Essie Mesmerize

From the Essie Spring 2009 collection.

This is 2 coats, without topcoat.

I recall a particular nail blog describing this as a "Superman blue" and can never dissociate this colour from the Man of Steel ever since! I personally think Superman has a slightly lighter shade of blue but this is definitely in the same shade range. It's bright, but yet dark at the same time. I guess you can call it a medium blue, and it's a creme through and through. The formula is creamy and good, much like that of Mint Candy Apple.

I really like how this blue is dark without transcending the line into navy. I have actually made a comparison photo between this and Zoya Breezi, although their similarities are few and far between, besides being beautiful medium blues. Breezi has more of a teal tint to it whereas Mesmerize is a true blue (heh, pun).

Essie Mint Candy Apple

From the Essie Winter collection 2009.

This was 2 coats, without topcoat.

Mint Candy Apple is a rather cool mint colour, with blue undertones in it. It isn't particularly obvious on its own but if you compare it to the likes of Orly Gum Drops or China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, you can definitely see that this is the bluest of the lot. I bought this precisely because of its blue undertones, since I believe that pure green shades have an aversion to me. Still, Mint Candy Apple is a very pretty, mint colour that gives a splash of refreshing vitality to a wide variety of skin tones.

No, my beef with this polish is really on its formula. I'm not sure if it's just me but Essie polishes seem to have a strange sort of drying time. It dries while you're still painting it, so it becomes a goopy, streaky mess! But this only applies (I think) when I paint them under a fan. Is this supposed to happen with any nail polish? I don't seem to be having this problem with any other nail polish. In any case, Essie applies very well in air-conditioning, i.e. no direct wind, but you're not dying from the heat either (I live in a tropical country). I would even go so far as to say that in air-conditioning, Essie creme applications are only second to Zoya, which is saying quite a bit. A one-coater would have been sufficient if your technique was good. If not, an easy second coat would definitely rectify it.

I'm not sure if it's so coincidental that I have always been using this nail polish under a fan because I never can bring myself to get a nicely done manicure of this one, so I haven't worn it. In this photo, I had painted it in air-conditioning so I'm very surprised and pleased with the result! I'd definitely wear it more often, and defy the look of greens on me.

Whiskers & Kittens: A Baby Pink Comparison

Front: Essie Ballet Slippers
Back left: OPI Who Needs A Prince?
Back right: Essie Pop Art Pink

Gosh, isn't that image just the cutest? For some reason, I captioned it 'Pinkertonville' on Flickr, because it was the first word that popped into my head when I looked at it. As you possibly can tell, I've gotten lazier to take photos of the individual bottles, then cut and paste it onto the photos but hey, this is a great idea.

Today, I decided that I shall compare my only 3 baby pink polishes. It used to be only 2 until very recently when I got Essie Ballet Slippers, which made it a nice number for a comparison.





As you can see, Essie Pop Art Pink really doesn't quite fit into the category (expected). While the other two are more similar, nude/white/powder pink sort of combinations, Pop Art Pink is a more in-your-face light Barbie pink sort of colour. It's got more of a blue tone to it, making it very much different from the other two.

Ballet Slippers and Who Needs A Prince? have more to compare. From this photo, you can see that WNAP seems to be more of a peachy shade as compared to Ballet Slippers, but that's really because WNAP has a red flash which, when seen with its base pink colour, makes it appear a little peachier. In reality, I would say that it seems as if the makers of WNAP decided to take some Ballet Slippers, and add a bit of red flash to it and there you have WNAP. The base colour is extremely similar, if not identical. Essentially, Ballet Slippers is WNAP, without red flash.

Although WNAP still remains as my favourite of the lot, as well as one of my favourite nail polishes in my entire collection, I have to give some kudos to Ballet Slippers. I'm really digging the soft femininity of it and the only reason why it lost to WNAP is because of the red flash. Cremes have a difficult time keeping my interest in them for more than a few hours. Because of its red flash, WNAP has a very shiny pearl finish on the nail which is tons more interesting and pretty than a solid creme like Ballet Slippers. However, I'd say Ballet Slippers would make a good second in my line-up for baby pink polishes while Pop Art Pink goes on to finish third, as I can't say I like my nails looking like Barbie.

Which one of the 3 do you like best?

Essie Ballet Slippers

This was 3 coats, no topcoat.

Essie Ballet Slippers is one of them age-old polishes that are so ancient, I don't even know how to find which collections they were from - if they were even from any of these recent invention called 'collections'. This is a sheer nude pink that are meant, I suppose, to resemble the shade of actual ballet slippers. I would call it sheer because it does take a few layers to build up. Even here at 3 coats, you may still be able to discern a bit of VNL if you're not careful but personally I'm too lazy to paint more than 3. It's acceptable for me!

I get the feeling that this has become the sort of quintessential sheer nude pink shade. Although it's not quite as interesting as OPI Who Needs A Prince?, I actually like this shade very much. If not for the troublesome Essie formula, I would like to wear this much more often! I have a soft spot for all these light-nude shades of pink, it's somehow so girly and feminine that I can't resist.

Speaking of Essie formulas though, I just can't seem to master it! I find that almost all my Essie polishes are rather streaky and slightly goopy. It's not too bad when I paint them in an air-conditioned room like in these swatches, but of course that'd be equivalent to shutting myself into a sealed chamber with no ventilation, inhaling nail polish fumes at very close proximity. When I attempted yesterday to paint them with the door of my bedroom open and my fan switched on, the polish dried so fast (bad thing) that it turned positively goopy before I even managed to finish the coat, which was disastrous. To add to this, it dried just enough to turn goopy, but it didn't dry completely so when I hit my finger against something, it still ruined it after all. I removed all ten fingers in frustration.

Anyone else having such problems with Essie?

Essie Mint Candy Apple + Arezia #697

This is 1 coat of Essie Mint Candy Apple from the Winter '09 collection and 1 coat of Arezia #697.

I always have issues putting on Mint Candy Apple. It seems awfully streaky! And not only is it streaky, it actually bubbles. I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong but I really had to take some time out to apply this one. However, since I knew I'd be layering a coat of Arezia #697 over it, I decided not to polish up the streaks and holes since it'd be camouflaged by the additional coat anyway.

I'm not sure which country does Arezia come from, but I'm loving what I see of their polishes so far. This is a pearlescent blue-mint colour that you can layer on something else like what I did here, or wear it by itself. If worn by itself, it only requires 2 coats for opacity, but the colour is a lot greener than it looks here, since this is layered over a mint base. It does give it a bit of a frosty finish but I seem to like to this effect quite a bit. It's somehow freakishly glowy. It's sold at SGD $4.00 at Sasa Beauty, which is awesome cheap. Not just that, there's a Buy One Get One Free promotion going on there right now.

Edit:

I realise that this photo is more true to how the colour of my manicure really was. It kinda looks like the green tack that I used in school recently. Still - got a lot of compliments with it.

Wowshop haul!

Hauuuuuuul.

So recently I bought from an online etailer called Wowshop. I'll be writing a review on them soon, but I'm really happy my nail polish is here! :D There are a couple of set-backs, like the mini Orly bottle that Liao ordered is not in the box, and my Color Club Rule Breaker cap has no brush, but all in all, very pleased with my haul indeed!

On with the photos!

SWATCH ONE

L-R: CND Sapphire Sparkles, China Glaze Fairy Dust, OPI It's Totally Fort Worth It, OPI Not Like The Movies, OPI The One That Got Away

-- CND SAPPHIRE SPARKLES

CND Effects

A sheer polish with glitter that flashes pink, purple, blue, green. This thing is awesome. A little pricey, but awesome. I can foresee that I would want to restock this when I run out, because it is that awesome. The camera can only capture a third of its duochrome awesomeness. I love things that flash different colours at different angles. This polish would surely brighten up any dull manicure. I can foreesee that it will be amazing over black. Shall wait for my black polish to arrive to have a look. This was 2 coats.

-- CHINA GLAZE FAIRY DUST

Another sheer polish that is definitely not camera-shy with its fine holographic glitters. I was worried that it might be a bit too coarse, or that the holo glitters wouldn't come out right, but my worries were unfounded. I can definitely see myself layering with this some time. I like how you can control the amount of glitter you layer on. One coat leaves a relatively sparse amount of glitter should you want to layer this over something that's already shimmery, but pile on the coats and you'll have yourself a blingfest of holo glitters in no time. The glitter spreads evenly. Very pretty. This was 2 coats.

-- OPI IT'S TOTALLY FORT WORTH IT

Texas collection '10

I'm not really sure what this name means. Anyway, it's a muted silver with a tinge of lavender to it, that has glitters that may or may not be visible depending on the lighting. I thought the glitters were orange in the day, but now under my lamp light at night, it appears to be pink. Strange! The finish is semi-glossy, and some of the glitter does sink in, which gives it a very slight grainy appearance but it's not noticeable at all. A cover of your regular topcoat should do the trick very adequately. This was 3 coats.

-- OPI NOT LIKE THE MOVIES

Katy Perry collection '10

OMGOSH, this turned out way better than I expected! "Oilslick" couldn't have been a better term to describe how this looks. This is a slightly dark silver that flashes purple and green and when I say flash, I really mean flash. The duochrome in this is pretty amazing. At certain angles, my entire nail appears green, while at others, I see purple. I love this, given my weakness for duochromes. Considering this for my next mani! Application is a little streaky but it should even out while drying. It's surprisingly sheer though, there is a very slight, almost invisible VNL even after 3 coats. I can live with it, though. This is 3 coats.

-- OPI THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

Katy Perry collection '10

This is a reddish-purple colour, I'd call it berry, just simply loaded with glass flecks! The flecks are big, but it works. The colour is more true to the colour in the bottle. It's such a vibrant berry colour that it almost seems to glow, really. Opacity can be achieved in 1 or 2 coats max. Super sparkly! This is 2 coats.

SWATCH TWO

L-R: OPI Meet Me On The Star Ferry, Orly Galaxy Girl, China Glaze Flyin' High, Essie Mint Candy Apple

-- OPI MEET ME ON THE STAR FERRY

Hong Kong collection '10

Perhaps a proof of how uninteresting the bottle looks is that I actually forgot to upload the picture of the bottle only. Or perhaps I forgot to take a photo of it. Anyway, the bottle looks rather uninteresting, like a muted burgundy colour with normal red-green glitter. However, on the nail, it somehow works. I really like this! It seems to have a hint of gold to it that's so subtle, you'd have to follow some sort of intuition to realise that it's there. This is very thick, and I actually only have 1 coat on there. The only thing you need to watch out for is brush strokes! They are quite visible. The finish is semi-glossy. It is quite messy to take off, though!

-- ORLY GALAXY GIRL

Cosmic Fx collection '10

Wow. I love this one so much, I need 3 photos of it. Being the duochrome fetishist that I am, you can just imagine how tremendously excited I was to stumble upon the Orly Cosmic Fx collection. If I can, I need to collect ALL polishes in this collection. Galaxy Girl was one of those that I felt like buying but yet was a bit unsure about because I've read reviews about it looks bruise-coloured, and so on. I knew I wouldn't rest if I didn't buy it and I absolutely do not regret it. Though I usually don't quite like to wear dark polishes, Galaxy Girl makes me feel like I have a window to the universe on my fingers. Plus, I'm an astronomy freak. The duochrome in this is insane. True, the base colour is a dark maroon with a tinge of brown that almost makes it look like very dried blood but the awesome glitter duochrome in it will offset it all. Cannot emphasize how much I love this. This is 3 coats.

-- CHINA GLAZE FLYIN' HIGH

Up & Away Spring collection '10

I had an impression that this was a blue-green creme and actually, I'm not sure if I'm wrong. The colour is really difficult to pin down because it seems to be different colours in different sort of lights. It could be darker aqua, or it could be a teal. I'm not sure, but I do love this colour. It's not quite sky blue, I am convinced there's some green mixed in there somewhere, but it flatters my skin tone tremendously and looks vibrant and fun! Looking forward to wearing this. Thick, as per usual. 2 coats.

-- ESSIE MINT CANDY APPLE

Winter collection '09

This isn't really quite the true mint. It leans more towards blue but that is exactly what I like. I like that in-between colour, and if I had to choose, I'd pick blue anyway. I don't generally like pure green polishes. Anyhow, this is a mint creme that is the usual thick Essie formula as well, and covers in 2 coats.

All in all, very pleased with my haul. Still deciding between Not Like The Movies, Galaxy Girl and Flyin' High for my next mani! If I ever get down to swatching them, will post the photos up! (: