Essie Declare Your Denim Nail Lacquer was a collaboration between Teen Vogue and Essie to kick-off the event with bottles given to those who donated on July 28th. Teen Vogue launched their Declare Your Denim event, which is a charity event where you can donate your denim for a good cause. Teen Vogue and Fashion Delivers (charity) have set-up donation boxes at several malls across America (see a list here). And if you’re not located near one of the participating locations, you can always mail yours! When you spend $25 at participating sponsors (online or in-store), you’ll get a free Teen Vogue tote.
Essie’s Summer Collection features six shades of creamy summer colors. They dry pretty fast, and the finish is only slightly glossy, so I used Nubar’s Diamont Top Coat (it was the closest one at the time – no real preference!). I liked Knockout Pout and Pretty Edgy the most–very strong, opaque color and a fuss-free application. Vermillionaire applied the smoothest, and pros could probably get away with just one coat if they really wanted! I felt like these applied better than the average Essie, which may just be because three of the shades are much darker (and pastels have a tendency to be fussier).
Knockout Pout is a brightened, glowing dark pink cream. It was pretty opaque in two coats.
Haute as Hello is a lightened coral-orange. I used three coats with this one.
Vermillionaire is a bold, deep orange. This one applied the best and only needed two coats.
Pretty Edgy is a dark, grassy green cream. It’s pretty much exactly the color of grass to me – suppose that’s quite fitting for summer! I needed three coats to get a completely opaque look.
Demure Vixen is a lightened mauve with pale purple shimmer. It’s a very soft, pretty color. The shimmer is incredibly subtle, but it’s there. It almost looks like a cream from a distance.
Miss Matched is a pale pink-lilac cream. I found this one to be the streakiest, and I definitely needed three coats with it. You can still see some of my nail line even with three coats.
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Product: 27/30
Value: 8/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If one of these colors grabs you, then it’s certainly worth checking out. I don’t have anything quite like Pretty Edgy, but the other shades may be a little easier to find, depending on how extensive your stash is!
Summer is special. Aside from the wonderful outdoor activities that we wait for all year, we also revel in the opportunity to now wear lighter, brighter and more playful clothing. Finally, we can shed the wool and mohair for cotton and linen. The keyword for summer is: fun! So indulge in seriously sensational color! Don’t be shy — make it the time to play with bold, playful color combinations.
“This year’s runways reflected the ease of the season with youthful, upbeat clothing in feminine fabrics,” explains Essie Weingarten, President and Founder of Essie Cosmetics, Ltd. “I was inspired by the vivid pastels at Versace and the splashy fl orals at DKNY. I created this collection to reflect the youthful, fun-to-wear flirty frocks.” The summer fashion trend is all about mixing and matching, and the summer color palette allows for the same fun and freedom. Choose Miss Matched for fingers and Pretty Edgy for toes, or whatever you fancy – since there is no more matchy-matchy!
Nail Lacquer ($8.00)
Miss MatchedSweet, sheer, ready for anything pink
Haute as HelloRacy, scorching coral
Knockout Pout Hot supercharged pink
Vermillionaire Heart pounding red orange
Demure Vixen Iridescent cocoa mauve
Pretty Edgy Vivid palmetto green
Availability: June 2010 at www.essie.com and fine spas, salons and beauty destinations nationwide.
Essie Nail Lacquers: Playa del Platinum, Lapis of Luxury,
Turquoise & Caicos, Splash of Grenadine (Natural Light)
Essie Resort Collection: Review, Photos, Swatches
For summer, Essie created the Resort Collection, which features four cream-finish shades: Playa del Platinum (elegant and sheer sandy gray), Lapis of Luxury (dreamy ocean blue), Turquoise & Caicos (flirt and pretty tropical aqua), and Splash of Grenadine (playful magenta pink). The collection will launch in May, and each bottle retails for $8.
Playa del Platinum is a coffee-shaded gray. It reads more like a very light, grayish-taupe on me and not really flat out gray. This shade needed three coats for a solid, smooth look.
Lapis of Luxury is a bluer periwinkle. It’s not quite a true periwinkle cream, because it does run a little bluer, but that was the first descriptor that came to mind. I found I needed three coats to get a smooth finish with no streaks.
Turquoise & Caicos is a green-teal cream. If you thought it might be like China Glaze’s For Audrey or Chanel’s Nouvelle Vague, it’s most definitely not. Both of those shades are blue-based teal,while this is distinctly green-based. I found it a little streaky, so I wound up using three coats on this one.
Splash of Grenadine is a red-based pinky purple. It’s not quite a purple, but it’s also not really a pink. This is the only shade I felt you could get away with just two coats on (which is what is pictured), and this also applied better than the other three.
All four colors are absolutely lovely–very fun and summery without being bright or neon. They’re playful, and I think they’ll be particularly pretty on toes. My only problem with the collection came with the formula. While definitely workable and worth working with, it’s a little on the watery/runny side, which made it a little more difficult to apply than I’d like. Because of the runny consistency, the polish has a tendency to apply streaky, necessitating three coats in most instances.
It’s not impossible or even that difficult to get a smooth, even look, it’s just a definite issue from the formula. I found that laying down a thin, streaky-as-all-get-out coat, and then building up with a slightly thicker second and third coat, produced the best results. Oh! and don’t forget to let each coat dry a bit before layering the next on top, totally crucial step with these. I think for those who have more than fifty polishes to their name won’t find these all that troublesome to work with. The formula is okay but not great; you can get good results, but you have to be patient.
Are you loving any of these shades?
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
Product: 24/30
Value: 8/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: I love the colors of the shades included in this launch but the formula is just okay, so if there’s a color that you absolutely love, it’s definitely worth picking up, but if it doesn’t leave you breathless, skip it.
Top row: Red Nouveau, Tart Deco, Van D’Go Bottom row: Pop Art Pink, Neo Whimsical, Lilacism
Spring for Pastels for Your Nails
Essie’s The Art of Spring Collection is a pretty-in-pastel six shade launch. They’re a nice bunch of colors that give you some color on your nails without being too bold, so they may work nicely for those who need to have more office-appropriate nails.
Red Nouveau is a brightened red cream. It’s pretty, but it’s a shade we’ve seen before. It applies beautifully, though — very smooth, even, and nearly opaque in just one coat.
Tart Deco is a peached coral cream. The formula was easy to work with, surprisingly. Though I’m wearing three coats in the swatch, you really only needed two for an opaque finish. The shade itself isn’t too thick, but it is on the thicker side, and I didn’t have any issues with streakiness.
Van D’go is a lightened, milky pink with a peach cream finish. It took two coats to get an opaque look, but I went with three for swatching purposes. Like Tart Deco, the polish was thick but not overly so, and I didn’t encounter any streakiness with this shade either.
Pop Art Pink is a milky, jelly baby pink. Even though I don’t do sheers often, this shade is exceptional because you can layer it with three coats for a near opaque finish. One coat will get you that softly pink-tinted look that’s cute and feminine without being bold.
Neo Whimsical is a light lavender cream with a pink tint. I found this shade to be on the runny side, but three coats get you opaque color.
Lilacism is a cool-toned lilac cream with blue undertones. This gave fairly opaque color with two coats, but I swatched it with three just to be sure. Like Neo Whimsical, Lilacism is a little on the more watery side, but it’s not a big deal, because it dries about average and still gives solid results.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
Product: 27/30
Value: 8/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you love pastel creams, you may want to take a look at Essie’s spring collection. If, on the other hand, you’re not so into pastels or creamy finishes, this is not the collection for you. It’s an almost romantic collection with the color palette, which makes it very fitting for spring.
