The ABCs: V for Variety Pack

I’m sorry that this post is so late, but when I got to V in the alphabet, I was faced with the same dilemma as earlier, I didn’t have an untried polish starting with V. So instead of doing a rerun of Zoya Valerie, I decided to do a random spam post, or a “Variety Pack” as it were. Since I had to wear and swatch a bunch of stuff for this post, it took a little while longer, but I hope it’s worth waiting for!

I won’t say much about these polishes, I’ll just let the pictures do most of the talking. Enjoy!

Essie Mademoiselle, 2 coats.

Essie Mademoiselle sponged with Orly Rock-It and Petites Pink Diamond. Heart strass from Claudia Cosmetics.

Essie Lapiz of Luxury, 2 coats.

H&M Lady Luck, 2-3 coats.

Sinful Colors Zeus, 2 coats.

Lynnderella The Telltale Heart, 1 coat over OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu!, 3 coats.

Thanks for looking!

The ABCs: T for Turquoise & Caicos

I had a pleasant surprise the other day, a huge Essie display had shown up in my local make up shop Vita. They had a 3-for-2 offer, so I picked up Lapiz of Luxury, Mademoiselle and today’s polish, Essie Turquoise & Caicos.

T&C was released with the Resort Collection in 2010, and it’s a nice, soft, dustyish and almost jelly-like mint green creme. I like that it’s slightly muted compared to a very stark mint, I think it suits my pinky skin tone much better.

The formula was excellent, and I just love the brush in these drugstore Essies. It’s flat and wide and perfect for my nails. The polish is opaque in three coats.

I thought T&C looked very similar to China Glaze For Audrey, so I wanted to do a comparison.

They are not dupes, T&C is greener while FA is bluer and a little darker. They are pretty similar, though, so I don’t think anyone could tell them apart when they’re not swatched next to eachother like this.

Essie Bobbing For Baubles

I have to admit that Essie isn’t my go-to brand, not because they don’t have pretty colors or interesting collections, but I’ve had some – shall we say – not so good experiences with their polishes. Though after seeing a lot of gorgeous swatches of Essie Bobbing For Baubles, I just had to give in despite my somewhat lukewarm relationship with Ms. Weingarten’s creations.

Bobbing For Baubles is a beautiful, dusty, dark navy blue creme. It was released right before New Year’s with the Cocktail Bling collection for Winter 2011.

This polish was a dream to apply, very pigmented and smooth and opaque in two thin coats. The biggest surprise was the brush, I have never liked Essie’s skinny brush, but now it looks like they have changed to a wider, square brush. Me likey!

I was also surprised by how grey this polish looks compared to the swatches I’ve seen online, and I see that even in my own pics it looks bluer than it seems in real life. I did a small comparison between a grey (China Glaze Concrete Catwalk) and a blue (China Glaze First Mate) just so you can see how it looks.

I bought this polish at a local store (Cubus), I think the price was NOK 129. That equals roughly $21, so it’s quite a lot more expensive than getting it at for instance TransDesign, where Essies are $8 a bottle. Still, I was so happy to see that we can get more “international” brands where I live as well, so I decided to buy it locally in the hopes that we could get more polish into Norwegian stores! (I wouldn’t mind lower prices either, but one thing at a time.)

Essie St. Barths Blue

I know I write a lot of rave reviews of polish here, but today I’m going to show you that I don’t actually love all polishes equally. The subject is Essie St. Barths Blue, and let me break this disaster down for you.

1. The color. Usually I love colors like these, this is a pale, greyed out pastel blue shimmer. Sounds very chic, doesn’t it? I don’t know what it is, but this polish makes my hands look dirty somehow. It’s also really boring, too pale to be anything but blah.

I’m sorry about these horrible pictures, but I just couldn’t be bothered with this atrocity any longer than neccessary.

2. The brush. It’s super thin, it’s like shoveling snow with a toothpick. Nice if you have narrow nails, not so nice if you have wide nails like me.

3. The formula. It’s thin and sheer. It’s not too bad to apply, but I needed four coats before it was opaque and non-streaky. Even though I used thin coats and waited between them, I still got bubbles. And even though I used Poshé, it never dries! Also, it smells bad, so I think this must be an old formula Essie (and that might also be why it never dries).

Conclusion: I hate this polish! I don’t know if I’ll get rid of it, because it’s a perfect underwear for Deborah Lippmann Glitter In The Air, but when I find a replacement, it’s gone for sure!

Do you have any polishes that are as disastrous as this one?

Essie Sag Harbor

Not exactly a very christmassy mani from me today, but I just had to try this! And it’s kind of wintery, isn’t it? I have been lemming Essie Sag Harbor for a long time, so when I saw it on Ebay at a reasonable price, I totally jumped.

This is a very light robin’s egg blue with super fine silver shimmer, really gorgeous. The shimmer gives it a dusty and ethereal appearance. I wasn’t sure I’d like it on me, but I think it really suits me.

I didn’t really care for the application of this one, it’s a little bit on the runny side. Nevertheless, it’s opaque in two coats. Because of the shimmer, it seems to be a little brushstroke-showy, but it’s not that apparent when it dries.

That was my last non-holiday mani for 2010, awww!!! I hope you all are done with your holiday preparations and are safe and calm and ready to enjoy the celebration. Thanks for sticking with me, I wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Smooches!
Love, S.