Wednesday, February 23, 2011

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.)


24 comments:

  1. Really pretty! I want Sand Tropaz for sure! Kisses & bisses sounds awesome too.....

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  2. just love the colors.......... shuttle and sober

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  3. I simply love this collection. Definitely getting the mini cube once it's available on ebay! :)

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  4. I need this entire collection. Gorgeous

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  5. I have French Affair and Coat Azure (actually got them on right now) and I think so far my favorite is Coat Azure, it was so easy to apply too! I dunno about nudes but I am considering Sand Tropez and maybe Kisses and Bisses as a top coat like you suggest.

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  6. I saw these at the store and resisted buying them, because I want them all! Thanks for the pictures! It will help me narrow down which one to get first.

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  7. I like Kisses and Bisses...I just wish I knew what a Biss was. o.o

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  8. I love those colours, Sand Tropez is soo beautiful!

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  9. Wow I want them all! Thanks for the great pics xoxox

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  10. I like what I see but what I'd like even more would be a collection of K&B-style layering polishes; green, violet, pale blue etc, plus a creme that could go under any one of them. =)

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  11. I LOVE Kisses and Bisses. So pretty! Reminds me of Zoya Dharma though.

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  12. Love the first two. You make them all look gorgeous. Makes me want to order them all.

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  13. So far the only one I got out of the collection is French Affair. I'm not crazy about pinks either and I also liked it because of the purple hue. I also have been on the hunt for years now searching for a color similar to OPI's Mod About You. It's a very light pink with a bit of lavender when it dries and it's very very opaque and pretty vibrant for a pastel. I am yet to find anything even close to it because I have such pale skin it's hard to find pastels that look lighter and brighter than my skin tone. Essies Mint Candy Apple is the only pastel I've found so far to be bright and opaque enough, but thats a green and i want a pinkish purple! I still have hope that OPI might bring it back or another brand will make something similar.

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  14. Saw your post yesterday and then right after saw the collection at a drug store! Couldnt resist buying Kisses and Bisses! I just put one layer on bare nails and it makes them look so healthy with a nice reddish glow! Also make them seem more white and less yellow... Cant wait to try it on a colored nail polish!

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  15. I bought sand tropez/kisses & bisses and did the same mani. It looks great!

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  16. sinful colors tahiti breeze looks like a dupe to the kisses & bisses one

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  17. I put Kisses and Bisses over China Glaze Below Deck. The result was a lighter version of Chanel's Paradoxal. I actually like it better!!

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  18. Gorgeous swatches! i'm currently trying out essie as well.
    btw, what topcoat do you use..? its so beautiful! :)

    rgds,
    sheneitha

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  19. Will you share essie 2011 braziliant collection with us? Thanks.

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  20. Its almost spring 2012 nd im trying to collect all these, im barely getting into essie polish and this collection of colors are so beautiful, so far i own kisses an bises and im waiting on french and nice is nice....

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