Essie Power Clutch Swatch

I recently picked up Essie's Power Clutch from their Fall collection, which also has Case Study in it (swatch here). Power Clutch is a deep,inky grey. It is perfect for those of you that love really dark polishes for fall. It applied nicely, with two coats. It has lots of depth for a dark grey, it has almost a forest green undertone to it.

Essie Power Clutch 

Did you pick up any polishes from the Essie Fall collection? Do you have Essie Power Clutch? What do you think of it?

Essie Cute As A Button vs. Essie Peach Daiquiri (Coral Comparison)

Even though Fall has come, I am still loving the summer corals. I have two Essie corals in my collection that are  gorgeous yet similar. I thought I would do a comparison if any of you were interested in both!

 

Left to right: Essie Cute As A Button, Essie Peach Daiquiri

 

Swatches:

Index and Ring Fingers: Essie Cute As A Button

Middle and Pinky Fingers: Essie Peach Daiquiri 

Essie Peach Daiquiri  is darker and has more orange tones to it. Essie Cute As A Button is about a shade lighter and has more of a peach tone. They are similar but I think if you are a coral lover, you can justify both!

Are you a coral nail polish lover? Do you have Essie Cute As A Button or Essie Peach Daiquiri? What do you think of them?

Comparison of the Sandy Beige Nail Polishes

I have been loving the nude polish trend and feel that for Fall, it has evolved into the sandy nudes trend. For Fall, I typically wear darker polishes and it makes sense that the nudes will be darker as well. I have three polishes that while they might be in the same color family, they are all very different (and therefore I can justify having all of them!)

 

Left to right: Essie Sand Tropez, Revlon Smoky Canvas, Essie Case Study

 

Swatches: (left to right)  Essie Case Study, Revlon Smoky Canvas, Essie Sand Tropez

As you can see, Essie Sand Tropez is the lightest of the three, a light sand color. Essie Case Study has more brown/camel tones than the rest. Revlon Smoky Canvas looks more grey compared to the other two.

What is your favorite nail polish trend for the fall? Will you be picking up any of these polishes?

Current Polish: Essie Case Study

Essie recently came out with their Fall collection and one color's name stood out to me immediately: Case Study. This is a term used often in Sociology and I am a Sociology Major! The color is gorgeous so it had to be mine.

Case Study is a khaki beige color, perfect for Fall! It applied smoothly in 2 coats.

Did you pick anything up from the Essie Fall Collection? What is on your nails?

Sally Hansen Barracuda Nail Polish (Swatch and Comparisons)

Light blue nail polish seems to be everywhere for spring and summer. My Essie Borrowed and Blue post is one of my most popular blogposts! I found another popular light blue polish: Sally Hansen's Barracuda. This polish is part of the Tracy Reese collection, and seems to be quite hard to find. In this collection is also Delphinium (click here for my post). Below is my video comparing three baby blues: Essie Borrowed and Blue, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau, and Sally Hansen Barracuda. I am also having a giveaway on the Barracuda polish in the video. If you would like to enter, please do so in the comments of that video only.

Sally Hansen Barracuda 

This color is a light blue, but as you will see it has a green undertone compared to the other polishes I will be comparing it to. The formula is a little finicky, watery yet thick. This swatch was 3 coats to get it opaque. Despite the effort to apply, the color is gorgeous and worth it.

Comparison:

left to right: Essie Borrowed and Blue, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau, Sally Hansen Barracuda

Swatches: (left to right) Essie Borrowed and Blue, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau, Sally Hansen Barracuda

As you can see, these polishes are all in the same family but are each different in their own way. Essie Borrowed and Blue is the lightest of the three, having a more white base. Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau is a darker, more vivid sky blue. Sally Hansen Barracuda is still a light blue but has more of a green undertone compared to the other two. 

Do you own Sally Hansen Barracuda Nail Polish or the other polishes? What do you think of them? Will you be picking any of them up?

Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-ment Nail Polish Combinations

Since I am currently obessed with the Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-ment polish, I thought I would show you guys some combinations with this amazing nail polish. Here is my original post on the polish. In this post, I wanted to show you guys how gorgeous the polish looks over a variety of colors and texture.

I am also doing a giveaway with Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-ment on my YouTube channel and the video is below. Please enter in the video comments only.

left to right: Essie Topless and Barefoot, Essie Lilacism, Zoya Charla, Sally Hansen Black Out

Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-ment Nail Polish over top: (left to right) Essie Topless and Barefoot, Essie Lilacism, Zoya Charla, Sally Hansen Black Out

This amazing effect is so hard to capture on camera! Feel free to click on the picture to see it up close.

Have you picked up the Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-ment Nail Polish? What do you think of it?

Current Polish: Essie Tart Deco (swatch and comparison)

I am fully ready for spring and have found an amazing spring color! Essie Tart Deco is a pinky orange coral. As I'm sure a lot of you know, coral's a very in for spring and summer. This is definitely a nice polish for those of you that are new to the trend. It has some pink tones in it that keeps it from being plain orange.

 

Tart Deco applied pretty smoothly, this is two coats.

 

I wanted to compare it to China Glaze Peachy Keen but  I think I sold that in a blog sale (and apparently don't miss it). From what twitter followers have said, Peachy Keen is more orange. I have Essie Haute as Hello to compare it to. Haute as Hello is a strange color, as you can see in the bottle is a light peach but on the top where it seems to have separated and is darker, that is the color it comes out!

 

Index and ring fingers- Essie Tart Deco 

Middle and pinky fingers- Essie Haute as Hello

Essie Tart Deco is a nice addition to my collection, especially since I am new to corals/oranges. I bought this at a local beauty supply store but you can also find it online.

Will you be picking up Essie Tart Deco? Do you already own this polish? What do you think of it?

Current Polish: Essie Borrowed and Blue (swatch & comparison)

Recently Essie released their 2011 Wedding Collection and what caught my eye were not the standard pinks, but the light blue, Borrowed and Blue. I love that Essie did a little twist on the standard wedding polishes and came out with a blue. My fellow nail polish addict and taste twin, Rachel, was raving about it as her new favorite light blue polish so I had to pick it up! I am definitely not disappointed as it is a gorgeous color and unique to anything I own. 

Essie Borrowed and Blue

Borrowed and Blue is a light blue. It's a lot lighter than your average light pastel blue (will get to that in a sec!) and has a lot of white in it. In the bottle it looks a bit grey but that doesn't translate much on the nail. This was two coats.

Comparison:

left to right: Essie Borrowed and Blue, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver

 

Swatches: (left to right) Essie Borrowed and Blue, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver

Essie Borrowed and Blue is great for a spring manicure that's clean yet colorful. I am loving this polish for spring and can see it being a winter color as well as it's not too "seasonal".

Have you picked anything up from the Essie Wedding Collection? Have you tried Borrowed and Blue? What do you think of it?

Essie's French Affair (Swatch & Comparisons)

The other polish  that I got from the Essie French Affair Collection (my post on Topless and Barefoot) is the polish it's named after, French Affair. This is your standard pink that I'm sure you've seen with OPI, Essie, and other companies as well. I love this shade but don't think it's a must have! It's not the most unique shade on the market haha

 

Essie's French Affair 

 

This polish applied pretty evenly, in two coats. For some reason the bottle and three nails showed up more purple but the pinky nail reflects how the color really is, sorry!

 Comparison:

 

left to right: OPI Mod About You, American Apparel Coney Island, Essie French Affair, OPI Pandamonium Pink,  Zoya Sweet

 

clockwise from thumb: OPI Mod About You, American Apparel Coney Island, Essie French Affair, OPI Pandamonium Pink,  Zoya Sweet

Did you get any polishes from the French Affair Collection? What did you think of them? What is on your nails now?

My Favorite Nude Polish: Essie's Topless and Barefoot

I have always stayed away from nude polishes just because I didn't want dead looking hands. Personally, I think mannequins are so creepy and to have their hands...*shudder*. Also, from what I have seen in swatches, most nude or natural polishes tend to be on the sheer side. A combination of two of my hated things: mannequins and sheer polishes, no wonder i stayed away from them! recently Essie released their French Affair Collection and I was starting to hear buzz about a nude polish from this collection: Topless and Barefoot. There are two nudes in this collection, this one and a more beige one called Sand Tropez. I picked this one up out of curiosity (and one other that I will also do a blogpost on) and I'm so glad I did.

Topless and Barefoot looks like your standard beige-y nude but it has some pink undertones to it that are really flattering on my skintone. Also, this is definitely not a sheer polish. For this picture,  I used two coats.

Essie's Topless and Barefoot is definitely the standout polish from the French Affair Collection from me. If I had to recommend one polish from the collection, Topless and Barefoot is the way to go. It's a great nude with a great application!

Did you get any polishes from Essie's French Affair Collection? What did you think of them? Do you own Essie's Topless and Barefoot?

Current Polish: Essie's Fiji

Essie's Fiji is a gorgeous pinky-nude color. I was expecting the formula to be sheer like a lot of nude polishes, but I was pleasantly surprised! The formula seems thin and finiky (technical term) when you apply it but it applies opaque in 2 coats.

Hey, gorgeous ;)

It's a very clean and simple manicure. I have been wearing dark colors a lot since it's the winter season and this was a refreshing color to give myself a break from the darks.



What's your go-to clean manicure shade? Do you own Essie's Fiji? What do you think of it?

Current Nail Polish: Essie's Mint Candy Apple

Try as I might, I can't resist the light, spring colors! I've grown a little tired of the dark winter colors so I thought I'd switch it up and use a mint green. One of my favorite mint greens is Essie's Mint Candy Apple. It's a mint green with a slight blue undertone. To me it is a closer replica of the Tiffany color than China Glaze's For Audrey.

 

I love that blues and greens can be worn year round! Essie's Mint Candy Apple is a gorgeous color and what's better is that it has a great formula too! I only used 2 coats and they glided on!

Essie is on the pricier side in terms of nail polish but this color is worth it. 

What's on your nails?

Essie's Van D'Go vs. Maybelline's Sweetie Pie

To say that I have a lot of nail polish is a bit of an over statement. So yesterday I got home and realized what I thought to be the inevitable: I bought a nail polish almost identical to what I already have. So now you guys get to know a dupe haha (always the optimist)

Here is Essie's Van D'go. It was recently released in the Art of Spring collection. I love this color! It's a peachy melon with some pink to it. Gorgeous for spring! It's a little more peachy than pictured.

Here is Maybelline's Sweetie Pie. This is actually a limited edition polish released in Maybelline's new spring collection.When I saw it I was instantly drawn to its spring-like qualities.

Now, lets compare the dupe-esque qualities. Both were 2 coats by the way.

They are extremely similar. The only SLIGHT difference is that Sweetie Pie has a bit more of a pink tone. Otherwise, they're identical. Essie's is about $8 (in drugstores, prices may vary) and the Maybelline's $4.29 (again, prices may vary). I don't believe that if you have one you need the other.

Hope you enjoyed the post; it's the first one I attempted on nail polish swatches so let me know what you think =]

<3