Essie Spring 2011 Collection

Essie's spring collection is pretty nice this year. Take look:


Essie Coat Azure. This is closer to bottle color in real life; my camera makes it look more vibrant than it really is. It's a soft, dusty looking sky blue with some subtle silvery shimmer. It's in the same vein as Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine H finish-wise, with the light blue dustiness and subtle shimmer, but the colors are quite different.


Essie French Affair. You've seen this one on me a few times now! A pink that I actually like. This one is different because it has a bit of lavender in it, it's not too warm like a lot of pinks, but it's also not so cool that it just looks purple. Pretty close to my idea of a perfect pastel pink creme.


Essie Kisses And Bisses. This one is hard to capture because it's so sheer, but I can describe it. It's a sheer ivory tinted base with a duochrome pearl shimmer. The shimmer flashes between red and pink at one angle to gold, orange and even a tiny bit of green at an extreme angle. It is sheer, I'm wearing four coats here, but it's amazing for layering:

Left to right (pinkie to index):
Essie Kisses and Bisses, two coats, over Essie French Affair
Essie Kisses and Bisses, two coats, over Essie Sand Tropez
Essie Kisses and Bisses, two coats, over Essie Nice is Nice
Essie Kisses and Bisses, two coats, over Essie Coat Azure

It looks awesome over all the colors in this collection. It turns the cremes into red-pearl duochromes! I think it looks especially incredible over Sand Tropez. This is my new favorite layering polish. Love this color.


Essie Nice is Nice. This one was a little hard to capture, it's not as blue as it looks here. It's closer to the sunlight picture. It's a pastel lavender creme. Very soft and flattering.


Essie Sand Tropez. This shade is a beige sandy nude creme. It has a little bit of grey, a little bit of taupe, very much a 'mushroom' type of shade. It's lighter than a lot of the taupey putty mushroom shades in my collection and I'm very fond of it. Especially layered with Kisses and Bisses!

Essie Topless and Barefoot. This one is similar in feel to Sand Tropez, but it's a pink, fleshy nude instead of beige. It's putty colored. Like someone said about Borghese Almondine, this totally reminds me of Silly Putty! Now I have the urge to play with Silly Putty. Especially since it looks so nice on my nails!

The formula on these was nice and even. I didn't have any issues with the formula itself, but the opacity isn't what I was expecting. They're not sheer, but lately when you see colors like this, they're one-coaters. These needed two at the very least, but I did three just because. They do look best with three. Drying time is quick and these wear pretty well, too.

Overall, strong spring collection. Are the colors totally unique? No, we've all seen these before. Despite not being completely unique, the colors are all perfect. They're just really great pastels. They all look good on and they're all even better layered with Kisses and Bisses. I would wear every single one of these (and I have worn them all but Topless and Barefoot!), they go perfectly with my skintone, none of the dreaded lobster hands. They all have a soft, creamy look instead of a chalky white-out look. I don't mind the chalky look at all, but the creamier finish of these is easier to pull off for most people.

I like 'em. Do you?

(These were sent to me for review.)

Borghese Almondine... What do you think?

I'm not that much of a nude/neutral polish wearer (except for the funky ones like Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge), but for some reason this shade really caught my eye. It's Borghese Almondine.

It's a creamy, putty-like, nude-ish beigey funky kinda color (Mmm, creamy... soft creamy beige!) with little metallic microglitter particles. It's a really unusual color, sort of like a fleshy nude version of Zoya Harley. And I love looking at it in the bottle.... but I'm not so sure about it when it's actually on me.

Is it funky and pretty, or is it washed out and creepy? I can't decide. Yay or nay?

BB Couture For Nails Infamous Lovers Collection 2010: The Ladies

BB Couture once again creates some amazing unique green polishes. I'm thinking they have more greens in their line than any other brand I know... Am I right? Take a look at these:


Bonnie. Wow. Now THIS is a green. It's a midtone green jelly with BB Couture's signature tiny gold and green glitter. It is quite a bit like BB Couture Redwood Forest, but Bonnie seems brighter, a little lighter and has slightly more of a yellow tone. Here's a hideous mani I did with Bonnie as the base that shows the color a little truer because of the flash:

I know... My Funky French turned out to be more of a Fugly French... But, uh, try to ignore that part and you'll see what a great shade of green Bonnie is.



Carla. A super dark purple shimmer. How gorgeous is this? It's vampy purple and I love it. Lots of multicolored shimmer when the light hits it. More red-toned in real life. Great for fall. Amazing application, too.

Cleopatra. This one was really hard to photograph. This picture isn't quite true to life so I'll try to explain how it really looks. It's a blue-green base, you can see the green tone visible in the bottom of the photo, left hand side. But, instead of having just plain shimmer it has this crazy blue duochrome shimmer and lots of it. It sits on top of the color so you're seeing both the green and the blue fighting for attention. It's little bit like BB Couture For Men Pipe Bender in that aspect- the base and the shimmer fighting for attention, blue on green... Very cool effect.


Eve. Oh man, can you believe this? First Bonnie, now Eve? Can't get over how cool this is. It's a murky dark olive green base with red pearl duochrome and it's full of that pretty BB Couture tiny iridescent glitter. Reminds me of Nubar's Gem and Jewel, how there's that pearl duochrome base filled with glitter. Except this one is more iridescent green-gold than holographic like the Nubar ones.

Juliet. This is an odd one. It's somewhere between rose and nude, a creme base, but with speckles of black and silver microglitter. Very unique. One one hand it's cool because it looks like stone, like granite or even a little bit like a Corian countertop. On the other hand, the black glitter is so sparse that it almost looks like it's not supposed to be there- like you accidentally got ash or mascara flakes or Oreo crumbs on your nails while they were wet. I'm 50/50 on this one, cool but odd.


Pocahontas. Like Juliet, this is a creme base sprinkled with black and silver microglitter. The base color of this is the ever-present purple/grey combo, which, despite seeing 343907 polishes this color being released in the past four years, I'm still not sick of seeing. The speckles aren't as prominent in this one.


The formula on these was quite good. Easy application. I did three coats of each color and all but Carla seemed to need the third coat. No flaws in the brushes or bottles. Drying time was slightly longer than average.

There's supposed to be a set of BB Couture for Men polishes that go along with these, but I have not seen them. I kinda like that idea, though... A line of women for women, a line of men for men? Cute concept.

I'm digging this collection. Eve and Bonnie are my favorites and Carla is great too. But really, Eve and Bonnie... wow. Awesome. Keep making these awesome sparkly greens, BB Couture! We're happy that you do!

(These were sent to me for review.)

Eyeko Fall 2009 and Spring 2010

I know, again I'm way behind on these. For the 2009 ones at least I was hoping to re-do them because my pictures didn't turn out... but... I already photographed em, so I might as well post them!

These pictures were taken indoors on a dark, gloomy, windy fall day...


Cosmic Polish. For Space Age nails! My favorite of all of Eyeko's polishes. It's a black creme base with lots of tiny holographic glitter particles. I took a picture with flash to show the hologram effect of the glitter. Rainbow colors! It's subtle, definitely not in-your-face glitter or holo, but it adds a nice sparkle to a glossy black manicure.


Indigo Polish. Dark blue shimmer. Pretty straightforward. Not as dark as MAC Naughty Nautical or OPI Yoga-Ta Get This Blue.

Lilac Polish. I wish I could have captured this better. It looks so blue here! It's really less blue, more.. well... lilac.

Nude Polish. This is sort of a deep peach or maybe a cafe au lait with a hint of orange. Very warm. Very peachy.

Purple Polish. A neon purple- dries matte. Reminds me a whole lot of Milani Rad Purple. Sadly, this polish had one of the worst formulas I'd ever used. It was so thick I could barely apply it and it wouldn't flow nicely on the nail. It was like painting my nails with melted American cheese. O_o

Vintage Polish. This is a bluey-green creme. Turquoise, perhaps. It looks a little more blue in my picture than it does to me in real life. It's actually really beautiful, it is more saturated than most of the jades/mints in my collection.

And that's it for the 2009 ones. Can't believe it's taken me this long to post them. I think I should do a quick formula review of these before I get to the 2010 set. Some of these were extremely thick. Cosmic Polish was the thinnest and easiest to use. The rest were thick and three-free-ish (runny yet thick and gloopy). I did three coats of all. I really can't say I enjoyed the formula on these. I would recommend picking up some polish thinner if you plan on getting these because it will really help the application.

Now, 2010!

Coral Polish (for resort nails!). This is hot. Super flashy red-coral creme. I have grown fond of these flashy-bright reds (er, corals) over the years. This one is softer and less saturated than Rescue Beauty Lounge Bangin' but still has a similar feel.


Petite Polish. Pale pink sheer creme. Kinda cutesy, don't you think? Very frilly. But what is it with pastel pinks and being thick as glue? This one was so hard to apply! Thick and streaky.



Posh Polish. I. Love. This. Holy crap do I ever love this. It's like.... milk chocolate with dust mixed in! Or... mousy taupe! I love these kinda colors. This one seems more brown than a lot of the other ones I have, but it's more grey than OPI Over The Taupe. Is this what Chanel Particuliere looks like?

Tea Rose Polish. Interesting color choice. I suppose it goes well with the muted color scheme of Posh Polish. I love the label on the bottle and I like the whole idea of this polish, but I can't get over the fact that this is such a... umm... mature shade of polish.


Vampira Polish. Ooh, sexy! Black creme base with sparkly red glitter! Love how it looks, love the gothiness of it. It is pretty much the same as China Glaze Lubu Heels / Piggy Polish Midnight Fireflies / Milani Garnet Gem, though.

The formula on these was definitely improved over the 2009 releases. The only one of these that was too thick was the Petite Polish. Vampira Polish was actually a bit watery! I did three coats of all, but only Petite and Vampira needed the third coat. Pigmentation is pretty nice on these. The bottle shape does make application a little tricky, though. It's really easy to knock over this tall thin bottle. Some of the brushes had defects, such as uneven alignment (slanted brush/notched brush) and a few had some bristles that needed to be trimmed as they stuck out farther than all the other bristles and left a dot of polish on my fingers when applying. Drying time is average.

I think these are cute. I love the art on the bottles and the little names they give them (like 'for country nails'). I did like the old bottles better- those squatty wide-mouthed paint jar ones. These tall skinny ones (essentially a nail art/striper polish bottle) require me to be careful and pay attention when I'm using them. But despite the flaws in the formula, I do like these. I am a sucker for cute packaging (and funky colors), and these have some of the cutest packaging around. I especially like Cosmic and Posh Polish for the color and Tea Rose and Lilac Polish for the packaging.

(These were sent to me for review)

Essie Fall 2009 Collection

Just a quick post since I'm short on time! I'm so behind in posting reviews... just a few more to go and then I can get back to posting more fun stuff!

From the top!

Angora Cardi. Muted mauve-purple creme. This is a darker shade of mauve that leans to the purple side and it is slightly greyed. It has a bit of a faded/muted/dusty look to it.

Bright Tights. Very bright light neon orange creme/jelly. WHOA. Bright. Love it! As with all my neon photos, this is not 100% true to life. My camera can't capture the true glow of a neon shade. So, imagine this maybe a shade lighter and as a glowing, retina-burning bright orange. This is a lighter shade than a lot of my neon oranges- lighter than Zoya Paz and China Glaze Japanese Koi. It is slightly lighter and significantly more neon-glowy than Essie Mini Shorts from last year.

Chinchilly. Soft light grey creme. Cute name! This is an interesting grey. What sets it apart from a lot of the other greys I own is that is seems to have a drop of green mixed in. It is light and has a slightly warm/taupe cast to it compared to, say, China Glaze Recycle or Rescue Beauty Lounge Concrete Jungle. It doesn't have that blue look that other greys have. This one has a faint green tint.


Midnight Cami. Deep midnight blue shimmer. Gorgeous. It doesn't look like much indoors, but when the light hits the shimmer in this shade it lights up from within. Very pretty. Not horribly unique- it's your standard blackened-blue vampy shimmer. Still pretty. The shimmer in this version of the dark navy shimmer is particularly fine-textured. Very tiny particles and it has a very smooth look.

Mink Muffs. Warm taupe-grey-mauve creme. Difficult color to describe. It's like a warmer version of Sephora by OPI Metro Chic. It has that same fashionably edgy 'mushroomy' look that Metro Chic and others have, but more of a purple-red tint to it. Maybe this is a taupe-mauve? Smoky, dusty, unusual.

Pink Parka. Light pink neon creme. Like Bright Tights, this is much brighter in real life. Glowy. Neons in fall, I love it! Strange choice but you won't hear me complaining. Anyway, this is again a lighter shade than most of the neons I have. It verges on delicate bubblegum pink, but neon. It's probably closest to China Glaze Pink Voltage or Color Club Lazer Pink in terms of shade depth, but it is not a dupe of either.


The formula on these was odd. It was thin... very, very thin. Watery even. Yes, definitely watery. I have really been loving Essie's new formula lately, but this isn't anything like the past year's worth of collections formula-wise. The watery texture of the polish combined with the incredibly small brush did give me some trouble when applying. It had a tendency to spread unevenly or pool in the cuticles. Strangely enough, the pigmentation was pretty good on these. They were all very sheer on the first coat but mostly opaque on the second coat. I did three coats of all anyway. I think the neons really needed the third coat. Drying time was good- nice and quick on all of the shades.

What a strange collection! I think I like it. Very unusual color choices. Two mousy taupes, two neons, a midnight blue shimmer and a dusty mauve. It seems very random. I think that's pretty cool. Essie is really breaking away from their 'we-only-do-sheer-pinks' image lately and I think that's awesome! I think they've discovered that they do neons particularly well and I would have to agree- Essie's neons are pretty close to the top of my list. I'd love to see them branch out into greens since they had such a big hit before with Dominica Green. They have been doing more blues lately as well- the North Fork collection, Mesmerize and now Midnight Cami. Keep it up, Essie! You're doing great!

Overall, I think this is one of the most stylish and unusual collections Essie has ever done. I like all the shades, especially the neons and Chinchilly. The formula could use some improvement, though. Maybe if it was just a bit thicker... But, other than that, pretty cool.

This collection should be available now in stores and I know that Essie.com has it in stock.

Sparitual Forbidden Collection Fall 2009

Here's SpaRitual's collection for fall: Forbidden.

Edit: Siobhan has really good swatches of these as well- we must be on the same wavelength lately!


Hush. Warm milk chocolate creme. I broke a nail in the middle of swatching this color and I didn't feel like taking off all the polish, fixing the nail and re-photographing it so... hehehe... sorry... Anyway... This is a very warm medium 'milk chocolate' creme shade. Outside the sunlight picks up more of the red tones, indoors it looks a little richer and darker.



Hypnotic. Warm charcoal frost. This is an odd color- it seems charcoal grey but it also has brown in it- brown-grey? In the bottle it looks more brown, on the nail it looks more grey. It's a shimmery frost, and for a frost it doesn't look so bad on my hands. I really like this.

Intrigue. Rich red-orange creme. This looks pretty red here, but it leans way orange in real life. Very orange-toned red. It seems to be nearly identical to Orly Poison Apple (I'll have the Orly fall collection posted soon so you can see the similarity).


Inner Sanctum. Warm peach creme. I say peach because I'm not sure how else to describe this.... It's warm, it's kinda red but kinda brown, natural and flesh-toned looking... I think it falls into the peach category. Again, the sunlight picks up the warm tones in it and in the shade it looks less warm/red.


Mystic. Neutral putty creme. My favorite from this collection. It's so normal but so strange! It's not a loud color, it's not green or purple or neon pink, yet still, I love it. It's sandy, creamy, mushroomy, putty-like. It has that same kind of 'edgy' look that Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge has.

Regal. Warm purple creme. This is a really pretty purple. Again, warmer in the sunlight than in the shade. It looks darker on my nails than it seems in the bottle.


The formula on these is decent. I did three coats on all the colors, some were more sheer than others. It wasn't particularly thick or particularly thin- in fact, it seemed just like Orly's formula to me. No problems with application- if you're used to Orly's formula you should have no trouble with these. Drying time is long, even with quick dry topcoat. Again, just like Orly. I also love the rubberized handle (noticing a trend? Haha!).

Overall, a very reserved, mature collection. Nothing wacky, nothing uber-fun, but not bad at all. I like all the colors except Inner Sanctum. I especially love Mystic, I'll be wearing this one often. They're calm earth tones. Very spa-like, and I think that's probably what this line goes for- a spa-like feel to the colors.

I believe the release date for these is September. I'm not sure which retail stores carry these, but I know you can get them from Sparkling*Nails on ebay.