Of Life and Lacquer

Whaaaat? Another Essie collection? Yes, there are two summer collections from Essie! Aren’t we lucky? (No, that was not sarcasm!) Coming off the neons brights from the previous collection, you might feel a little underwhelmed. Well, let me tell ya that while the colors may not be as bright, but they can still blow your socks off…or not. The Essie Peach Side Babe Collection for Summer 2015 is a collection of rather tame colors. I found myself not getting too excited as I sat down to swatch these, but I was pleasantly surprised by a few of the shade. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

I nearly had an aneurysm when I first laid eyes on Essie Private Weekend. In the bottle it looks like a gorgeous white with freaking sparkle. Yes, I went all googly eyed…until I put it on. Let me tell you that I didn’t find the formula that atrocious..it was no Zoya Genesis. While the first coat was super uneven, I found that three coats was enough to get it looking good. The tragic part about this polish is that the sparkle pretty much disappear on the nail. So sad.

I am really really liking Essie Chillato. What is a chillato? It sounds like clamato to me but when I wore this is reminded me of eating a huge cone of pistachio gelato as I walked the streets of Florence. The formula on this one was pretty typical of light colors like this: thin and patchy but it easily built up opacity with three coats.

Ahhh…my love of blues continue with Essie Salt Water Happy. Be warned that my camera makes this look a little more vibrant than it actually is. It’s a little less blue than what you see here, but it’s still gorgeous and it has a great formula–2 easy coats is what I am wearing above.

Look! Another beautiful blue. Essie Pret-a-Surfer should have been this collection’s namesake because it really steals the show. This one easily has the best formula of the entire collection–you could almost get away with one coat if you’re application is precise. Even better, there was no crazy staining. Score!

I don’t think peach colors look so hot on me, so Essie Peach Side Babe is definitely not one of my favorites. I lost my notes on application on this one, but I would remember if it was atrocious. I am pretty sure this was two coats.

And lastly we have Essie Sunset Sneaks. This one surprised me a bit because I am kind of an orange-red hater (omg, I remember how much i hated that color in my Crayola box!!!), but I actually really ended up liking this. The formula was ok on this one so no real problems to report.

I feel like I should like this collection more. I feel like I should go to the gym too, but that ain’t happening. I am feeling a little uninspired by this collection because the color are so mundane. Maybe I should have reviewed this before the brights, because now I’m feeling almost let down by their blandness. There are a few colors that I really love like Chillato, Pret-a-Surfer and Salt Water Happy so those would be my main recommendations. I really wish Private Weekend had fulfilled it’s delightful bottle promise, but alas, it was not meant to be. Anyway, I’m curious to hear what your take is on this collection so let me know in the comments below. Thank so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.