Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Essie Winter 2008 Collection

I've finally seen the Essie Winter 2008 collection (does this collection even have a name?) in person, and I'm surprised! A lot of these are much different than they looked in the promo pics from Essie- not a bad thing!


Bold and Beautiful. A deep red jelly-like cream. This is the one polish from the collection I'd probably never wear. It's boring. Unlike some of Essie's other reds, this one has no character, no edge, no 'BAM!'.... It's just... red. Doesn't stand out at all.



Damsel in a Dress. Deep, dark eggplant with very fine silver shimmer. Very pretty. Reminds me of OPI Lincoln Park At Midnight or Laura Mercier Avant Garde. It's very dark but still purple- I think the silver shimmer makes the purple stand out more. Nothing at all like the promo pics suggest- they describe it as "Oh-so-deep currant"- I like the real life version better.


It's Genius. Bright grape-purple with fine gold and silver shimmer. Oooh! This was a pleasant surprise. It looks nothing like this in the promo pictures! In this picture it looks like a full-on metallic like Zoya Rea, but it's really not. It's just so packed full of gorgeous shimmer that it looks metallic.



Rock Star Skinny. Kind of a plum or mulberry shade with fine silver shimmer. Stupid name, really nice color. Again, nothing like the promo pics. It's described as "glamorous crimson red"- huh? Maybe I'm colorblind- I don't get glamorous crimson red from this. Either way, it's really pretty.



Sexy Divide. Bold, saturated purple with multicolored shimmer. My favorite from this collection. My picture makes it look blue, but it's much more purple in real life. The bottle color is closer to the actual color. I was hoping it would be like Viva La Vespa, but it's a different type of purple. It has really interesting shimmer, too- sometimes it looks gold, sometimes red, you can see some blue in there... Really cool. Love it. I only wish it was brighter.


Shifting Power. Sheer metallic gold. This one is kinda 'meh' to me. It's really sheer, definitely a three coater. This picture is three coats and you can still see my nail through it. It's kind of streaky as well. I was hoping for something richer based on the promo images, but this is sort of anemic. It's not a bad color, but it's not anything special. The promo picture made it look like a dense, shimmery cooler gold, but this is very warm, almost orangey, and not very shimmery at all.


Again, I think Essie played it safe, but despite that there are some really great colors in this collection. Two were total disappointments to me, the rest were nice surprises (and no sheer pinks! Hallelujah!). Sexy Divide is, in my opinion, the standout color. It's so un-Essie like! I love it! Keep it up, Essie!

The formula on these was great. It was thick but not runny, like three-free polishes tend to be. The thickness made the colors nice and opaque and the polish was very easy to control. No mess. These also dried extremely quickly. The Essie formula is really nice. There was also no staining after removing the polish, which is also pretty rare for reds and purples.

Overall, pretty solid collection. None of the colors strike me as particularly 'wintery', but I'm not complaining. Nothing too exciting here, but if you're into vampy colors or fine shimmer, you'll probably like these shades.

19 comments:

  1. lol - guess we are opposite because I love that first red color, all though I do agree there is nothing special to it. I think I probably have at lease two bottles of something that looks similar!

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  2. I did not pick up any of these because the only one that really spoke to me was Damsel in a Dress but I just felt like I have so many that are similar already.

    Your nails look like they are getting longer! They look great.

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  3. Mine Damsel looks totally currant-brownish, not a hint of purple!

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  4. I still need Rock Star Skinny and Sexy Divide, I love those two.

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  5. I got damsel and sexy divide, love them both.
    They all look great on you. :)

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  6. The first color is my favorite. Your nails, the shape and the length make this color go BAM!. You make 'boring' rock.
    Scott

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  7. I've been waiting for these to arrive on H2T and when they finally did I was going back and forth on whether I should order them or not...your swatches sold me. I am placing a small H2T order tonight!!

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  8. I really like this collection from Essie, I've already got it's genius and damsel in a dress which I love.. However, as always after seeing your pics I find myself needing another! I want rock star skinny, it's so beautiful (even though I don't like the name!) All the colours look amazing on your nails.

    Many thanks for all your hard work, it is greatly appreciated! (I haven't had any bad polish buys since regularly checking your blog!)

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  9. I must admit I love the red one. It does look very dupable, but still beautiful.

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  10. MEH....for me! However,

    A very peaceful and joyeous Thnaksgiving to all!!!!!!!

    May the Lord bless you all!!!!

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  11. I meant to spell JOYOUS!!!

    LOL sorry!

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  12. Drag Queen Santa was mentioning the Essie collection to me...hmmm. I will do my best to hold off!

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  13. They really look different from the promotional pictures, wasn't too exciting for me :( I was expecting for something better.

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  14. Thanks for your sharing!

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  15. Non of these really wow me even if they're pretty! Sexy Divide looks hot. But they're pretty

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  16. yes this red does not look so interesting. i wonder are there any reds which look like red brick-stone? i love this colour.

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  17. Hmmm I like these colors, but none of them are making me want to rush out and grab them. But I think I feel that way about most of the Essie colors. They're really pretty, but not knocking me out. But then again, I tend to go for deep colors, duochromes, shimmers, and crazy shiny/sparkly things, which Essie doesn't do much.

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  18. Brooke, it's not that it's a BAD color, but I can think of five or six other polishes I own that look similar :D

    Katee, yeah, none of these are really very unique, but Sexy Divide is really nice :) And my nails are getting longer, I haven't had any 'accidents' lately :) Thank you :D

    Inna, weird! Maybe this is another case of Essie colors being inconsistent? Must investigate :)

    VampyVarnish, Sexy Divide is soooo hot, you need it for sure :D

    Green-Eyed-Fairy, than you :D

    Scott, aww thank you!

    Karman, ooh I hope you love them :D I think Sexy Divide is going to become part of my regular rotation :)

    Alison, thank you! I don't know why they would name it such a horrible name. How can that appeal to anyone? Ugh.

    Pixie, I just have sooo many reds that it takes a lot to impress me, I guess. I liked the OPI Toyland reds, those were pretty awesome :)

    Stubby, thank you and the same to you! <3

    Tarotbydiana, Drag Queen Santa! LOL I love it!

    Ian, I try not to get my hopes up with Essie too much, but these were better than I expected (which I guess isn't saying much lol)

    Sanna, I agree, there's no WOW but they're just average pretty :D

    Anonymous, Essie has a couple brick red colors, I can't remember the names but I'll try to find them :)

    HoneyHoneyNY I think we have really similar tastes, I totally agree! HELLO ESSIE, WHERE ARE YOUR HOLOS?!?! :D

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  19. Could you do a side by side comparison of sexy divide and viva la vespa?

    I've been trying to find the perfect deep royal purple and I thought viva was it, only it's discontinued...

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