I would have posted yesterday, but for some reason my mani's weren't working out for me, and all I was making was a mess... so I decided to crack open the G&T and chill out instead - my blog, my rules, hee hee!
So, at the end of June it was my 6 months of quitting smoking anniversary, during which time I've saved over £800, so I decided it was treat time! Hit the shops big time, bought myself some clothes, some shoes, and of course, polish!
The sets I was most excited about (yes there were a few) were the Essie sets I got from TK Maxx, £9.99 for 3 bottles. I've never used Essie polishes before, but have seen them on other peoples polish pages, they seem to be mainly in America & Canada, not so much in England. These are the bottles I got:
And this is how they came packaged:
It was a bit weird this packaging, it meant that the bottles rattled around in my shopping bag, and took up far more room than they needed to, but never mind, that was soon taken care of when I got home. I've swatched all the colours one by one. They didn't all have their name stickers on, so can only name the ones that did.
The one bottle that's not swatched is the see-through blue one, this is 'grow richer', which I had to look up, it turns out its a moisturising base coat, which I was surprised about, as it has an extremely watery consistency, but I've used it for every swatch and it did a pretty good job and dried fast. I saw it on Boots website (sold out) at £8, so am pleased that I got it in this set!
First swatch - Lovie Dovey - bottom left of first picture
First impressions of Essie polish were quite disappointing, it was quite sheer and a bit streaky on the first coat. It was also runny enough that it made it a bit tricky not to flood my cuticles. It put me very much in mind of Bourjois 'So Laque' in Rose Lounge, which I already own, and wasn't a great fan of. This is 3 coats and still VNL (visible nail line, my pet hate in manicures).
The next one I swatched didn't have a name, but it's pretty much a 'nail tip white'. Bottom left in first pic.
It has to be said, it looks alot better in this pic than it did in real life, and thats saying something! This is not sheer, but the first coat was very streaky, this is 2 coats. If you own or have used Alpine Snow by OPI, this is pretty much identical. Will probably come in handy for nail art, but I think it's unlikely that I'd wear it by itself.
Next up was Intimate, bottom middle in the first picture:
Mixed feelings about this one, off white with 'blush' coloured tiny shimmer in it. In the bottle it looked super pretty and I really wanted it to work out. The formula was the same as the others, a bit runny & self deleting if you go over your strokes too many times. I really perservered with it, this is 4 coats and I still had some VNL. I took it outside to photograph it as it was the only way I could get the colour to show up properly without washing out. I think I could maybe make it work by painting it over an opaque nude (Liloo's idea, thanks x) I didn't try that, but I probably will in the future.
Then I tried the shimmer pink, I don't have its name, top left of the first picture:
It has to be said, I'm not a big fan of shimmer pinks, and I don't own many, this is 3 coats and still some VNL, I wrote notes as I was swatching, and I wrote 'frustratingly runny' for this one. I can't see this one shortlisting for my 'most favourite polish of 2012' award.... enough said
And last but not least, top middle of the first picture, another 'no-namer':
I took both an indoor and outdoor picture for this, as I felt like it changed quite alot with different lighting. Indoors in artifical lighting it looked almost brown, but outside it turned into a lovely dusky plum colour, still not really showing up here, but it's the closest I could get. This was 2 coats, and was my favourite of all the polishes, it has a lovely glossy finish. It had the same runny consistency, but because it was more opaque, it was easier to work with.
And I have to show you a picture of the brush, I've told myself I will do this with all the polishes I review, mainly because I don't see it done much, and I personally find it interesting, as if you're buying online you have no hope of being able to see the brush before you buy, and actually this came out as a closer representation to that last colour in natural light:
So there we have it, all the Essie polishes I got. I would have been disappointed if I had paid £10 for any of these, in my opinion they seem strictly 'high street' rather than 'high end'. There's nothing wrong with that of course, as long as the price reflects that. Also I don't know if these were in the sales precisely because they were the less popular Essie polishes, and so can't really form an opinion of a whole range in 5 bargain bottles, but I personally wouldn't pay top dollar for one now I've tried them, unless someone I trusted was seriously raving about it.
Do you have experience of Essie polishes? Have I just been unlucky with these or is what I got representative of the brand? Would be interested to hear your opinions.
Until next time -
MASPOOASE X X X
Haven't tried this brand but really like the look of their marshmallow colour xx
ReplyDeleteThis is the thing! Had heard so much about them, thats why it was a bit of a let down, still glad I tried them though, nothing ventured nothing gained, right? x x x
DeleteLove the last one, but the rest are unimpressive..I don't get the hype with these polishes. I know I don't play the blogging game very well, I am indifferent to OPI unless its their glitters, Essie seem poor value as far as quantity, Nails Inc have beautiful colours but I don't care for the brushes, Barry M the same. I'd rather battle on with a £1.50 beauty supply one, like W7, and loads of TC than curse a £10 nail polish I still have to faff about with. Another fab post though xx
ReplyDeleteThanks! Much appreciated x x x
DeleteAt the moment Nails Inc are being my favourites, because alot of their polishes are one-coaters, which is something i LOVE, but am also not fussy, a good polish is a good polish, no matter who makes it, trial and error is why we're all here blogging!