Essie French Affair

Another Spring 2011 collection! I know 😛 This one I really like, it reminds me of Paris and walks through parks with a parasol. It’s a six piece collection with light colors and cremes, combined with a sheer pink-gold duochrome topper, Kisses & Bises.

All polishes had great formula except Nice is Nice, which I found to be a bit goopy. I’m pretty sure this is just a random bad bottle, the one I had at DC was much better and easier to control. They’re all two coats, and one coat of Kisses & Bises.

Let’s begin with my favorite… I have FOUR pictures of it! Haha.

Coat Azure! It’s an azure blue with a shimmer.

See that delicate shimmer?

With Kisses & Bises over it.

French Affair, the namesake of this collection. It’s a pastel pink creme. Very delicate and beautiful 🙂

French Affair with Kisses and Bises on top. This is one polish that I feel that Kisses & Bises just did not transform. All we see is a pale pink shimmer!

Topless & Barefoot. What a raunchy name 😉 It’s a cool tan neutral creme. Kind of boring until…

Layered with Kisses & Bises!

I like this effect, it’s like sun shining on wet sand on the beach… I NEED a trip to South Padre Island SOON.

Nice is Nice. A pale pastel lilac creme.

I love this combo too 🙂 I really like this topper.

Sand Tropez, a much warmer neutral than Topless & Barefoot.

With Kisses and Bises. This combination really brings out the gold in K&B!

Essie French Affair

Another Spring 2011 collection! I know 😛 This one I really like, it reminds me of Paris and walks through parks with a parasol. It’s a six piece collection with light colors and cremes, combined with a sheer pink-gold duochrome topper, Kisses & Bises.

All polishes had great formula except Nice is Nice, which I found to be a bit goopy. I’m pretty sure this is just a random bad bottle, the one I had at DC was much better and easier to control. They’re all two coats, and one coat of Kisses & Bises.

Let’s begin with my favorite… I have FOUR pictures of it! Haha.

Coat Azure! It’s an azure blue with a shimmer.

See that delicate shimmer?

With Kisses & Bises over it.

French Affair, the namesake of this collection. It’s a pastel pink creme. Very delicate and beautiful 🙂

French Affair with Kisses and Bises on top. This is one polish that I feel that Kisses & Bises just did not transform. All we see is a pale pink shimmer!

Topless & Barefoot. What a raunchy name 😉 It’s a cool tan neutral creme. Kind of boring until…

Layered with Kisses & Bises!

I like this effect, it’s like sun shining on wet sand on the beach… I NEED a trip to South Padre Island SOON.

Nice is Nice. A pale pastel lilac creme.

I love this combo too 🙂 I really like this topper.

Sand Tropez, a much warmer neutral than Topless & Barefoot.

With Kisses and Bises. This combination really brings out the gold in K&B!

Essie Wedding 2011

I feel like a lot of weddings are happening this summer! A lot of my friends have tons of weddings to attend, and my fiance’s cousin is getting married this July, which I will attend. So I felt it was appropriate to post about a wedding collection 🙂 I always feel like Essie does great neutral, wedding-appropriate colors.

I ordered their mini box set. Isn’t it the cutest?! It has blocks around, with the colors of the collection.

From left to right: First Dance, Made to Honor, Borrowed & Blue, Better Together.

Two of the neutral polishes (the beige and pink) are very sheer and nothing will get them opaque. They’re ideal for the french manicures that we see so often on brides.
For the sheer ones, I’m going to show a two coat and a three coat to give you an idea of the color build up.
Two of the other colors are bolder and opaque in two coats (except the red) and would make for fun, coordinating pedicure colors (or on your hands- whatever!)

First Dance is a cool red. Everyone needs a classic red in their collection, and this could be it. At three coats, the nail line is still visible so I would think this is best for the toes, or nicely manicured short nails. OR for the people that don’t care about VNL! 🙂

Made to Honor at two coats. This is a lovely beige, personally in my opinion this is the polish color that Chanel Beige Petale wanted to be- this is clearly a much better choice for a sheer beige polish! You could put on one coat to give your nails a fresh and shiny look, but retain the natural look.

Three coats. I’m not sure if I like this better at three coats, or at two like shown earlier.

Borrowed and Blue. Two coats. LOVELY pastel baby blue. I love the name too 🙂 As most pastels go, the first coat tends to be streaky. This was kind of true, and the second coat smoothed everything and it all became perfect.

I love love love this polish! Seriously. I have worn it twice! It’s such a flattering baby blue, I feel like this color will look good on all skin tones.

Better Together, two coats. What a romantic name 🙂 It’s a light sheer pink.

I definitely prefer the three coats version.

Essie Wedding 2011

I feel like a lot of weddings are happening this summer! A lot of my friends have tons of weddings to attend, and my fiance’s cousin is getting married this July, which I will attend. So I felt it was appropriate to post about a wedding collection 🙂 I always feel like Essie does great neutral, wedding-appropriate colors.

I ordered their mini box set. Isn’t it the cutest?! It has blocks around, with the colors of the collection.

From left to right: First Dance, Made to Honor, Borrowed & Blue, Better Together.

Two of the neutral polishes (the beige and pink) are very sheer and nothing will get them opaque. They’re ideal for the french manicures that we see so often on brides.
For the sheer ones, I’m going to show a two coat and a three coat to give you an idea of the color build up.
Two of the other colors are bolder and opaque in two coats (except the red) and would make for fun, coordinating pedicure colors (or on your hands- whatever!)

First Dance is a cool red. Everyone needs a classic red in their collection, and this could be it. At three coats, the nail line is still visible so I would think this is best for the toes, or nicely manicured short nails. OR for the people that don’t care about VNL! 🙂

Made to Honor at two coats. This is a lovely beige, personally in my opinion this is the polish color that Chanel Beige Petale wanted to be- this is clearly a much better choice for a sheer beige polish! You could put on one coat to give your nails a fresh and shiny look, but retain the natural look.

Three coats. I’m not sure if I like this better at three coats, or at two like shown earlier.

Borrowed and Blue. Two coats. LOVELY pastel baby blue. I love the name too 🙂 As most pastels go, the first coat tends to be streaky. This was kind of true, and the second coat smoothed everything and it all became perfect.

I love love love this polish! Seriously. I have worn it twice! It’s such a flattering baby blue, I feel like this color will look good on all skin tones.

Better Together, two coats. What a romantic name 🙂 It’s a light sheer pink.

I definitely prefer the three coats version.

Essie Braziliant

Hi guys, I have here for you Essie’s Summer 2011 collection, the counterpart to their Resort 2011 collection recently. This is a six piece collection featuring really hot colors– and I mean they are hot! 😉 Most of them have hidden shimmers, and FOUR polishes are in the red-coral-pink family! I guess I’m okay with that because… Great pedicure colors. That said, I need to do my toenails sometime soon. I’ve been so lazy about it- they have been naked for about a month!

Before we start, let me tell you- my camera hates bright colors, so the pics are a bit crazy but they’re color accurate for the most part, at least on my monitor.

Formula was flawless, a la Essie. Two coats for all. Great names!

First up is Super Bossa Nova. It’s a hot pink with a great shimmer.

Smooth Sailing. The love of many nail bloggers. As you can see mine bubbled a bit, but that may just have been due to rough handling. Yes, I said rough handling. My bottles get dropped a lot and jostled around.

This is lovely, though. These two pictures above pull a tad too blue. It’s a perfect periwinkle, I think, with light blue flecks running through.

Too Too Hot. OMG My camera hated this! It’s a hot red creme. I like to put the crazy colors on my toes because everything looks good down there! (What she said LOL)

Meet Me At Sunset. What’s up? Burnt orange creme. Or is that called burnt sienna??

THIS is the most color accurate.

Absolutely Shore. Pale seafoam green. The bottle I had was a streak fest =\

I need to revisit this one and see if I love it. So far it looks like a leave it.

Finally, the namesake of the collection! Braziliant is one I really like, too. It’s a hot orange with a great shimmer.

Check out that awesome shimmer 🙂

What did you guys think? Will you be grabbing any? Or leaving it? I saw these at Target!

Essie Braziliant

Hi guys, I have here for you Essie’s Summer 2011 collection, the counterpart to their Resort 2011 collection recently. This is a six piece collection featuring really hot colors– and I mean they are hot! 😉 Most of them have hidden shimmers, and FOUR polishes are in the red-coral-pink family! I guess I’m okay with that because… Great pedicure colors. That said, I need to do my toenails sometime soon. I’ve been so lazy about it- they have been naked for about a month!

Before we start, let me tell you- my camera hates bright colors, so the pics are a bit crazy but they’re color accurate for the most part, at least on my monitor.

Formula was flawless, a la Essie. Two coats for all. Great names!

First up is Super Bossa Nova. It’s a hot pink with a great shimmer.

Smooth Sailing. The love of many nail bloggers. As you can see mine bubbled a bit, but that may just have been due to rough handling. Yes, I said rough handling. My bottles get dropped a lot and jostled around.

This is lovely, though. These two pictures above pull a tad too blue. It’s a perfect periwinkle, I think, with light blue flecks running through.

Too Too Hot. OMG My camera hated this! It’s a hot red creme. I like to put the crazy colors on my toes because everything looks good down there! (What she said LOL)

Meet Me At Sunset. What’s up? Burnt orange creme. Or is that called burnt sienna??

THIS is the most color accurate.

Absolutely Shore. Pale seafoam green. The bottle I had was a streak fest =\

I need to revisit this one and see if I love it. So far it looks like a leave it.

Finally, the namesake of the collection! Braziliant is one I really like, too. It’s a hot orange with a great shimmer.

Check out that awesome shimmer 🙂

What did you guys think? Will you be grabbing any? Or leaving it? I saw these at Target!

Essie Resort 2011

Hi guys, I come to you with Essie Resort 2011 collection. You might have seen them at other blogs already, but I like this collection. I usually like everything Essie does, although I wish they would include a bit of more variety in their collections. There is often two or three shades of red/pink/orange. I guess it’s a color they do well 😉
This is a four piece collection with far muted colors than its sister collection, Braziliant. It really does remind me of a safari theme, I love it.
Formula was great, all opaque within two coats. I also love the names 🙂

From left to right: Fair Game, Your Hut or Mine?, Da Bush, Lion Around.

LET’S START WITH MY FAVORITE:

Fair Game! I looooove this color omg. It’s such a beautiful smoky shimmery silvery grey! Holy adjectives batman.

An excellent closeup. If this had a green flash, I think it could have been a dupe for Chanel’s Black Pearl (which I still covet.. le sigh). This does satisfy my lemming for Black Pearl in a way, but not my lemming to own a real Chanel polish 😀

Your Hut or Mine? It’s a coral, with a shimmer– but this coral leans towards a “dark hot pink” (wow oxymoron much?).

The shimmer is like a pale gold. I’m not sure what but it’s lovely. Very thick formula o.O

Da Bush. This is a sister to OPI’s Stranger Tides, and a lot of people find this more suitable for their skin. Myself I like both, but I should do a personal comparison to see which looks better on me. I’m a severe hoarder though and may just keep both 😀

Lion Around
It’s a pale mauve neutral with a shimmer. It almost mannequin’d my hands but not really. This is also my least favorite, but maybe I need to go revisit it and see what’s the matter with it.

Essie Resort 2011

Hi guys, I come to you with Essie Resort 2011 collection. You might have seen them at other blogs already, but I like this collection. I usually like everything Essie does, although I wish they would include a bit of more variety in their collections. There is often two or three shades of red/pink/orange. I guess it’s a color they do well 😉
This is a four piece collection with far muted colors than its sister collection, Braziliant. It really does remind me of a safari theme, I love it.
Formula was great, all opaque within two coats. I also love the names 🙂

From left to right: Fair Game, Your Hut or Mine?, Da Bush, Lion Around.

LET’S START WITH MY FAVORITE:

Fair Game! I looooove this color omg. It’s such a beautiful smoky shimmery silvery grey! Holy adjectives batman.

An excellent closeup. If this had a green flash, I think it could have been a dupe for Chanel’s Black Pearl (which I still covet.. le sigh). This does satisfy my lemming for Black Pearl in a way, but not my lemming to own a real Chanel polish 😀

Your Hut or Mine? It’s a coral, with a shimmer– but this coral leans towards a “dark hot pink” (wow oxymoron much?).

The shimmer is like a pale gold. I’m not sure what but it’s lovely. Very thick formula o.O

Da Bush. This is a sister to OPI’s Stranger Tides, and a lot of people find this more suitable for their skin. Myself I like both, but I should do a personal comparison to see which looks better on me. I’m a severe hoarder though and may just keep both 😀

Lion Around
It’s a pale mauve neutral with a shimmer. It almost mannequin’d my hands but not really. This is also my least favorite, but maybe I need to go revisit it and see what’s the matter with it.

Lady Sings the Blues

For this unpredictable Tuesday, we have Lippmann’s Lady Sings the Blues. We are also near the end of our theme week 🙂 This morning it was HOT and then it suddenly rained and now it’s all nice and cool. Sigh. Way to go, DC.

Doesn’t she look promising? Silvery/blue duochrome hex glitter with small round glitter suspended in a black jelly base. All the photos are about two-three coats, I forget. Definitely over two, at least if not exactly two. 

I really liked this one, it was easy to pick up the glitter and distribute it. Bad Romance gave me a little trouble– it would deposit a lot of hex glitter in one spot and then nothing for the next nail, etc requiring me to use a little more coats than usual.

Also looked great! I’m sorry these pictures are a bit dark D: 

I applied this last night, and when I saw it I knew I had to… mattify it! Sorry cousin! I wore it like this for the whole day today:

 Really– can you hate this?! I think it looks even better mattifyed. The other Lippmanns either looked equally good, or kind of strange (in the case of Bad Romance).

But this one… Meant to be matte!

Lady Sings the Blues

For this unpredictable Tuesday, we have Lippmann’s Lady Sings the Blues. We are also near the end of our theme week 🙂 This morning it was HOT and then it suddenly rained and now it’s all nice and cool. Sigh. Way to go, DC.

Doesn’t she look promising? Silvery/blue duochrome hex glitter with small round glitter suspended in a black jelly base. All the photos are about two-three coats, I forget. Definitely over two, at least if not exactly two. 

I really liked this one, it was easy to pick up the glitter and distribute it. Bad Romance gave me a little trouble– it would deposit a lot of hex glitter in one spot and then nothing for the next nail, etc requiring me to use a little more coats than usual.

Also looked great! I’m sorry these pictures are a bit dark D: 

I applied this last night, and when I saw it I knew I had to… mattify it! Sorry cousin! I wore it like this for the whole day today:

 Really– can you hate this?! I think it looks even better mattifyed. The other Lippmanns either looked equally good, or kind of strange (in the case of Bad Romance).

But this one… Meant to be matte!