Sunday Funday Archives - Of Life and Lacquer

Remember when I started crying because I didn’t find the new Essie Summer Collection? Well, today I am crying because I did find it. Ok, I won’t be so dramatic, and I will leave the polish commentary for below. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I first saw the promo pictures for the Essie Summer Collection. I was picturing brightly painted nails and flashy pedicures for a hot beach day–ok, not really, but I was still really really looking forward to it. I called my nail guy this morning, and he informed me that they had the new collection so I rushed over there after work to pick up a set. As soon as I got home, I immediately proceeded to swatch them since I just couldn’t help myself…womp womp. Let’s dive right into the swatches, and I will tell you what I thought of each polish.

The color of Rock The Boat is really pretty. I don’t think I have too many similar blues and the shimmer really makes it somewhat unique in my collection. Too bad the formula spread like diarrhea. Seriously. The formula on this is atrocious. Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but I found the formula so incredibly hard to work with. It was super streaky and I did my best to apply super thin coats and left plenty of time in between to make sure that I didn’t create any bald spots. Well, what you see in my swatches is 4 coats and it still looks uneven. Major sadness.

Why does Essie always have to throw in some lilac/purple color like Full Steam Ahead in every single collection? While the shimmer in this is nice and the polish color is pretty, it’s so yawn-worthy. Additionally, the formula on this polish was just as bad as on Rock The Boat. This is also 4 thin coats and I am not too happy with the end result.

Sunday Funday is a color that I imagined as a perfect pedicure color. The formula on this one was also streaky, but I felt that it covered a little better than the previous two polishes. I still wasn’t very happy with it even though I really like the color!

All I could think of when I saw The More The Merrier was pea soup. The fancy people call this chartreuse, but I just call it radioactive pea soup color because that’s how I roll. This polish was a little easier to work with, and I felt it leveled out a lot better than the previous three. I applied 2 thickish coats here.

The Girls Are Out (OMG how does Essie know about my UPS man mishap??) is a pretty color that I don’t find too unique but the formula was everything that I had hoped the other polishes had been like. It was smooth, very pigmented and leveled out perfectly after two coats. As soon as I applied the first coat, I knew this was going to be a winner.

And here is the very Naughty Nautical. This is the clear winner out of this 6 polish collection. The color is to die for. The shimmer adds that extra something to it AND the formula was immaculate. This is by far my favorite polish from this collection because of the color and formula. I just wish all the other polishes had been as easy to apply. I applied 2 coats for the swatches above.

Well, overall I am kind of disappointed with this collection. I’ve read a few reviews already which make me feel like I’m maybe doing something wrong with these polishes since they didn’t seem to have too many application issues. Is it me again? Are you there, God? It’s me, Cynthia. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? Another thing that I noticed is that the brushes on a few of these bottles seemed “fluffier” than usual so I think that also threw me off a bit. To sum up my feelings on this collection in a few words: blog sale. Yep, these are all going on my blog sale so check it out before they are all snatched up. I’m really curious to see more reviews for this collection because I keep wondering if I’m the problem (kind of like with the China Glaze Summer Neons!). It’s really too bad because I really do like Naughty Nautical, The Girls Are Out and The More The Merrier–those are my recommendations if you’re going to be getting any colors from this collection. And lastly, I did pick up a mini set to give away to one lucky reader. Make sure that you enter for your chance to win this mini set by using the rafflecopter widget below. As usual, this is open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please let me know what you think of this collection! Good luck and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Holy Jebus, I’ve had these polishes for a few weeks, and I finally am getting around to swatching them. I picked up 9 of the 12 colors initially, but I decided to swatch these 6 colors to start with because I bought a second set of these colors for my latest giveaway. I wish I had gotten around to swatching these polishes earlier, but things were kind of nutso because of my never-ending flu and all my work troubles. Additionally, I had all that unfortunate damage to my hands because of cleaning products so that definitely derailed my swatching plans. In any case, I am glad that my hands have completely recovered, and I am now at a decent nail length where I don’t feel self-conscious about my nubs. Are you ready to see the first part of my China Glaze Avant Garden Collection swatches? Yes? Ok, here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep Calm, Paint On Swatch was one of the colors that I was most interested in when I first saw this collection. While I still love this steely blue-green color, it was streak-a-rific. I applied 3 medium coats here to finally get it to look decent. The formula also seemed thin.

When I first saw Fade Into Hue, I wondered how it compared to China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. I think it is a pretty color but not that unique. Again, the formula seemed a little thin but I applied three thin coats which gave me pretty good coverage.

Tart-y For The Party is a color that I love–all 5 billion versions of it that are in my melmers. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this type of bright lilac colors and will probably continue to gravitate towards them. Tart-y For The Party was definitely more pigmented and thicker than the previous polishes so I only needed 2 coats here.

I refuse to use the same punctuation for this polish that CG used. Mimosas Before Manis has been getting a lot of attention. It’s one of those colors that you either hate or you love. Personally, I can’t get enough of peachy/orange/coral type polishes especially when they have such a beautiful glowy shimmer like this one. The formula was a little on the thick side and VERY pigmented. I applied three thin coats here.

Ahhhhh…Fancy Pants. My dear, sweet Fancy Pants. You are my favorite. This polish had the best formula of the 6 colors I swatched today: super pigmented with a good consistency. I love it. That is all I have to say about that.

Sunday Funday is such a beautiful, bright and saturated creme. I have to be honest–as much as I love glitter and shimmer and all those other finishes, there is nothing better than a rich and glossy creme. This one also had a pretty fantastic formula. If I had been a little more careful, I could have gotten away with one coat!

Now, if you want a chance to win your very own set of these 6 colors, make sure that you enter my current giveaway. There are only 5 more days left to enter so don’t miss your chance. The set I am giving away is brand new polishes–all purchased by me for you: my wonderful readers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So what do you think of the first half of my China Glaze Avant Garden Collection swatches? Do you like these as much as I do? I know the formula was a little tricky on some of these, but I’ll forgive them for that since the colors are just so pretty. Let me know what you think…especially if you’ve already purchased some. I’ll be putting up these up on my blog sale (because I may or may not have purchased back ups–I’ll never confess) in case you’re interested so check it out. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Of Life and Lacquer

Where acetone wishes and lacquer dreams come true…

Tag: Sunday Funday

Essie Summer Collection 2013

China Glaze Avant Garden Collection Part 1