[A note: I’ve been destashing! I went through and got rid of over half of my collection, and there’s some greatly discounted, mainly mainstream polishes looking for new homes (US only, I’m sorry to my international friends, the shipping just isn’t feasible or cost effective). You can check out what’s available on my destash Instagram @GingerlyPolishdestash or by checking out this Google Doc! Feel free to message me on IG or email me if you’re interested in any shades!]
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Let’s begin this post by saying that Essie has been on quite the silly little journey lately. I get it, Essie, I turned 30 last year and I feel a little silly at times too.
But it all began in 2023 when they released a UK exclusive winter collection called Just Chill. Yes, this was very strange for a US based brand that had been steadily releasing collections to their American customers for the entire year and had never missed a seasonal release previously. It was like ‘A Year Without a Santa Clause’ (was that too niche of a reference, was that too millennial of me, did anyone else watch that growing up). And that UK collection had some gorgeous polish colors in it, but like a baby, I forgot about it as soon as it was out of my sight.
2024 came, and there was again, no winter release – not even in the UK either. Still strange, but again they had been steadily releasing collections all throughout the year, so I wasn’t worried. Then in February of 2025 (I’m crosschecking the timeline by @essie_obsessie’s account – if you’re interested in anything and everything Essie, I highly recommend her account) suddenly, the Just Chill collection reappeared as a US release. Essie didn’t formally announce it at all, and it hasn’t appeared on their website, but apparently it was our Spring 2025 collection (I do have it and will be swatching it up soon). Also, the US release only came with 5 of the 6 UK shades, missing ‘Easy Freezy’ and instead replacing it with ‘Muchi Muchi’, an already permanent shade.
Weird, but alright new shades, sure! I did say they were gorgeous so I was glad to be able to snatch them up. Then later that month, there was an official announcement for the ‘Be Them All’ collection (which this post is covering today). When this collectoin was originally released, it featured 10 shades: 6 cream enamel shades and 4 special effects toppers. But now, as of this blog posting, suddenly the Essie website is only featuring 7 shades of the 10 shades, with 3 of the creams missing. They’re still featured in the Be Them All header photo, but they’re missing from the specific collection listing.
Because suddenly, those shades are shown in a new release called ‘Riviera Rush’. THAT collection hasn’t been officially announced on Essie social media but you can find the shades at Ulta now (at least the cremes). Those shades include 3 new cream shades, 2 new special effects polishes, the 3 creams from Be Them All (including the namesake polish of that set) and 1 re-promoted special effect polish that came out in the original release of the line in April of 2024.
I cannot understand it, and of course, Essie will not be explaining any of this. We can simply speculate, like hey maybe it’s tariff related, maybe it’s inflation related. Either way, it’s all simply fascinating to me and I just had to lay it all out for someone else and get it out of my brain. (I had also already typed out and finished this post once, and then WordPress didn’t save it and I lost it all, so I had to extra talk about it).
We’re beginning with that whole history lesson to set up the fact that this post will be going over the ten shades of the ‘Be Them All’ collection and I just wanted to explain why there might be some discrepancies when you look up this collection later. I shall be swatching it as it originally released, so this clearly means that this blog is now helping to record history. You’re all welcome.
So okay yes, the Be Them All collection. As I mentioned a few times, it released with 10 shades: 6 cremes and 4 special effects toppers. Essie notes with this release: “Who wants to tick one box when you can be them all with loud and vibrant shades that showcase every side of you”. So it’s about how you’re not just one thing, you can Be Them All. Get it. (The redoing of this entire post is clearly getting to me, I’m getting Bold Happy).
The 6 cream shades are available from Beyond Polish. You can use code GingerlyPolished for 10% off individual items. It is affiliated so I would earn a tiny little commission for each sale, so absolutely no pressure to use it. And then for the 4 shimmery special effects shades, Essie says they are exclusive to CVS.
Okay PHEW let’s finally get on into these swatches!
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We’re starting out with ‘Playful & Rebellious’. This is a cooler pink shade with some dusty mauve tones to it. I always love a cooler pink like this on me personally (though I’m sure it’s gorgeous on everyone) and it’s really just a perfect little neutral for me. Listen, maybe I wouldn’t call this shade rebellious, but being ‘Playful & Rebellious’ can come in other aspects in your life, maybe you want your nails to be calm!!
This starts us off with an absolutely gorgeous formula, and it’s easily opaque in just 2 coats. It painted on well and covered up the ridges in my nails for a smooth overall finish. It’s the Essie formula I’ve come to expect and really love.
Playful & Rebellious – Live Swatch
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Next up we go BRIGHT for the namesake of the set. (Still the craziest thing to me is pulling the namesake polish from its own set and moving it to another release, but I’l stop mentioning it now). This is ‘Be Them All’ and it’s a bright, yellow toned medium orange shade. This is the crayon you pull out for “orange”, it’s the most orange orange you can imagine. It’s bright, it’s fun, you might even say it’s playful and rebellious.
This one was a touch squishier in formula, being a little bit more sheer than ‘Playful & Rebellious’ above. I did have some ridges peeking out after 2 coats, so I added a 3rd to further smooth it out.
If you’ve been here for any previous posts, you might have seen me mention my ridges. I have very ridged nails (I’ve had them my entire life and I promise they’re not health related) and they can often affect how polish applies for me personally, just in the way of needing another coat of polish from a lot of brands. I never use a ridge filling base coat because it would be too time consuming to add another layer to every single swatch. I also always just want to show how the polish looks straight out of the bottle. Overall I love giving little disclaimers for swatches, because in the end this blog just features my own personal experience and it’s about you taking that in and applying it to your own preferences and nails. So to sum it all up, if you have smooth, non-ridged nails, you’ll be set with 2 coats with this polish. And if you’re ridgey like me, you might want just 1 more.
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Next up we have ‘This and That’. This is a bright grass green – it does have some blue tones to it in the bottle, but on my cooler undertones it’s pulling more yellow and warm. So it’s a little shapeshifter and it can depend on your own undertones and lighting for how it wants to appear that day.
This one felt similar in formula to ‘Be Them All’ above, being a touch more squishy than ‘Playful & Rebellious’. Continuing with my explanations, I call shades “squishy” when I can tell there’s a little bit of jelly to a cream formula so that when you paint it on, you can just feel a little squish. It adds some sheerness and shine, but it’s still workable. Because of this squish, my ridges were still peeking out after 2 coats – the smooth nail club will be fine there – so I added a 3rd to further cover and smooth it all out.
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Now we get into the 2 fun cremes, and my 2 favorites of the set.
We start with ‘Stay Fluid’, and I’m really trying my best to do just that with everything, Essie. This one is an off white base filled with the most delicate of silver shimmer. That shimmer just gives it a little glow, a little pearly finish, without any sort of brushstrokes. It also has the tiniest drop of gray pigment to it just softens it up from a stark white.
And the formula made me truly fall in love with this shade. I normally expect more uneven application with any sort of white, as it’s just known to be more finicky to formulate. But this was easily opaque in just 2 coats. It paints on so well and overall it’s just fantastic. If I had to suggest just one polish from this collection, it would be this one.
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The other more shimmery shade of this set is called ‘Always Morphing’. This one looks black when. it’s fully opaque, but is actually a very deep brown which you can see in the 1st coat of the application video. It has that same delicate silver shimmer, which contrasts slightly more against the deeper base but still gives it that same little glow and dimension.
This had another easy 2 coats, which I was expecting from such a deep color. There was just a tiny bit of unevenness left after the 1st coat which the 2nd coat easily covered.
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Last up we have ‘New Day, New Me’ and that’s what I say each and every morning, convinced I’ll somehow be a new person and accomplish all of the things I didn’t the previous day. This takes us back to that true cream finish, being a deep, medium blue shade. This one’s a touch more muted, making it bold yet still wearable all year long. It’s the Thursday to a bright cobalt blue’s Friday.
Like ‘Be Them All’ and ‘This and That’ above, this one felt a touch more squishy and you can really see that come out with the 1st coat. It’s more uneven, with patches of clear shine. But a 2nd coat comes in and made it fully opaque and even on the nails.
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Now we get on into the 4 special effects polishes. These are part of Essie’s Nail Art Studio line, which originally released last year in 2024. That drop contained 18 different polishes – 9 sheer jellies (which I reviewed here) and 9 “Special Effect” polishes (coming to the blog as well). These special effects toppers are all summarized as “fusing duochrome flips with holographic & light-reflecting finishes to take any manicure to another dimension”. I love marketing speak – but really they’re sheer topper shades that you can layer over any polish to change it on up.
So we aded 4 new shades to that line with the Be Them All collection. Essie does note that they can be both worn alone or layered up, so I showed both options with each shade. I mixed and matched them with the cream shades I was already swatching up – some combinations were more successful than others, but we’re always here to see a full range of a collection.
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This first one that starts us out is a different finish than the other 3, the one different friend of the group. It features larger iridescent flakes instead of a smoother shimmer. This is also the only one with a fully clear base, so it’s the one that won’t change whatever base you put it over, instead only adding some points of sparkle.
I found most of these toppers will contras and shine most over a darker base – but I was all about efficiency with these swatches, and so the deepest shade ‘Always Morphing’ is used only once later on. For this one, I layered it up over ‘Playful & Rebellious’, the first creme. Over a lighter base it can get a little more lost and almost make the polish look textured. Again I’m just showing options, and you can get a feel what it’ll look like on different colors still from this swatch.
Identity Illusion – Live Swatch
Does it look great built up on its own here with 3 coats? I would say no. But Essie said they can be worn on their own, so I’m here to try it out so you don’t have to. If you’re looking to instead use it for a “your nails but better” subtle look, I would suggest keeping it to 1-2 coats, as anymore after that can start to feel a little thick and goopy. Not every try is the prettiest and that’s okay.
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Now we get on into that trio of shimmers. First up we have ‘Fiercely Faceted’. This one features a very lightly tinted peachy base filled with a pink to orange shimmer. Over any sort of lighter color that tinted base will be more apparent, and you can see that from my middle nail that it can be more uneven in color depending on how thick of a coat you’re applying. If you layer this over a deeper base, that will be less noticeable, and that shimmer will really contrast and shine.
Like I said, maybe not every combination of colors I chose here is going to work, but its about research, I know you were still wondering.
Fiercely Faceted – Live Swatch
And this one builds up the best as a full look on it’s own. This is 3 thinner coats, and as you can see the nail line is fully covered and it’s opaque. That shift is much more apparent on the nails when it’s built up, going from that pink to a bright orange all the way to a gold at some angles and lighting. It’s so sparkly and just super gorgeous! I was impressed at how much I liked this one.
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Next up we have ‘Reality Reflection’. This one has a very lightly tinted blue jelly base filled with a fine blue and purple shimmer. The shimmer in this one falls right in between the size of ‘Fiercely Faceted’ above, being more fine, and ‘Stay Fluid’, with the color of it being more apparent. I used this as 1 coat over ‘New Day, New Me’ and it paired perfectly with that shade, giving it a gorgeous shine.
Reality Reflection – Live Swatch
It does build up to full opacity in 3 coats, but compared to the look above, it just looks less saturated and more muted. I prefer this one over a base to fully bring out its shimmer and look.
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Last but certainly not least, we have ‘Spectrum Shift’. This one has a very lightly black tinted base filled with a gorgeous bright teal shimmer. It has the same shimmer size as ‘Fiercely Faceted’, and I think it might hit the same issue as the others over a lighter color with that slightly tinted jelly base. This one is best over a deep base, and I’m glad this was the one I chose to go over ‘Always Morphing’ to really show off the contrast – you can also get an idea what those other 3 previous toppers will look like over a deep base. Over a dark base you can see how that sparkle just pops off the nail, and it’s a truly gorgeous topper to add.
You can really see that black base peeking through after it’s built up with 3 thin coats. Again, sure it’s a look and can be worn like this, but overall I’m preferring it as a topper.
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And that’s the set! Silliness in releasing aside, this was a fun little collection. You have creme lovers covered with those 6 shades, and then a new range of combinations and looks is opened up with those toppers. This is one where it’ll depend on your own preferences and what you’re looking for in a polish – but if I have to suggest just one shade, I absolutely loved ‘Stay Fluid’. It’ll be perfect for the upcoming summer!
Are you interested in any of these shades?
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Upcoming Posts
NYX x Minecraft collection • Clionadh Slickadelic collection • Wet N Wild Chameleon Chrome • OPI’m Dreaming Infinite Shine Spring 2025 • Holo Taco Deep End collection
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