I’ve got to warn you before I get started: I’m feeling off. Basically, I am feeling a little stressed out about a variety of things and that stress is carrying over to every area of my life. Last night I went on a binge trying to get rid of tons of polishes I never use so I added A LOT of stuff to my blog sale. Thank you to all the ladies who have purchased from me already–I was surprised by how much I sold in the first few hours. I’m going to try to not be such a weirdo at least while I write up this post. Deep breath…you can do it! On Saturday, I told myself that I needed to get up really early on Sunday in order to do some swatching so of course I went to bed at like 2 am which made it really hard to be up by 7:00 but I did it. Yay me! The first collection I wanted to tackle is the one I am sharing with you today. The Essie Hide & Go Chic Collection for Spring 2014 looked really promising in the promo shots so I was super excited to get my hands on it so early. Is it worth all my initial excitement? Let’s take a look.
I really, really love colors like Essie Spin The Bottle. Unfortunately, they don’t really love me. I think this looks a little gross on me and makes my skin look uber-yellow. I do have a lot of yellow undertones, but this is just too much for me. It is a rather sheer nude color, so expect multiple coats if you want a more opaque look like my swatches above. This was 4 thin coats. Nope. Not liking it.
I don’t find Essie Romper Room too original as it is just a very pale pink, but I do like how it turned out on me. Again, the formula is pretty thin and streaky which I was expecting considering the shade, but it’s always a bit disappointing, you know?
When I first saw the promo pics, I was so excited about Essie Fashion Playground because it appeared to be super fun an shimmery. Hello shimmer? Where are you? Oh, you’re one of those disappearing on the nail shimmers that we all love–said no one, ever. Despite the fact that the shimmer doesn’t show up at all, who doesn’t love this type of greens? Besides, it’s perfect for Spring. Again, I found the formula very streaky and disappointing.
The curse of my blue hating camera strikes again. I think I have mentioned that my camera has serious issues photographing blues accurately, so Essie Truth Or Flare is a little more dusty than what it looks like here. I thought this was going to be very opaque but it ended up being not very pigmented. It felt like a jelly polish in that it applied smoothly but looked kind of glossy and squishy. Personally, I like it even though it wasn’t as pigmented as I had hoped.
And here we have the collection’s namesake: Essie Hide & Go Chic.What a pretty blue. Out of all the shades in this collection, this one had the best formula. I was afraid that it would stain, but luckily I had no staining issues with it. Again, the color is a little off in my pictures because it has the slightest bit of green in it that makes it look somewhat teal. I applied 2 coats for my swatches above.
And lastly we have Essie Style Hunter which also had a pretty nice formula. This polish made me think of a juicy ripe watermelon and reminded me of traditional Summer colors. I think that Style Hunter and Hide & Go Chic seemed a little too pigmented for a traditional Spring collection, but I rather enjoyed seeing them here. Maybe the contrast of these bolder colors against the other pastels in the collection made them stand out even more because they ended up being my two favorite shades.
Well, once again I’m going to be a party pooper and say that I am not that impressed by this collection. The colors are ok…some traditional and some not so traditional Spring colors. The lighter shades had streaky formulas which I was already expecting while the 2 dark shades were super pigmented and easy to work with. Overall, I can’t say that this is a “must-have” for me so I’ll be placing these in my blog sale in case you’re interested in them. For me, the Resort Fling Collection was a dud and now this one didn’t even manage to get me mildly excited. Oh well. Summer is just around the corner, right? That’s when all the super juicy colors come out and I get all obsessed with them all. So tell me what you think: Am I being too hard? Am I too hard to please? Please chime in as I would love to hear what you think of this collection. Thank so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.
Some great shades for Spring here! Your swatches are so flawless!
Lisa N. recently posted..Beyond the Nail Swatches and Review + Nail Art
I feel like the cobalt blue is being a bit overdone right now. I’ve seen so many of the same color in a lot of recently collections. All of these polishes look absolutely stunning on your skintone!
I totally agree – nothing too great in the collection.
Plus, if you are going to do creme pastels, and charge $7.00 a bottle, I think the formula needs to be easy to apply. I don’t mind needing to apply four coats for a good application when I pay $2 for sinful colors, but I expect better from Essie.
I really like Style Hunter, which surprises me because I don’t normally care for red colors very much. The “watermelon’ aspect to it is what strikes me the most. The minty color and the light blue color both look like colors that Essie has released in the past – I wonder how much different they are than the similar colors in their Resort Collection?
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Thanks for the great swatches! All the colors are great, and I even like that first color on your nails. Too bad the formula isn’t easy to work with. I’m not very goos at painting my nails, so if the nail polish requires too much efforts, its not for me.
Endless Summer recently posted..Empties / January
I think the cobalt is the only one I like,. Especially since you say the formula is good,.
Agreed, nothing special but I’m still aimlessly drawn to the nudes and baby blues/pinks even though I have a million and one of them. Le Sigh.
I still like Spin the Bottle and Romper Room on you.
Fashion Playground was the one I was most interested in, but…eh.
These are way underwhelming. Add in a crappy formula…pass!
All of your other comments so far have been so complimentary…I feel like a curmudgeonly party pooper!
don’t be to hard on yourself hun, ups and downs come and go, just like nailpolish collections 😉
these are seriously great swatches, it s*cks that the shimmer won’t show, not this collection just looks a little like an imitation of previous spring collections so I can skip most of them, well at least my wallet is happy to hear that.
Crystaliciousss recently posted..Collistar Ti Amo Italia spring/summer collection
I always laugh when I read your “bad” reviews, because your nails hypnotize me and I want things, even though my rational brain says “JUST SAY NO!”. You make these look awesome. I agree, they are a little “meh”, but if I weren’t a nail polish ho, I’d be all up in this shizz. You make that first one (the nude) look awesome…your skin doesn’t look too yellowy with it at all! JMO 😉 It seems too close to the nude from the Resort collection (or every collection they put out) to warrant me buying it. Overall, yeah…not too exciting. Somehow Essie bottles make me want them though..I like collecting them. Sigh. What’s wrong with me?? I hope you feel better soon <3
I’m liking that pink one but I’m not here for streaky polishes anymore haha. That electric blue must be the answer to the terrible “Bouncer It’s Me” they released last year (and I stupidly purchased). Yeah, not really bothered to buy any of these!
Erica
http://abundanceoferica.blogspot.ca
Erica F. recently posted..Latest Netflix Love: The Fosters
So true !! Somehow I have noticed how the Essie colors turn out different than the color in the bottle. The collections promo pictures seemed so promising 🙁 I might pass this collection ..
The lighter shades I love but no man, 4 coats, that’s madness and disappointing. Sommer glad I can’t get Essie because I wouldn’t want to waste my money
Your swatches are AMAZING! I bookmarked your page. Thank you for the swatches. I’m interested in a couple of them. I just got Resort Collection today so I’m putting my polish buying on the back burner for a bit. Thanks again!
Nicole recently posted..Cooking with spices and herbs.
Thank you for swatching. The promo pics of this collection had me so excited but the swatches look nothing like them. So disappointing. That said your swatches are beautiful. 🙂
I only like the nude shade, I see it works with a darker skin tone which is important for me as I have never been on the paler side. I am hoping other colors are some kind of a transition to Essie real summer collection because if this is all they will offer, I think I’ll pass.
NailCentric recently posted..Essie Good to Go fast drying top coat review
I am definitely looking forward to Summer collections from all the brands.
Wow! I love them all!!!!
I’m with you. This collection does nothing for me. I like how “truth or flame” photographed but seeing as it isn’t the true color I won’t waste my time on anything in this collection.
Krissy recently posted..M.I.A.
i quite like this collection myself. I have just purchased Hide & Go Chic, Fashion Playground and Truth or Flare. Right now I am currently wearing hide & go chic, and I must say you are right about your camera and blue polishes. This polish is not at all as it seems in your pictures…a cobalt blue. This is not at all a cobalt blue, but rather more of a denim blue. I am going to have to get Romper Room and Style Hunter next. Thanks 🙂
Am I the only who instantly thought “Avenue Maintain” from last years Spring collection in comparison to “Truth or Flare” or “Mesmorize” from Spring 2009 in comparison to Hide & Go Chic?
Your swatches are amazing. I think all the colors look fantastic on you. You can totally pull off the nudes. It’s fab on you!
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Hi, What topcoat did you use?
I use Seche Vite almost exclusively.
Hey I´m lookin at a video on youtube and I think this girl took your pictures, watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqA1Xz9i5W8
Kinga recently posted..New in
I LOVE “Romper Room”!!! I simply LOVE IT!
I love those airy shades of delicate pink, which are so soft and feminine. Streaky sucks, but if applied patiently, omg i just fall in love (Self-love 😉 w/ my own nails xo