Reader Requests

Index: NARS Zulu
Middle: Illamasqua Rampage
Ring: BB Couture Green Goblin
Pinkie: Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle
None are dupes of each other.

Index and ring: OPI Pearls Night Out
Middle and pinkie: Color Club Front Row Diva

Index: Misa Dirty Sexy Money
Middle: Essie Greenport
Ring: Barielle Sweet Addiction
Pinkie: China Glaze For Audrey
None are dupes of each other.

Index: OPI I'm India Mood For Love
Middle: OPI That's Hot! Pink
Ring: OPI Strawberry Fields
Pinkie: OPI Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot!

Index: Barielle Swizzle Stix
Middle: Misa Right Here Now, No More Later
Ring: OPI Just Groovy
Pinkie: Zoya Yummy
All but Swizzle Stix are very, very similar to each other.


Index and pinkie: Essie Short Shorts 2008
Middle: Essie Flirty Fuchsia 2009
Ring: Essie Punchy Pink 2009


Index: Essie Perky Purple 2009
Middle: Essie Bermuda Shorts 2008
Ring: Essie Funky Limelight 2009
Pinkie: Essie Shorty Pants 2008

This year's Essie neons are *much* more neon and bright than last year's shades. In fact, compared next to each other, last year's neons don't even look neon.

Reader Requests

I am trying my best to catch up on my requests. Please be patient with me. Thank you :)



Essie Blueberry Crumb. Quite sheer, this is five coats.



Index and Ring: China Glaze Agent Lavender
Middle and Pinkie: OPI Done Out In Deco
Not dupes!


Index and Ring: OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not
Middle and Pinkie: OPI Overexposed In South Beach
They looked more similar to each other in the bottle. Not dupes, I'm afraid.



Dior Bleu Poison. AKA Poison Blue. Very dark, looks nearly black in most lighting.


CND Plexi Pink. Sheer hot pink tint with blue/purple iridescence. Makes a great layering polish, especially over blue.


China Glaze Yell-O-Neil. A medium yellow with glass fleck shimmer. Beautiful color, painful application.


NARS Orgasm. Very sheer, needed five coats.



China Glaze Celtic Sun. Neon highlighter yellow jelly. This is a pretty bad picture of it- it's closer to the color in the bottle. It is the color of a highlighter in real life. Very, very, very bright.


OPI Think Merry, Pink Merry! You may want to view this beauty full size. Shimmering frosty pink metallic with silver microglitter. Ulta Exclusive, holiday 2008.


OPI Breathe Life- sunlight. It lights up with blue sparkles in the sunlight.

Essie Summer 2009: NEONS!!!

I just got the new Essie neons and HOLY CRAP! These are BRIGHT!!!!!!!

First, a disclaimer and then the swatches. Since these polishes are neon, they don't photograph true to life. I have not yet found a way to capture the true glow of a neon polish. They do weird things to my camera. I have tried my best to get the colors accurate, but these will look much, much brighter in real life.

I'm trying out different types of lighting for these, and a couple of them turned out pretty good. Some are taken in the shade or in a dark room, so that's why my skin looks grey... No, I am not a zombie. Yet.

Edit:  Check out Siobhan's awesome swatches of this collection at The Nailphile!




Flirty Fuchsia. Neon pink. Sunlight pictures of neons never come out, I don't even know why I bothered. This pink has almost a touch of red to it- it's a deeper pink than Punchy Pink but it's just as bright!




Funky Limelight. Neon highlighter yellow. This is a true highlighter yellow. It's officially my new favorite yellow. This is retina-searingly bright, in fact, it gives me a bit of a headache just looking at it!




Perky Purple. Saturated neon purple. This might actually be my favorite type of color. No matter how many neon purples I own, I just never seem to get sick of them and always find myself wanting more! This is more of a deep purple in real life, but super bright. It's a lot like Essie Bermuda Shorts from last year's neons.




Punchy Pink. Uber-bright neon light pink. This is the lighter of the two pinks, and it seems more on the cool end of the spectrum. These pictures can not possibly portray how cool this polish is. It is ridiculous.


The formula on these is perfect. Thin, pigmented, smooth, totally flawless. I had zero application issues. These are right in line with the Zoya neons formula-wise. In fact, these are even thinner and smoother than the Zoyas, but not as opaque. They are slightly on the sheer side- one coat of polish lays down a lot of pigment but to build intensity you really need three coats. All of these pictures are three coats of polish with one coat of Seche Vite. Since it is the nature of neons to dry matte, you will need a topcoat if you want a glossy finish.

I am going to say it right now: Funky Limelight is the best neon yellow I own. It's the brightest, the smoothest, the least streaky and just plain incredible. Backup-worthy. I don't usually like to choose 'best' products because something better usually comes along, but no, this is THE. BEST. Period.

Overall, I am totally thrilled with these. Yes, these are pretty much your average neons, but they seem a lot brighter than most of the neons I own. The other thing that has me so excited about these is that, hello, they're ESSIE. Neons. Essie. Safe, sheer-pale-pink-nude Essie made these obscenely bright neons. Wrap your brain around that!

I would have liked to see a blue and green to round out the collection, but I can deal with just four awesome shades. I can't even see clearly because of the spots in my eyes from looking at these. It's like looking at the sun. Wicked.

Happy Easter!

Hey everyone, Happy Easter!

This isn't actually my Easter mani, but I'm not near a camera to take a picture of the real thing, and this looks pretty Easter-y to me!

It's actually a little preview of an upcoming series of posts I'm going to do about nail art.

I also wanted to let you know that I will be responding to emails and comments as soon as possible, I've been spending time with family over the holiday and haven't been able to respond.

Essie Love, Beverly Hills xx

Eek, I'm quite late in posting this! But hey, better late then never, right?

Essie Love, Beverly Hills xx

This is a vibrant glowing red with hints of gold shimmer that comes from the real 24 karat gold in the polish. Amazing formula and application, no running, dripping, streaking or bubbling. Dries quickly even without quick dry topcoat.

Here's Essie's official word on it:

"Trends come and go, but when it comes to making a statement, few brands know how to consistently pave the way for the fashion elite more than essie cosmetics—famous for its bold color palettes and trend-setting clientele, and Beverly Hills—a destination that has long dressed the movers and shakers of Hollywood. This coming awards season, essie and the Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau have teamed up to debut Love, Beverly Hills xx, an exclusive, limited-edition nail polish sure to land on every “Best Dressed” list from East to West, and turn heads along the way.

Love, Beverly Hills xx is an opulent red polish with an authentic shimmer thanks to the polish’s special ingredient: 24 karat pure gold. Just in time for Valentine’s Day and ready to twinkle on the red-carpet, Love Beverly Hills, xx has a subtle glow and perfectly compliments every skin tone.

“When I thought of the color red in Beverly Hills, I knew it had to dazzle,” said Essie Weingarten, founder and president, Essie Cosmetics, Ltd. “Love, Beverly Hills xx is what happens to red in Beverly Hills – pure 24 karat gold shimmer. We are thrilled to partner with the Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau to create this gorgeous color.”


Okay, as much as I love Essie, this line made me scratch my head a little- "famous for its bold color palettes".... I'm not sure that Essie is the company that comes to mind when I hear "bold color"! Haha! But, as we've all seen, the Queen of sheer pinks and nudes seems to be breaking out of the 'safe color' box a lot more lately. I sincerely hope that this continues to be the case with Essie, as I really have fallen in love with their new improved formula and flawless brushes. I'd love to see more colors like Mesmerize, Greenport, Bermuda Shorts, Sexy Divide and so on....

Anyway, getting off track here... This limited edition polish retails for $18 on essie.com but I have heard that you can get it for half price on other sites which I have not personally had any experience with so I can't vouch for them. But, if you don't want to pay full retail, shop around, it's out there :)

The Best Polish Names Ever, Part 1.

There are polishes in my collection that I bought for only one reason: They had an awesome name. Most of them I don't even wear, but I can't help but pick them up every now and then and feel happy, or confused or entertained or... something.

The first polish I can remember buying for the name alone is this little gem from Essie....

Essie Meet Balls.

Yes, the name of this polish is actually Meet Balls. I don't really understand the reasoning behind giving this polish such an awesome and bizarre name, but I am thankful they did it. Cause it's awesome.

So, after you Meet Balls, do you Shake Hands With Beef?

The color of this polish isn't so bad, either. It's not a color that I would normally buy for myself or wear, but the freaky name made me give it a chance that I might not give to a polish with a more normal name.

It's sort of a warm reddish-mauve with gold shimmer. I know, right? Reddish mauve? Ugh. But it just looks so flattering on my nails! I can't deny that I actually like the way this looks on me.

So, bonus.

I'll be periodically posting some of my favorite polishes with wacky names, but I want to know... Have you ever bought a polish just for the name? Do you have any polishes with bizarre names? We might even have some of the same favorites!

Essie Bridal Collection 2008

I've been meaning to swatch this collection for MONTHS, but my nails are always so stained that I haven't been able to until now. For some reason my nails are really nice and white and pretty right now... I haven't done anything different! Maybe it's from all the swatching I've done this week. Who knows. I'm not complaining.

Anyway, just in case you like these polishes and don't want to read my less-than-glowing opinion of them, I'll post the pictures first and my review second :)



Blushing Bride. A sheer milky cream with a bit of a pink tint.


Cloud Nine. A sheer bright white jelly.



Happily Ever After. A sheer milky shade.



No Pre-Nup. A sheer pink jelly.


Tie The Knot. An off-white cream with a hint of beige.


True Love. A sheer peachy-pink jelly.


Now for my review.


Honestly, I HATE this collection. Sorry sheer-lovers. I just can't do it!

First of all, I never wear these types of colors so they are way outside of my comfort zone. They're not my style, not my personality, and really, really uninteresting to me. I'll go so far as to say that these polishes depress me. When I look down at my hands while wearing these, it's like seeing someone else's hands attached to my body. Freaky.

Second, what you're looking at is SIX COATS OF POLISH. No, I'm totally serious, six freaking coats of polish are on my nails here and they're not even close to being opaque. I do not like to see my nails through my polish. If I were to do only two or three coats of these polishes, it would pretty much look like I'm wearing nothing on my nails. I just don't see the point. With foundation it's one thing- wearing makeup to look like you're not wearing makeup. But my nails? This look is not for me, that's for sure.

Third, if your nails are even the least bit yellow or stained, these polishes will look like total crap. There is no hiding stains with these polishes. Any little bit of damage (like those white lines from where I slammed my finger in a cabinet) or discoloration will be glaringly obvious. These polishes require naturally flawless nails to wear, otherwise it just enhances and draws attention to any flaws that are present.

The colors are boring, plain, demure, uninteresting, natural and just all around too feminine for me. This means that a lot of women probably love these to death, and more power to them. If you like these colors, awesome for you. Thousands of them exist in the world and you can easily find something to suit your tastes. For me, they are the essence of frustration. When I go to the store looking for a cool new polish in a fun color, all I can find are hundreds of sheer pinks!! Sheer pinks are the bane of my existence, if you haven't noticed. Hah!

Okay, okay. I know I'm being harsh. But hey, this is my blog!

I guess there's one color I like from this collection. Cloud Nine.

Cloud Nine is really pretty. It's a bright white jelly that brightens your nails and makes them look very clean. I think it would be a good base for other colors and I'm sure it would make a really natural looking french manicure. If it wasn't so sheer, I might actually wear it. It's soft enough to not look retro, super bright but not stark and chalky looking! It is a really nice white jelly.

Why do all 'bridal' collections have to be so plain? Not every bride on earth wants plain nails on her wedding day. I sure didn't- I wore glitter! Holo glitter! OPI Paris Couture For Sure and Orly Love Each Other, to be exact. I wish someone would release a funky bridal collection for people like me. Seriously, not every bride wants to look identical and not every bride wants the stereotypical chunky fake pink-and-whites that plague the pages of bridal magazines and posters inside salons.

I can see that there are plenty of situations that call for these types of polishes. Job interviews, perhaps. Very conservative offices, sure. Jobs where you're not allowed to wear polish but want to do it anyway without drawing attention to it, totally.

Not all collections of sheer pinks are boring and plain. In fact, there is a collection of sheer pinks and whites that I absolutely love and would totally wear (and have actually worn)! I'll post about that later this week. Light feminine colors can have character and still be pretty (and not need six coats to wear).

*sigh*

Essie Summer 2009: The North Fork Collection

This is the first installment of Essie's summer 2009 releases, and I am quite excited about it for two reasons:

This collection consists of all blues. This is Essie we're talking about. Yes, BLUES!

This may be a sign of things to come- Essie doing blues? Three of them? What other cool colors does Essie have planned? I hope no more sheer pinks and nudes like usual!


I'll get to my review in a moment, but you can also check out reviews for Essie North Fork at The Nailphile, and here at The Crystal Files.

One more thing I'll say about this collection before I post the pictures- These colors resemble the three turquoise shades from the 'mystery' imaginary collection than they do the ones in the press release. YES!!!!



Greenport, full sunlight and indoors. A relaxed yet vibrant turquoise creme. Can you believe this is an Essie polish?! It's so hot! It has some similarities to Misa Dirty Sexy Money and Barielle Sweet Addiction, but it's not a duplicate of them. I hoped that I would see a color like this in OPI's South Beach collection, but I'm content with having it from Essie.



Shelter Island, sunlight and indoors. A bright, cheerful sky blue. Another shocker! A bright blue, I almost can't believe my eyes. Essie did a bright blue. Hallelujah! I love this color a lot, but it is very similar to a lot of other bright blues like Barielle Swizzle Stix, OPI Just Groovy, Zoya Yummy, Misa something-with-a-really-long-name-I-can't-remember.... But still, it's hot and you won't hear me complaining about another beautiful blue.




Sag Harbor, sunlight and indoors. A light, slightly greyed pastel blue shimmer. I don't think I have very many colors like this. It is a little similar to some of Essie's discontinued blues like St. Barth's Blue, but at the moment I can't think of another color that looks like this. The name Sag Harbor always makes me laugh. There is this clothing brand called Sag Harbor that has styles mainly geared for the retirement-age crowd and I always thought that was a funny name for the brand. I never realized it was the name of a place. Sag Harbor... tee hee.


The formula on these is fan-freakin'-tastic. All are opaque in two coats, no streaks, no sheerness, no bubbles, no runny globby three-free formula, NOTHING! Just pure smooth creamy pigmented polish. They dry super fast even without topcoat- this could be due to the fact that the polish doesn't require more than two thin coats or it could be the formula. Either way, I love it. Three-free formulas seem to be improving.

From the moment I saw the first promo image of these I knew I'd like them, but I didn't think I'd like them as much as I do. Like I mentioned before, these resemble the set of blue imaginary polishes more than the 'real' image from the press release. Observe:


This is the image from the press release, which is the 'official' correct image from Essie.




This is the mistake image that was sent in error along with the press release.


See what I mean?? It was the imaginary ones after all!!! Now if they would only release the trio with the green, golden-white and yellow....

By the way, Shelter Island, Sag Harbor and Greenport are all limited edition shades which are officially available starting in April and will retail for $9.

Update on Essie collections - 'Mystery' Collection and North Fork

Okay, here we go.

I think I may have caused a minor frenzy yesterday by posting images of six beautiful and untraditional Essie colors. Here's what happened!

I received a press release with images for the North Fork collection (the three light blues), but at the bottom of the email, two additional images were attached. I posted them because they looked like a collection to me- six shades, all within a summery, beach-like color scheme and they came directly from Essie. However, I have received confirmation from Essie that the attached images were in fact an error and are not representative of actual polishes.

I was really, really excited for that 'mystery' collection too. I mean, SUPER excited. I am very sad that it doesn't really exist. But, don't fret! The word from Essie is this: North Fork will not be the only summer release. They have a couple more things up their sleeve for this summer, so we might get something almost as good! We just have to wait and see, and you can be sure that I'll update you whenever I get new information.

So, here's the lowdown in case you didn't read any of this:

The 'Mystery' collection I posted below- NOT REAL.
Here's the link in case you missed it:
http://www.scrangie.com/2009/03/essie-mystery-collection-possible.html

The North Fork collection I posted below- REAL. The picture in my post is correct, and it will be released in April. Three limited edition blues.
Link:
http://www.scrangie.com/2009/03/essie-summer-2009-north-fork-collection.html



I'm sorry to disappoint everyone, I am disappointed as well! This is only the beginning of the summer collections this year, and I am confident that this will be a summer of GREAT polishes!

Essie 'Mystery' Collection -EDITED: Imaginary!!

NEW UPDATE: Essie has let me know that the images received below were an error and do NOT represent actual polishes! I think I may cry, I was really getting my hopes up for this collection! Sorry to say that the collection in this post does not actually exist.

EDIT: I'm still waiting for Essie to confirm or deny the existence of these colors, but I'll be sure to let you know the minute I hear something! This post is currently 100% speculation, so I wouldn't get too excited about this 'collection' just yet! I certainly hope these colors are real and not just a mistake sent in an email :)

I also received these images from Essie with no accompanying information. No names, no release date, no collection information...

My best guess is that this is the Summer 2009 full collection. You know how Essie sometimes releases a mini collection like the Neon Shorts or Cool Click and then does a full collection at the same time? This *might* be it, but I really don't know!

If I get any concrete information on this collection I'll be sure to post it. But, for now, CHECK THIS OUT!!!! IT'S FREAKING AMAZING!!





I can't believe my eyes. Essie... blue, green, yellow??? Maybe they saw how much of a success Mesmerize was and decided to branch out from the usual pale pinks?

I am excited!!!

Essie Summer 2009: The North Fork Collection

Here's a quick look at Essie's upcoming collection of blues, The North Fork Collection.

This is what Essie says about it:

"Within the soft palette of hues that floated down this season's runways, one color stood out among the rest... blue. Dreamy blues reminiscent of bright open skies and deep welcoming waters lead Essie founder Essie Weingarten to create The North Fork Collection - named for the quaint vacation villages perched around the waters of Long Islan's East End.

"The new nail colors remind me of the most beautiful blues that surround The North Fork," says Weingarten.
"Tranquil yet playful, the colors cross over in fashion and nature."

The nail colors in The North Fork Collection capture the essence of blue. The fashion-or azure fingertips lounging under the sun.

Greenport, Sag Harbor and Shelter Island, each named after areas around The North Fork and Long Island Sound, are an homage to the beauty of nature."

GREENPORT - Dreamy aquamarine paradise

SAG HARBOR - Cool silver blue

SHELTER ISLAND - Sky blue radiance

Wow... Essie, is that really you??? A collection of all blues??? Rock on!

Red Glitter

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day! I did. I ended up keeping my Nicole I've Got The Power topped with Love Your Life mani from my previous post. I love it so much, I'm still wearing it. This polish wears like iron- I did my mani with no basecoat or topcoat and three days later it barely has visible tipwear and is still smooth and shiny. I'm impressed!

I was thinking about doing a red glitter manicure for Valentine's Day. I am not really a red person, but I love red glitter. There's something about it that's just so pretty and interesting.

One of my favorites is actually a Maybelline polish: Red Comet.




Isn't it pretty? You might need to view it in full size to see the glitter.


Another favorite of mine is Color Club Ruby Slippers:



Not to be confused with another lovely red glitter, Essie Ruby Slipper:




Most red glitter polishes seem to come out around Christmas time, but this one was made for Halloween:



Fright Night Claw Polish Spellbinding Top Coat in Voodoo.

Some of my most favorite red glitter polishes take it to the next level with holographic glitter instead of red glitter in a red base.


Ulta Jingle Bell Rock.



L'Oreal Bijou Crystals B. Daring.


Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Golden Tourmaline. Technically it's a straight holo and has no glitter, but it's sparkly so it counts, right?


These are just a few of the red glitter polishes in my collection. They're just so beautiful, I can't resist them! They look like fire on your nails, or glimmering rubies. They're fascinating. If you're like me and not really into plain red, you might feel differently about red glitter.