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Favorite Essie Nail Colors

October 25, 2018 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Essie is one of my favorite go-to nail polish brands of all time. Apart from loving their range of gorgeous eye-popping nail colors, I also like the fact that their products are pretty much easy to find. Whenever I’m at my local drugstore or grocery store, I always make it a point to drop by at the nail polish aisle and look for what’s new in Essie nail colors. I must have collected a ton of Essie nail polishes already, but I do have some colors that I tend to reach more often and I’ll be showing their swatches in this review.

As you can see, I’m a fan of reds and pinks when it comes to nail colors, that’s because these shades tend to always look great on me, and I guess it also applies to most of us, but I still have some favorites in blues, nudes, and even a green. Lately, with the introduction of the newest Essie Gel-Couture nail polishes, I kinda stopped collecting the original Enamel shades as I find the Gel ones to be a lot more long lasting and less prone to chipping, although the Enamel ones have really good longevity as well. I’m still at my early stage of collecting the Gel-Couture shades, as of now, I only have some reds and mostly nudes, but I plan to expand my collection to some shades of blues, violets, and some other colors hopefully soon, and I’ll do a separate post for my favorite shades of the Essie Gel-Coutures only.

Here are my favorite Essie Nail Colors

Enamel ($9) – Original, lots of beautiful shades to choose from. Lasts about two weeks on me with some chipping. The brush applicator is a miss for me because it’s so thin and it takes a careful maneuvering to apply the shades.

Hide & Go Chic – teal

Big Spender – plum

Wicked – vamp

Mrs. Always-Right – terracotta rose

A List – classic red

Aruba Blue – metallic sapphire

Dress To Kilt – deep red

Splash of Grenadine – pink magenta

Angora Cardi – deep dusty rose

Scarlett O’Hara – shimmery ruby red

Stylenomics – rich dark green

Gel-Couture ($11.50) – Very long wearing, lasts about three weeks on me with very minimal chipping and I love the brush applicator since it’s wider than the enamel and kinda tapered/rounded towards the tip. However, the color range has not been completely expanded yet and there are some inconsistencies with the shades, like the Pinned Up color having two different intensities; one being lighter and the other being darker. On the other hand, these nail colors are great to use with the Essie Gel Top Coat to set immediately and for a brilliant shine.

Sew Me – cream caramel

Bubbles Only – creamy burgundy

Pinned Up – nude pink rose, there’s an inconsistency with this color. One bottle may be lighter than the other. Lighter shade looks very close to Sew Me, while the darker one is closer to All Dressed Up. Love both tones though.

Spiked With Style – wine red

All Dressed Up – medium rose pink

Bottom line, it’s hard to tell the Enamel nail colors when compared to the Gel ones, especially at eye value. They both pretty much smell the same, feel the same, and look the same. The only difference between them is the lasting power, which the Gels obviously are ahead at with barely any chipping. The nice thing about Essie is that they tend to have beautiful bold colors that are easy to find, not that crazy expensive, and reliable. Perfect for all your nail polish needs.

Are you an Essie fan? What are your favorite Essie Nail Polish shades?

The Essie Nail Colors can be found at most local grocery stores and drugstores everywhere, as well as at Ulta, Target, Dermstore, Kohl’s, Walgreens, and Macy’s

Smith & Cult New Shades for Spring 2018

March 1, 2018 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

If you’re bored and tired of this frigid gloomy winter, well, rest assured that you’re not alone. I can’t wait for the colors around me to come back. Speaking of colors, there’s a couple of new shades from Smith & Cult nails polish lately and they’re really pretty. As someone who’s never tried any Smith & Cult nail polish before, even though I keep seeing them in my local department store, I feel like it’s about time to venture to new nail polish brands and explore different unique shades that are outside my comfort zone. I’m talking about taking a break from my usual vampy red nail colors.

The Smith & Cult nail polishes are one of those chic nail colors that you just can’t help but stare not only at their interesting shades but also at their glamorous packaging. Such design for a nail polish. But the beautiful colors and beautiful containers come with a steep price. For $18 per nail polish, it’s definitely a splurge. However, having a few shades that you know you’re gonna use a lot and love for a long time makes it all worth it, like the three I got here.

These three new shades are not only Spring and Summer-ready shades, but also they’re great transitional shades from Winter to Spring. Apart from that, if you’ve been following the “mannequin nails” trend, that is, matching your finger’s skin tone to your nails which gives a lengthening effect, then you’re gonna love two of the shades here.

I applied these nail colors using Smith & Cult’s very own base coat and top coat. My experience with both is just amazing. The Basis of Everything base coat settles very fast and it made my nails feel very strong. The Above It All top coat is one of the best top coats I’ve ever tried. It does what a top coat should do. It dries and sets the nail polish immediately and it makes for strong nails that shine. It’s perfect.

Peaceful Paranoia ($18) – This opaque dark cream with a pinkish/magenta sheen is probably one of the most perfect shade for that mannequin nails trend. It’s definitely gonna match to your finger especially if your skin tone is light to medium like mine. However, to be honest, I’m not so crazy about the whole mannequin nails trend, I think it’s just not a trend for everybody, and it’s a pretty difficult trend to pull off. If you’re a long-time reader of my blog, you know that I like mE nails red, scandalous, and vampy, LOL. So, you can imagine my reaction when I painted my nails with this cream-tone shade. But anyways, even if this color is too close to my skin tone, it doesn’t mean that I couldn’t love this. It took me a while to get used to this color though, but after a few days, I feel like it’s really not that bad. I could get used to it. But do I really need to psyche myself that much in order to love a nail color? hmmm… Anyway, apart from that, let’s talk about the longevity and overall impression that I got with this color. Once on my nails, I had a hard time seeing that pink/magenta sheen that comes from the nail polish itself, it’s almost like it only reflects from the bottle. After probably a week or so, I noticed a slight chipping on the side of my nails, but overall it stays on almost perfectly for more than two weeks.

Powder Posse ($18) – If I had mixed feelings about the Peaceful Paranoia shade above, this creamy pale lilac is a surprise love for me. I like this one a lot better than Peaceful Paranoia because at least this shade shows a bit of contrast between my skin and my nails. It’s definitely a shade lighter than my own skin tone, but it looks clean, sleek, and polished. It still looks like I have mannequin nails on but it also looks like I have nails for real. You know what I mean.

A Short Reprise ($18) – Lavender Mauve. This is my most favorite shade among the three. It’s so pretty and it’s not an aggressive “look at me” shade. It’s just simple yet stunning. This is indeed a nice transitional shade or a color meant for Spring and Summer. The tone of this reminds me a bit of Essie’s Angora Cardi, but this one has more lavender shade in it. Overall, this is a relaxing pretty nail color that you don’t see a lot in most nail polishes nowadays, but when you see one, you know you’ve got to have it.

I feel like I’m gonna be seeing some more Smith and Cult nail polishes popping in my drawer after this. I love this nail polish already. The formula is long-wearing, doesn’t have that much strong odor, and I get about two weeks or more of wear, and it’s also an 8-free nail polish. I also love the brush applicator, it’s much better than OPI, Essie, Chanel and Tom Ford’s, but I still love Dior’s brushes though, because those are fat and wide, so it’s easier for me to apply the colors on my nails. Other than that, I am now a convert of Smith and Cult nail colors and I highly recommend them. Yay!

The Smith and Cult Nail Colors are currently available at Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, SpaceNK, Bloomingdales, Net-A-Porter, and Amazon.com

The Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour Review Part 1.

January 13, 2015 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

There’s just something about a woman with a Chanel nail polish. Whether it’s her beautiful, perfectly-shaped nails, her rich nail polish color, or just how perfect her hands looked on those nail polish. For years, Chanel nail polish triumph over other nail polishes for its richly-pigmented tone and fashion-forward hues.

A leader on nail polish colors, always imitated but never been truly copied, here are the old-time classic cult favorites and bold new colors.

Pirate:

Deep, dark red. A very classic Chanel color. A must for every woman who loves red, red, and more red. I’m not a fan of the consistency of this color though because it’s too fluid, I prefer the creamy gel-like consistency of most nail colors. This one needs to be applied 2 to 3 times to get the real color. Other than that, this is almost perfect.

Rouge Noir:

Oh, My Bloody Valentine! or “Hello, The Originals”. I think of vampire red whenever I see this nail polish. That’s how dark red this is. I definitely think this is a perfect red for those with deep complexions because this makes for a dramatic contrast. This may be a bit too dark for me, but this is very sexy and very wearable nevertheless.

Dragon:

Only two words. Think “Chinese Dragon”.

Cinema:

A very cinematic vintage red. The kind that most old Hollywood stars would wear. Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe-alike, this is a creamy bright red that reminded me of OPI’s Chick Flick Cherry. I love this color a lot!

Lotus Rouge:

This is my most favorite red so far. It’s the kind of red that can top all reds. It’s a very alluring color and it looks good on all skintone. It also makes your hand very attractive and very glam.

Accessoire:

This shade is between brown and red. But, I would say that this is more on the red side. I think this can look quite vampy but can also look chocolatey. This is a very pretty color and this will look good especially during changing seasons. There’s something simple yet elegant about this color.

Taboo:

Constellation galore! This is a very interesting color that will remind you of the cosmos. It’s like eggplant/violet/galaxy with a lot of glitter or shimmer of different colors. This reminded me of OPI’s Suzi And The 7 Dusseldorf but this is much darker, more complex, and way more intriguing to look at.

Vamp:

This is Oma Thurman’s nail polish in Pulp Fiction. The controversial vampy red, brown, bloody color that commonly suggests a “Bad Girl Look”. Yet still, this isn’t a nail polish worth only for the spunky-attitude gals. Sophisticated and fashionable ladies love this for that uplifting vibe this nail color brings. This shade is very similar to Essie’s “Wicked“.

THE SWATCHES:

Update: As of February 2016, these nail colors are now being discontinued by Chanel. My review of the latest and newly-reformulated Chanel Le Vernis nail polish is here.