Essie A French Affair Collection Swatches, Photos, Review
Coat Azure, French Affair, Nice is Nice
Essie A French Affair Collection
For Spring, Essie has launched six shades ranging from blue to nude in their A French Affair Collection. Essie can be found at various etailers and salons, but also through beauty.com ($8 per bottle).
Coat Azure (breathing taking medium blue with shimmer), French Affair (sophisticated soft lavender pink), Nice is Nice (whimsical light lavender), Sand Tropez (soft sandy beige), Topless & Barefoot (barely there soft beige pink), and Kisses & Bisses (kiss of pink shimmer – perfect to layer over any color).
- Coat Azure is a dusty cornflower blue with soft microshimmer. I used two coats. China Glaze Sky High Top seems similar but brighter.
- French Affair is a pale pink with cool undertones and a cream finish. I used three coats. It is cooler-toned than Essie Neo Whimsical.
- Nice is Nice is a pinked lavender with a cream finish. I used two coats, and there was a hint of visible nail line. It is similar to MAC’s Little Girl Type, but darker and not as cool-toned. It’s also more pigmented and less cool-toned than Essie Lilacism.
- Sand Tropez is a muted, beige with a touch of gray in a cream finish. I used three coats. It seems a bit similar to Essie Body Language.
- Topless & Barefoot is a warmed over light-medium beige cream. I used two coats. I couldn’t think of a possible dupe for this one.
- Kisses & Bisses is a sheer, warmed white base with a duochromed, opalescent shimmer that flashes pink and gold. I used three coats in the swatches. Essie recommends it for layering, and if you’re not into sheer polishes, it would work well as a layering polish. I did like it on its own; it gave a soft, sheer look but the duochrome finish of the shimmer added interest. Zoya Bailey seems similar, perhaps not as much of a duochrome.
my thoughts on the formula: Essie’s spring shades is a good mix of soft colors and pastels with a formula that applies easily and none of the pastel shades have a chalky look to them. I found about half needed two coats, but overall, three seemed like the ideal amount. The formula wasn’t too thick or thin, and it flowed evenly onto the nail. With a base/top coat, I had only minor tip wear after a week’s wear of Essie’s formula.
Coat Azure, French Affair, Nice is Nice
Coat Azure, French Affair, Nice is Nice
Coat Azure, French Affair, Nice is Nice
Coat Azure, French Affair, Nice is Nice
Sand Tropez, Topless & Barefoot, Kisses & Bisses
Sand Tropez, Topless & Barefoot, Kisses & Bisses
Sand Tropez, Topless & Barefoot, Kisses & Bisses
Sand Tropez, Topless & Barefoot, Kisses & Bisses
Essie Coat Azure Nail Lacquer
Essie Coat Azure Nail Lacquer
Essie Coat Azure Nail Lacquer
Essie Coat Azure Nail Lacquer
Essie French Affair Nail Lacquer
Essie French Affair Nail Lacquer
Essie French Affair Nail Lacquer
Essie French Affair Nail Lacquer
Essie Nice is Nice Nail Lacquer
Essie Nice is Nice Nail Lacquer
Essie Nice is Nice Nail Lacquer
Essie Nice is Nice Nail Lacquer
Essie Sand Tropez Nail Lacquer
Essie Sand Tropez Nail Lacquer
Essie Sand Tropez Nail Lacquer
Essie Sand Tropez Nail Lacquer
Essie Topless & Barefoot Nail Lacquer
Essie Topless & Barefoot Nail Lacquer
Essie Topless & Barefoot Nail Lacquer
Essie Topless & Barefoot Nail Lacquer
Essie Kisses & Bisses Nail Lacquer
Essie Kisses & Bisses Nail Lacquer
Essie Kisses & Bisses Nail Lacquer
Essie Kisses & Bisses Nail Lacquer
French Affair looks like a cooler toned version of OPI’s Italian Love Affair. Weird “coincidence”.
Love Topless and Barefoot!!! Gotta try it next time…Thanks for the swatches!!
I picked up coat azure, nice is nice, and sand tropez. I’m stunned at how evenly your sand tropez applied. I cannot get a nice thin layer to save my life, quite thick and cumbersome. Must be your application technique! Thanks for the review.
i have the same prob w/ sand tropez! i did 3 coats and it still looks a little streaky in some areas..my coats came out kind of thick and chunky =T i have the same problem with french affair
I have Sand Tropez and got lots of compliments when I wore it. Looking for Topless and Barefoot next, couldn’t find it.
Must have Azure!!
Thanks for the swatches!!
Great review! I couldn’t agree more. I found mine at my local CVS. They didn’t have topless and barefoot, though =(
Ooh, I see a couple of these that I think I’m gonna need.
i have topless and barefoot on right now! love it 😀
I’m going to keep an eye out for Coat Azure (despite the fact that I have a million blues).
Great review + swatches, Christine! I need French Affair…
I have “Nice is Nice” and got compliments. It’s the *perfect* lilac for pasty white NW10 skin. 🙂 It has just enough pink to keep it from giving you the “dead hands” look!
If you take a white nailpolish and you put Kisses & Bisses Nail on top of that and you finish that off with a matte top coat, will it look like MAC’s Frayed-to-Order?
I’m not really fond of the colors, but I like Essie and they’re available at Walgreens and Target now. 🙂
Yeah, I was shocked when I saw Essie at my local Walmart. You can find them at any drugstore now.
that’s the reason why the spring collections are always my least fav ones.the pastels look pretty boring,also the colors are very dupable:)
Coat azur is beautiful!
These have been out for a while… Since early last month. But anywho, I have French Affair and Topless and Barefoot. They’re honestly the must haves in the collection 🙂
Thanks for the swatches!
I’ve got Kisses & Bisses and I really like it a lot because it gives my nails a clean, pretty look. I love those kinds of shades for my finger nails because it’s less obvious when they start to chip. I save darker colors for my toes. I’ll have to try Kisses & Bisses layered over another color. I think it would look really pretty.
I love Nice Is Nice! I will definitely be picking that one up the next chance I get. :] I already have Sand Tropez, and i love that one too!
Coat Azure is definitely the stand out color from this collection! I love it.
Great swatches Christine! Btw if you like Kisses & Bisses, you should really try it over both of the nude colors. It adds just the prettiest slight duochrome shimmer and enhances the nude. I think it’s great that they added the sheer layering color b/c it can really change the look of the other colors if you ever get bored of the creme finish. Oh and a belated congratulations on finishing business school! 🙂
I just picked up a bottle of kisses & bisses last night at walgreens. I found it in the clearance rack for $1.99 and had to buy it even though I was unsure about the color. Great swatches!
I bought Coat Azure about a month ago and havent worn it yet. Beautiful swatches
i bought french affair and sand tropez last month at target and i have gotten compliments on french affair…i consider sand tropez my perfect nude!
Yay I’m wearing Coat Azure right now!
I definitely need Coat Azure…and maybe Nice is Nice and French Affair.
I own both Coat Azure and Kisses and Bisses from this collection and was surprised by how much I love K&B. I hate sheer colors and am seldom even a fan of layering polishes as I expect the products I buy to be able to stand by themselves. K&B just looks awesome over so many polishes though. It has just the right level of shimmer, not so little that the effect is subtle but not so dense that it dramatically alters the color underneath. It adds rather than transforms which is what I want from a layering polish. I wore it over a turquoise last week and just fell in love with the combo. I like it so much I’ll probably grab a back up before it goes away!
I can’t help myself: Essie polishes just look boring to me. There has never been a single colour that I thought was nice!
Kisses & Bisses looks so pretty!
I got Coat Azure in Jan/Feb and it really is lovely. I think I may need to get French Affair too.
Does anyone know if Sand Tropez or Topless and Barefoot any similar to JAZZ (ESSIE)? Please let me know which is better and such. Which you would recommend? Sand Tropez or Topless?
Bought Topless and Barefoot a while back. Actually wearing it right now. Thinking about Coat Azure, such a pretty color. Bought Pink Diamond today and came sooooo close to Coat Azure. Don’t know why I didn’t grab it?! I’m sure I will need to go to Ulta for something tomorrow, that will be a good excuse to get it.
I *NEED* Topless & Barefoot! As far as I know, us UK bunch can only get the minis. I bought Sand Tropez after much comparasion with the T&B mini hoping it would be a good dupe. I love it, but I NEED T&B!!!
I’ve been searching for the perfect nude, I just hope thats it. I know when I’ll find it!
Love to you all =] xx
I bought Coat Azure a while back but never had a chance to try it on. I normally do not like pastel colours for nail polishes but I’m really liking this collection. I bought French Affair and Nice is Nice. I never considered getting any of the nude/brown colours until I saw this swatch. I bought Sand Tropez and I love it! What I like about this collection the most is I can wear it to work, and it won’t be too outrageous.
For those on the fence about these, CVS has discounted leftover stock from this collection, 50 % off!
I already got Coat Azure and Nice is Nice cheap online, but now Sand Tropez gets to join them 🙂
Hey Christine,
I LOVE Sand Tropez! It`s the perfect nude for me but since it`s just limited edition, do you know any dupes for it?