilac is a pretty faded lilac. It's nothing unique but it's a good subtle color.

Essie School of Hard Rocks and Essie Very Structured

I picked up three Essie colors in the sale bin at my local Walgreens, Very Structured, School of Hard Rocks, and Bangle Jangle (a light dusty purple yet to be swatched).

School of Hard Rocks is a dusty light teal creme. It dries a little bit darker than the bottle, and is nice and dense (This quick swatch is with just one coat and no base coat). Essie describes the color as "a midnight malachite" although I find the color slightly more blue than true malachite.

Essie Very Structured is a medium rusty brown creme. In the store it looked more red than brown, although I was still quite happy with the color when I got home. Essie describes this color as "a classic burnt sienna". Great application, two coats, no top coat in the photos.

Old Swatches!

Most of these are old, quick, and messy so bear with me.

Essie Peach Daiquiri

Nicole by OPI Disco Dolls

China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Ruby Pumps again. This one just isn't the same in photos as it is in real life. Deep red jelly, intense red sparkles suspended in the jelly. Love at first brushstroke.

OPI DS Opulence (in the shade). This one has a very subtle holo in direct sunshine, but most of the time it's pretty subtle. Opulence is the perfect holo for those with conservative jobs.

Lastly, my NOTD. OPI Servin' Up Sparkle layered over OPI Crown Me Already!

I can't come close to describing how gorgeous this is in person. The layer upon layer of glitter of Crown Me Already! combined with the colorful holographic glitter of Servin' Up Sparkle. Little disco balls on my fingernails!