Good Afternoon Lacquered Lovers! I hope you all had a lovely October weekend! I spent my weekend doing a TON of swatching and even a few nail art tutorials for Halloween so get excited for this week! First up, I have the Essie Winter 2011 Collection which I was luckily enough to receive at the wonderful Glamour Magazine and Essie Blogger Breakfast I attended on October 11th. So today I am giving you all SIX shades, so get ready for a ton of pictures! Now, without further ado, on to the polish!
Above: 2 coats of Cocktail Bling
Above: Macro shot of Cocktail Bling
First of all, let me say how much I love the name of this polish! Cocktail Bling is just fairly hilarious to me. That being said, this polish is gorgeous! What a perfect grey! I love that all the polishes in this collection are blue-toned and Cocktail Bling is a stunning light grey for those of us with yellow toned skin! It just looks so pretty on! I also love that this is a color that could be worn all year round, not just in the winter time. I have it on my toes right now! The application was perfect, opaque in two coat with no streaks at all! If you are familiar with Essie Chinchilly, this is the more blue version of it.
Above: 2 coats of Bangle Jangle
Above: macro shot of Bangle Jangle
First, let me apologize for the weird bumpy things on my middle fingers in these pictures, it was not from the polish but it shows up in a few pictures before I realized and buffed it out! Now, Bangle Jangle (which reminds me of the bright red Essie color Bungle Jungle in name only) is a really pretty dusty lilac with overtones of blue. Unlike Lilacism, this polish had a great formula! It went on smoothly, no streaks, no patches, just perfect! It seems like an odd addition to a Winter collection to me but I'm always happy to have a new light purple to use! I thought this color was really pretty and by far the best applying light purple that they have put out!
Above: 2 coats of Brooch the Subject
Now I am not a nude nail polish kind of girl, I like my nails to make a statement, but if I were to ever want the "mannequin hands" look, Brooch the Subject would be my go to! This color actually looks like flesh! Like the others, it was perfectly opaque in 2 coats and if you are a nude kind of girl, then this is a polish you should have!
Above: 2 coats of School of Hard Rocks
Above: macro shot of School of Hard Rocks
I am in love with this nail polish. It is perfect! I would not change a thing! School of Hard Rocks is a stunning green based teal cream. It's just so pretty! It's the perfect Fall/Winter color. I can honestly say that in my nail polish hoard, I do not have a dupe for this! Most teal creams are more blue based so to have a more green based one is just gorgeous! Seriously, this is a must have! It has this great dusty quality that seems prevalent in this collection and I just love it!
Above: 2 coats of Size Matter
Above: Macro shot of Size Matters
Ok everyone, insert your own obligatory dirty joke here due to the name. Now when I asked the lovely Essie Weingarten if this name is supposed to be a little dirty and her response is that she was talking about diamonds, not anything that would cause your mind to go to the gutter! Size Matters is a really pretty blue toned red. I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could find a dupe, but I think it's really pretty and if you are looking for a darker red creme polish, then this one is perfect! Great application, highly pigmented, and perfect for a cocktail party this winter!
Above: 2 coats of Bobbing for Baubles
Above: macro shot of Bobbing For Baubles
Last and most certainly not least is Bobbing for Baubles. I want to describe this as almost a blackened Navy! It's not quite as blue as a normal navy would be but also has this black/slate grey quality that makes is really gorgeous. Sorry about the reflection of my apartment building in the macro shot but it shows you how gorgeous and shiny these colors are even without a top coat! This color is great for the winter, very rich and perfectly opaque in 2 coats.
All in all, this is one of the best collections I've seen this year! I love the rich creams and how many of the colors are actually unique! As much as I love crazy polishes, a good, rich cream is just so classic. Essie polishes retail for $8 and I've seen this collection start to pop up at drugstores so make sure you snag them up soon!
What did you all think of this collection? Any must haves? Any dupes?
Above: 2 coats of Cocktail Bling
Above: Macro shot of Cocktail Bling
First of all, let me say how much I love the name of this polish! Cocktail Bling is just fairly hilarious to me. That being said, this polish is gorgeous! What a perfect grey! I love that all the polishes in this collection are blue-toned and Cocktail Bling is a stunning light grey for those of us with yellow toned skin! It just looks so pretty on! I also love that this is a color that could be worn all year round, not just in the winter time. I have it on my toes right now! The application was perfect, opaque in two coat with no streaks at all! If you are familiar with Essie Chinchilly, this is the more blue version of it.
Above: 2 coats of Bangle Jangle
Above: macro shot of Bangle Jangle
First, let me apologize for the weird bumpy things on my middle fingers in these pictures, it was not from the polish but it shows up in a few pictures before I realized and buffed it out! Now, Bangle Jangle (which reminds me of the bright red Essie color Bungle Jungle in name only) is a really pretty dusty lilac with overtones of blue. Unlike Lilacism, this polish had a great formula! It went on smoothly, no streaks, no patches, just perfect! It seems like an odd addition to a Winter collection to me but I'm always happy to have a new light purple to use! I thought this color was really pretty and by far the best applying light purple that they have put out!
Above: 2 coats of Brooch the Subject
Now I am not a nude nail polish kind of girl, I like my nails to make a statement, but if I were to ever want the "mannequin hands" look, Brooch the Subject would be my go to! This color actually looks like flesh! Like the others, it was perfectly opaque in 2 coats and if you are a nude kind of girl, then this is a polish you should have!
Above: 2 coats of School of Hard Rocks
Above: macro shot of School of Hard Rocks
I am in love with this nail polish. It is perfect! I would not change a thing! School of Hard Rocks is a stunning green based teal cream. It's just so pretty! It's the perfect Fall/Winter color. I can honestly say that in my nail polish hoard, I do not have a dupe for this! Most teal creams are more blue based so to have a more green based one is just gorgeous! Seriously, this is a must have! It has this great dusty quality that seems prevalent in this collection and I just love it!
Above: 2 coats of Size Matter
Above: Macro shot of Size Matters
Ok everyone, insert your own obligatory dirty joke here due to the name. Now when I asked the lovely Essie Weingarten if this name is supposed to be a little dirty and her response is that she was talking about diamonds, not anything that would cause your mind to go to the gutter! Size Matters is a really pretty blue toned red. I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could find a dupe, but I think it's really pretty and if you are looking for a darker red creme polish, then this one is perfect! Great application, highly pigmented, and perfect for a cocktail party this winter!
Above: 2 coats of Bobbing for Baubles
Above: macro shot of Bobbing For Baubles
Last and most certainly not least is Bobbing for Baubles. I want to describe this as almost a blackened Navy! It's not quite as blue as a normal navy would be but also has this black/slate grey quality that makes is really gorgeous. Sorry about the reflection of my apartment building in the macro shot but it shows you how gorgeous and shiny these colors are even without a top coat! This color is great for the winter, very rich and perfectly opaque in 2 coats.
All in all, this is one of the best collections I've seen this year! I love the rich creams and how many of the colors are actually unique! As much as I love crazy polishes, a good, rich cream is just so classic. Essie polishes retail for $8 and I've seen this collection start to pop up at drugstores so make sure you snag them up soon!
What did you all think of this collection? Any must haves? Any dupes?
Gorgeous Carly! I think bobbing for baubles looks a lot like Zoya Kelly, beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI don't usually like nude colors either, but the Broach the Subject would be great on short nails or new tips. :-)
ReplyDeleteI like Rocks and Size Matters - but the rest of the collection I really thought was very blaugh. I did see where they have been selling well on eBay but there is not a ton of them on the secondary market, I think because most were hesitant. There seems to still be a lot of the Essie summer collection out there that has not sold on the secondary market - however it's all gone around me in the drug stores. This should be interesting to see how Essie sells now with it being so available in drugstores now.
ReplyDeletei love school of hard knocks!!!!
ReplyDeleteThese look great! I'm getting Bangle Jangle and School of Hard Rocks--they look even better than I'd hoped! And I'm glad to hear they apply well. Thanks, Carly! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great collection! But the polishes don't stand out as special to me. I wish Essie would have thrown a "unique" one in there ya know! I guess I have my hopes up right now because I have been wearing the OPI Muppets collection and Lynnderella's haha! Nothing can compare to those haha! Great swatches!
ReplyDeleteSchool of Hard Rocks is really pretty, I might have to pick that one up -- thanks for the lovely swatching!
ReplyDeleteI like School of Hard Rocks and Size Matters. :)
ReplyDeleteWow those are so nice. I can't just pick one.
ReplyDeleteI have the last 3-I think SOHR and BFB go well together so I did a mani combining the 2-the rest are just not for me!
ReplyDeleteAwesome swatches! I love the names of these!
ReplyDeleteThe broach the subject looks so much better on the nail than from the bottle! Would look great with a pair of nude colored heels!
ReplyDelete