Essie Spring 2013 Swatches (Go Ginza and Maximillian Strasse Her)

Tonight I've got a couple swatches from the Essie Spring 2013 Madison Ave-Hue Collection: Go Ginza, a pale pink/lavender, and Maximillian Strasse Her, a faded light grey/green.

Go Ginza reminds me a little bit of OPI Steady As She Rose, or maybe OPI Panda-monium Pink. It has the same dusty/greyed out finish as Steady As She Rose has (one of my all-time favourite polishes, by the way), and straddles the line between pale pink and lavender. Very pretty! The formula was a little runny and hard to work with, but covered in two coats.

Maximillian Strasse Her is a light greyed out pale green creme; the formula on this was better than Go Ginza, easy to work with and perfect in two coats. While this reminds me a bit of Essie Absolutely Shore, this is definitely a deeper and murkier shade; more in the army green category than the pastel one.

This collection kind of popped up out of nowhere- I hadn't even heard of it, then happened to see it at a Walgreen's. Which, by the way, you might be surprised to hear seeing as how there are no Walgreen's in Canada. How, then? Because for the last week I've been here: 

It's been awesome, and I'm fully prepared to leave my heart in San Francisco. 

What do you think of these shades from the Essie Spring 2013 Collection? Are you planning on picking any of them up? 

My Birthday Manicure- Zoya Caitlin and Essie Stroke of Brilliance

Although my birthday was actually at the end of November, I'm just getting around to sharing my birthday manicure with you now. Well, better late than never, because this is a really good one!

I decided to layer a gradient of Essie Stroke of Brilliance (a gorgeous smokey metallic blue glitter that I've been dying to get my hands on for ages) over Zoya Caitlin (a demure blue-grey). I'm absolutely smitten with the tone-on-tone creme + glitter combination of steely blues.

Zoya Caitlin by itself:

I really loved wearing this, and left it on for several days (an achievement for me, seeing as how I usually have a very short lacquer attention span). I thought this was a very "chic" glitter manicure; subtle and elegant, but still reflective and sparkly- it definitely caught the light in intriguing ways.

What did you think of my birthday manicure?

Essie - Carry On

Essie Carry On (from last year's fall collection), a deep, vampy, raisin purple. Formula was good, this is two coats. So glossy, I can literally see myself taking the picture in this. 

I'm afraid this will be a very quick post indeed, because...

I'll be back soon, though, with some brand new Pirate Polish lacquers! Enjoy your Sunday!

Essie Penny Talk

I have my other purchase from the Essie Mirror Metallics collection to show with you today; this is Essie Penny Talk. 

Penny Talk is a coppery chrome metallic with a similar formula to Blue Rhapsody. The finish is relatively brushstroke free, provided you're somewhat careful with application. What you see here is two coats. Because of the chrome finish, you might want to consider buffing your nails before application, or using a ridge-fillng base coat to help hide imperfections.

I'm really happy that I picked this one up, mostly because I have a huge weakness for coppery shades, not to mention for chrome polishes. Combine the two, and I'm sold!

What do you think of Essie Penny Talk? Will you be picking it up?

Essie Blue Rhapsody (plus glitter gradient!)

Today I have Essie Blue Rhapsody from the new Essie Mirror Metallics Collection to share with you. 

Blue Rhapsody is reflective light blue metallic polish. In the sunlight, some very minor brush strokes are apparent, but mostly this applied very smoothly. This kind of polish does tend to highlight any imperfections on your nail, so it's worth it to buff out any problem spots before painting (or, consider using a ridge-filling base coat to help with creating a smoother surface).

Overall I'm fairly happy with how this looks- I'm crazy about chrome/metallic polishes, so it's a keeper for me.

I couldn't resist adding a glitter gradient to this manicure! Maybe it's KawaiiKagura from Nailpocalypse  and all her recent posts featuring awesome gradient manis, but I pulled out two different glitters to experiment with:

China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara, and Claire's Night Sky.

The two nails on the left have Claire's Night Sky, and the two on the right have China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara:

I think both of these glitters are a perfect complement to the shiny metallic blue of Essie Blue Rhapsody, but overall I really love how Lorelei's Tiara looks as a gradient over this! I'll have to remember to pull this combination out during the winter- it reminds me of ice and snow.

One last picture to show of the amazing holographic glitter in Night Sky:

What do you think of Essie Blue Rhapsody? Do you think it works well with a glitter gradient?

Dollish Polish Hylian Princess and Essie Play Date

I recently got together with a friend of mine who is also a lacquer enthusiast; she had recently picked up a few new polishes, and I decided to try this combination: Essie Play Date as a base for Dollish Polish Hylian Princess. 

Hylian Princess is mixture of white, gold, purple, and lavender glitters in a clear base. I thought this combination looked really pretty paired with Essie Play Date, a beautiful light purple creme.

The formulas on both Hylian Princess and Play Date were really great. Play Date applied with the usual ease that I've come to expect from the Essie creme formula, and Hylian Princess deposited a nice mixture of glitter at one coat. Overall, I was really happy with both of these lacquers.

What do you think of Dollish Polish Hylian Princess and Essie Play Date? 

Essie Mojito Madness

Feast your eyes on Essie Mojito Madness- vibrant, minty, green creme perfection. Essie does cremes so well, and the formula on this is perfect: easy to control when applying, levels out wonderfully, and dries to a glassy smooth finish. I'm not always the biggest fan of green lacquer, but this one is stunning, and a great summer colour. 

...I couldn't resist taking a picture with my Matt & Nat purse- it's an exact match. Normally I'm not all matchy-matchy when it comes to polish and wardrobe, but this was just fun.

And you've likely seen this last picture before, but I thought I'd throw it in anyways: Pirate Polish Salt & Pepper layered overtop of Mojito Madness. 

Speaking of which, Pirate Polish is now officially open for business on Etsy! I've been busy organizing listings for the last day or so, and I'm happy to say everything is in place. I did run out of the limited quantity of Radioactive which I opened up the store with, but I will be bottling more this weekend and that'll be listed as soon as it's ready. Please do check the shop out, and let me know what you think. Any feedback you have is much appreciated! 

I'll leave you with a couple cute photos I took of my Pirate Polishes:

Borsch, fittingly pictured with a matroishka  (nesting) doll. 

What's Up, Doc? vs. Salt & Pepper in a game of checkers.  

Down the Rabbit Hole pictured with the original inspiration. 

Salt & Pepper, of course, have to be paired with salt and pepper shakers.  

A chess lacquer game in progress... 

And finally, a whole box full of shiny pretty things! 

Essie Forever Yummy and Essie Ballet Slippers

Today I have Essie Forever Yummy to share with you; Forever Yummy, despite having a name that annoys me, just might be my ideal red polish. It's not too cool or too warm toned, and never leans too much towards a tomato-red nor towards a pink or blue red. It's very vibrant, but isn't over the top. It has a great formula, and this was two easy coats:

I don't often wear red lacquer, but I'm really happy with how this looks. I also feel more comfortable wearing it when my nails are on the shorter side- I just think red polish looks better on shorter nails. What do you think?

Incidentally, I received this polish free with a subscription to Chatelaine magazine... I have to admit, the free lacquer reeled me in on this one- they obviously knew how to get my attention. That and the lure of tasty recipes, of course.

I also have a cameo appearance of my mom wearing Essie Ballet Slippers. Ballet Slippers is a sheer streaky mess milky nude. Honestly, though, the formula on this one was terrible. Extremely streaky and hard to get even. I don't recommend it, even though I've heard it described as a classic and a must-have Essie. Definitely not worth the hassle.

What do you think of these Essies? Which shade would you opt for? Do you have any awesome reds to recommend?

Essie Jazz

Essie Jazz falls firmly into the category of putty-ish neutrals, although in certain lighting I do see it leaning decidedly more taupe and less beige than the photos you'll see here (this is 2 coats of Essie Jazz):

Right now I'm wearing Essie Jazz on my toenails and absolutely loving it- this is a surprise to me, because I'd always been of the opinion that bright, punchy colours were pedicure colours, and definitely not fleshy-toned neutrals. Well, I've changed my tune on that! I should credit Stephanie at Short N Chic for converting me to this school of thought, because after seeing her write blog posts about how wonderful neutral tones are on toenails I finally gave it a try myself! I'm so glad I did.

Do you like to wear neutrals on your toes? Or do you reserve them exclusively for your fingernails?

Finally, I'll leave you with another kind of "jazz"-  a tune by Miles Davis. This is one of my very favourite pieces of music...

Purple Comparisons!

I've been meaning to post this comparison forever (at least a month or two), but I'm only just getting around to it now! This is a comparison of pastel purples; as it happens, this is perhaps my favourite "easy-to-wear" shade for my nails. It always looks great!

This is the line-up! Left to Right: Essence A Lovely Secret, OPI Planks A Lot, OPI Done Out In Deco, Essie Bangle Jangle, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac.

This is how they look on the nail; I'm pretty sure this was two coats of each:

Thumb to pinky, this is Essence A Lovely Secret, OPI Planks A Lot, OPI Done Out in Deco, Essie Bangle Jangle, Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac.

Essence A Lovely Secret is far more blue-toned than the other lavenders here, but is rather interesting in its own right. It has a very subtle shimmer running through it, and on the nail it appears more speckled than anything. Quite unusual! Enlarging the pictures should give you a better idea of what it looks like.

OPI Planks A Lot is clearly the deepest purple here, but it still has the same dusty quality to it that OPI Done Out In Deco has. The Essie is far more grey, and Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac is much brighter and cleaner than the others.

Overall, I love OPI Done Out In Deco for the lovely faded quality it has, but I really adore Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac. It's the perfect bright pastel lilac colour, and for the price point you can't go wrong. Do you have a go-to lavender you'd like to recommend?

Oh and by the way...

This post is Purple-Domo approved!

Essie - Bordeaux

I didn't think Bordeaux would be this amazing. I'd heard good things, but in the end I figured, hey, it's just another red polish.

But actually, it's not. It's an unusually awesome red lacquer with a streak-free jelly finish. It has a fantastic formula, and it's really the perfect deep wine-coloured red. Behold!

Glossy red perfection in two coats. I'm sorry it took me this long to give Essie Bordeaux a try! I'm really happy with this red, and I think it's the perfect one for my skin tone. Reds can be tricky that way, sometimes clashing with the undertones in your skin... but I think this one is great.

Have you tried this polish? Are there any other fantastic reds you would recommend?