Happy Black Friday y’all! I will be honest and say I just did some damage on Zoya’s website for their Black Friday sale – I wait all year for their major sales and I just got paid today, so it was fate telling me to go ahead and buy more nail polish, right? So I’ll definitely be doing a post on those when I get them in.

For now, we’re still chugging along with the fall collection reviews. I’m not going to lie, I had a little lull, and now, swatching these collections, I’m falling in love with nail polish and blogging all over again. Maybe it’s because I now have the time (and the funds) to really invest into it again, and my nails are finally growing and healthy again. Ahhh I’m so excited for the future of this blog. *sappy emotions*

Enough rambling! We’re trying to finish up fall collections here!

I have the Essie fall 2017 collection today! It’s a 6 polish collection (I did the 2 6-piece collections first, and now we have the 2 12-piece collections coming up, be ready). It’s got a 90s theme (something I don’t get tired of), and features mostly cream shades, with a pop of metallic and shimmer. So let’s get into the shades!

Up first is ‘Mixtaupe’ a light beige toned nude shade. For the first coat, it was basically what I expected for a super light toned nude: it was streaky and sheer. However, for most nails I got it opaque on the 2nd coat, which surprised me a little. Some nails needed a 3rd coat to cover up some streaks, but they were all good on 3 coats. For this one, I found if you manipulate it too much, you’ll create more streaks – so paint a little thicker coats, get it on, and then leave it alone. It seems a pretty standard formula for this light of a nude color – nothing to go crazy over.

For me, it’s a lovely nude, and helps to “cleanse my palette” after crazy colors. I think I’ll get lots of wear out of this in the winter.

Up next is ‘Saved by the Belle’, a typical bright bubblegum pink. This had a smooth easy first coat. It could be opaque with 2 thicker coats – with the ridges on my nails, I used 3 to cover them up. It was smooth and easy to control, but not a super unique color. I do have a million Barbie pinks, so this one didn’t absolutely steal my heart.

‘As If!’ gets me for 2 reasons: 1. Who doesn’t love Clueless? I’ve watched that movie what feels like hundreds of times and 2. This one finally gave me a unique color that I was looking for. I don’t know why, but the dustiness of this color just stole my heart.

It had a beautiful smooth 2 coat formula, and I think it’s perfect for winter as well coming up. Just the way it works with my skin tone, I’m just drooling over this one. It reminds me of cold winter mornings with a fresh layer of snow in a bottle.

‘Knee-High Life’ is a rich berry color. This could honestly be opaque in 1 thicker coat if you’re not super picky. Under my bright lights and detailed photos, I used 2 coats to cover up some uneven spots. But the color deepens and richens in 2 coats, and it’s lovely for fall. A lovely formula, and a good staple fall color.

As you can see by my cuticles, this one can get messy on clean up and removal, so be careful when taking it off.

Up next, ‘Girly Grunge’ is the metallic shade of the collection – they did this same finish in their summer collection, and I’m loving the pop of change in finish after all the creams. It’s a smoky purple metallic. This was another that was almost good in just one coat, but was completely set on 2. I did find it can skip a little and drag on application if you don’t have enough polish on your brush, so it’s one that you can load up more polish on the brush and it’s not going to flood your cuticles.

Because it’s a metallic finish, you are going to get noticeable brush strokes, something to know with any metallic polish. So just paint straight with your strokes, and they’re not too terrible. But it almost glows off the nails, and I just love Essie experimenting with different finishes. Stunning!

Last but not least is ‘Dressed to the Nineties’. This is a deep eggplant base with green shimmer. This is another that can skip and drag on your nails if there’s not enough polish on the brush, so load it up a little more. It can be good in 1 thicker coat, but I did two here, and the shimmer builds up more with 2 and evens out the purple base. It is a little more apparent on the nails than it shows here in the picture.

Though it’s not a super apparent flash of green, the shimmer adds depth and beauty to what could have been a standard purple cream.

Looking at the side you see more of that shimmer. It’s actually apparent on the nails, and so stunning on the nails. Beautiful color and beautiful formula.

So that’s your Essie fall collection! If I had to split this collection down the middle, I would say ‘Mixtaupe’, ‘Saved by the Belle’, and ‘Knee-High Life’ are more standard, seen before color creams with pretty good formulas. Nothing to complain about for them – I just feel like I’ve seen those colors before.

If you’re looking for something more unique, I would recommend ‘As If!’, ‘Girly Grunge’, or ‘Dressed to the Nineties’. These offer you more unique colors to your collection with absolutely lovely formulas. I also think these 3 transition beautifully into winter as well.

We’re halfway done with fall reviews! OPI Iceland is next, and then the China Glaze Street Regal collection – so lots of polish and swatches coming to you soon!

 

Follow me!
Instagram: @GingerlyPolished
Twitter: @GingerlyPolish
Pinterest.com/GingerlyPolish