Essie Resort 2013 Collection

Hey Everyone!!  I hope you all had a nice weekend!  I did.  I spent some time with wonderful friends in beautiful Columbus, Ohio!  :)

I really like Essie Polish.  I don't do many posts of them, but when I do, I'm usually pretty impressed with.  I have discovered something recently-- Essie polishes seem to last the longest on my nails.  They just don't chip as much or as easily as any other brand.  So, I definitely won't hesitate to grab any color that catches my eye from Essie.  Today I have Essie's Resort 2013 Collection to share with you..

Come Here!:

Come Here! is another summer coral (we seem to be seeing a lot of them).  This one has strong red tones and is really bright.  I love this color!  The pictures above were taken after I wore Come Here! for two days.  It has a great formula and full opacity was reached with two coats.  This one is my favorite from this collection!!

Under Where?:

Under Where? is a soft lilac cream that leans strongly toward pink.  The formula wasn't the greatest with this one.  It's not really a true cream.  I was a bit watery.  I used three coats in the above photo.  The finished look is nice, I just really like a more "creamy" formula.

In The Cab-ana:

In The Cab-ana is another one of those light blue creams we've been seeing a lot of lately (ie: OPI Where's My Czechbook?, Zoya Rocky, Essie Where's My Chauffeur?)  I did a comparison post that I'll post below.  In The Cab-ana leans a little toward turquoise.  It's very pretty, but very familiar.  Pictured above is two coats..

This pic isn't the greatest. It's from my iPhone, but here's a comparison pic :)

First Timer:

First Timer is a mint green cream.  This formula and I didn't get along too well.  My bottle seemed to have "chunks" of something in it.. dried polish, maybe?  You can see some of the "chunks" on my nails.  It's weird.  I've see other reviews that rave about First Timer's formula, so maybe I just got a bad bottle.  I'm not a huge fan of this color.  Two generous coats are pictured above.

**There you have the Essie 2013 Resort Collection.  Do you have any from this collex?  Which is your fave??  By far, mine is Come Here!

Have a wonderful week!!  :)

Essie Where's My Chauffeur? and Leading Lady

Happy Sunday Everyone!  It's a beautiful day here in northeast Ohio.. sunny and 70!  I can't believe it!!  It's not going to last, though.. 40's the rest of the week, but I'll take it!!  :)

Today I have two polishes from Essie's Winter Collection.. Where's My  Chauffeur? and Leading Lady.  I almost bought Butler Please, but I have that one on a wishlist, so I was good and resisted. :)

Where's My Chauffeur?:

I absolutely love Where's My Chauffeur?!  It's not like it's really unique, but the formula is just perfect!!  It applies so easily & evenly and is opaque with two coats!  I love cremes and this one is my new favorite aqua cream!  I can't wait to water marble with this AND it makes great "undies" for a lot of glitter toppers!! (I have it in this post over The Polish Bar's Shining Teal)  Where's My Chauffeur is my favorite polish from any winter collection so far!

Leading Lady:

Leading Lady has a crimson red jelly base packed with tons of tiny red glitter. I have two coats followed by topcoat in the above pics.  I really could have used another coat of Leading Lady and topcoat is a must as it dries dull and gritty.  Leading Lady is pretty, but just OK.

**Do you own any polishes from Essie's Winter 2012 Collection?  Which are your favorites?**

Weekly Water Marble 8/23/12

Hey Everyone... It's time for my "Weekly Water Marble."  This one was totally spur-of-the-moment because I originally planned on using the OPI Neons, but they totally did not work for me. (I couldn't even create a bullseye with them).  I ran to my helmer and grabbed three Essies and I really like the outcome..

An Ice Cream-y Essie Marble:

I started with the white base I originally had on for the OPI Neons.  Since they didn't work, I marbled with all Essies: Hot Coco, Turquoise & Caicos, and French Affair.  The results are a "Chocolate, Mint, Strawberry Marble". :)  These Essies were really easy to marble with and.... look, NO BUBBLES!!  I usually get a few of those darn bubble spots.

**I hope you enjoyed this week's marble.  I'll be back next week with another...  Any color combos you'd like to see??  I'm running out of ideas.**

Fishtail/Chevron Essie Mani

The weekend is here... yay!!   I have my first attempt at a chevron/fishtail mani to share with you.  I followed this post/tutorial by Sarah at Chalkboard Nails.  Sarah does some super-duper awesome nail art and now she's starting to post video tutorials on youtube.   She makes everything look so simple.  Let's see how well I did..

An Essie Fishtail/Chevron:

No too bad for my first try.  I used all Essies for this mani.  I started with two coats of  Fear or Desire (orange), after that dried, I used  two coats of  Mojito Madness (mint), and finally three coats of Off the Shoulder (Pink).  Off the Shoulder probably wasn't the wisest choice for the final coat because it's a lot more sheer than the other two and the layers were getting thick toward the end of the manicure, but I really love this combo of colors.  Essie has been impressing me lately with their "less bland" newer colors.

Just for the heck of it, I added Essie's Matte About You the second day I wore this mani.  I like this look also :)

Thanks again to Sarah at Chalkboard Nails for the awesome tutorial.  I'm going to try this ruffle manicure next!!  :)

Have a wonderful weekend.. I know I will!  My husband and I are celebrating our 5th Wedding Anniversary today <3

Weekly Water Marble 6/21/12

Happy Summer Everyone!!  Today is the first full day of summer!  I love summertime.. I wish it could last forever, but sadly, here in Ohio we probably only have three more months of nice weather..

It's time for another water marble..  I did a swirl marble once before and really liked how it turned out, so I decided to try another..

An Essie Swirl Water Marble:

Kinda appropriate for the first day of summer??  I looks like waves.  I used all Essies for this marble.  I started with a base of She's Picture Perfect.. and for the actual marble I used She's Picture Perfect, No More Film, Turquoise and Caicos and Go Overboard.  The polishes worked nicely together.  Like I've said before, using polishes of the same brand for a marble seems to work best for me.  I don't think mixing these with OPIs or CG would have turned out so great.  Essie's formula is thicker.  It's kinda reminds me of Zoya's formula.  I'll have to try Essies with Zoyas sometime and see how well they mix.

Enjoy your Thursday!!

Candy Mani/Glitter Sandwich

Friday's here and I have a fun mani to share with you today.  Whether you call them a "Glitter Sandwich" or a "Candy Mani", either way.. they're fun!!  The concept is basically covering a glitter with a jelly-based polish so you can still see the glitter glistening through the jelly..

Candy Mani/Glitter Sandwich:

middle finger doesn't have the jelly finish here

For this mani I used Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect "Air" as the base, Candeo Colors "Dive Bomb" as the glitter middle, and Essie "Marshmallow" as the jelly topcoat.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Essie.. Navigate Her

Just a quick post on St. Patrick's Day for you..  I posted my Shamrock Water Marble the other day in honor of the holiday, but I did wear a pretty lighter green earlier this week by Essie called Navigate Her.  This polish is from Essie's 2012 Spring Collection called "Navigate Her" also.

Essie Navigate Her:

direct sunlight

Navigate Her is a pretty Pistachio Creme Green.  I love Essie's brushes because they are smaller and easier to work with for me.  Above pictures are two coats of Navigate Her followed by China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.  This green is unique to my collection.  I don't own many mint greens, so Navigate Her will come in handy often.  :)

Enjoy the Holiday Weekend! :)  I know I will!  The weather is gorgeous!!

***Don't forget to enter my 700 Follower Giveaway!!***

Girly Girl Challenge Day 3- Delicate and Elegant

Today I have my third post of the Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge.  "Something Delicate and Elegant-- Adorn yourself with a lovely pattern, color, or technique".  I've seen a lot of bloggers post plaid nail art, so I decided to give it a try.  I followed these steps from stephscloset, but used different colors..

Here are my plaid nails:

I wish my nails were more "flat".  You really can't see the plaid design "head on" because my nails are tiny and curved, but I'm proud of myself for keeping a steady hand while applying the black lines.  For this mani, I used Essie Lovie Dovie for the pink base, Essie First Dance for the red stroke down the middle, and black L.A. Colors nail art lacquer for the plaid design.  Pink, black, and red are my faves!!

Check back Friday for Day 4 of the Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge!

Here are some other awesome bloggers participating: 

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish

Kelly of PolishEnthusiast

Danielle of Lacquer Lover

Elly of Polishable

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails

Kate of This Charming Kate

Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails

Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Emily of The Lacquerologist

Jess of LuvMyLacquer

Tressa of O' Natur Nail 

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Skeptical Saturday Mani.. Essie Dive Bar

I chose Essie's Dive Bar for this week's Skeptical Saturday Mani..  I thought I would love the color on my nails because it's such a pretty shimmery blue/black with a hint of purple in the bottle, but after I applied Dive Bar, I wasn't so sure.. What do you think??

Essie Dive Bar:

Eh, this one looks prettier in the bottle.  I think I like Essie for their wonderful lighter creme polishes, but I just haven't been too crazy for their dark shimmers or metallics.  Dive Bar is ok.. I may wear it sometime, but for now it's resting comfortably in my helmer..

Have a wonderful weekend Everyone!!

Illamasqua Baptiste and Essie Luxeffects A Cut Above..

Illamasqua?  Nope, don't know how to say it.  Here is a link to their blog stating it's pronounced Illa-mass-ka.  I still prefer saying it like Llama-sqaw. LOL.  Regardless, Baptiste is my first Illamasqua polish and it's lovely..

Illamasqua Baptiste:

Baptiste is such a rich reddish toned purple. I think it's probably one of the highest pigmented polishes I've used.  Above pictures are two coats of Baptiste.  It applies so smoothly and has a slight pinkish shimmer when you catch it in direct light.  In lower lighting Baptiste looks much darker.  I like it.  I don't love it like most others, but I'm a sucker for purples, so this one is ok with me.

I have a few of Essie's Luxeffects and I thought A Cut Above would be the perfect glitter to add atop Baptiste:

A Cut Above over Baptiste

A Cut Above over Baptiste

A Cut Above over Baptiste

Pink and Purple= two of my faves!  A Cut Above is full of pink glitter--small round, small hex, and medium hex in a clear base.  I know this one is supposed to be a dupe of something (can't remember what), but I don't have anything like it, so I'm glad I picked this bottle up!  It was so easy just to sponge a bit of A Cut Above over Baptiste and then add a coat of Out The Door.  It's pretty and girly. :)  I've been "in to" layering lately, so this mani was fun :)

Have a good night!! :)

Essie..Luxeffects.. As Gold As It Gets..

Hey Everyone... Hope you all had a nice Christmas!  It seems like Christmas came and went so fast this year..

Today I have a gold glitter topcoat from Essie's Luxeffects collection called As Gold As It Gets...

Here it is over OPI's Boris & Natasha:

As Gold As It Gets is a shimmery topcoat full of gold flakes in a clear base.  You can basically layer this one over anything.  I chose Boris & Natasha because I think As Gold As It Gets looks better layered over darker colors.  Pictured above is two coats of Boris & Natasha with one coat of AGAIG on top.  I like AGAIG, I don't love it.  I wish the flakes were larger and not quite as dense.  I only bought two polishes from The Lexeffects Collection... AGAIG and Shine of the Times (which I like much more).  This one is pretty, just not my fave..

Enjoy your day... It's sunny here today and I'm loving it :)