Essie Fall 2011 - Carry On Collection

Who could resist a nail collection named Carry On?  Not me, it seems ... Sadly, this latest collection from Essie is named after carry-on luggage, which, when I figured it out, made me very unhappy.  C'mon British brands!  We need Carry on Sergeant (blue), Carry on Camping (pink, natch) and Carry on Screaming (vampy red), and Carry on up the Khyber (ummm ... khaki, yes, that's it, KHAKI), at the very least!  I DEMAND it.

Ahem.


So yeah, Essie Carry On is a selection of mainly dusty shades, and the second I set eyes on them, I couldn't resist:

 There's:
Carry On: a blackened purple-berry, 
Very Structured: a tan (odd one out this one, if you ask me), 
Glamour Purse: a greyed out taupe, 
Power Clutch: a deep green with more than just a hint of grey, 
Case Study: a pale camel, 
and Lady Like: a rather dusty pink.  They're all cream finishes - no shimmer

I picked these up at Pro-Beauty Olympia this weekend, and the first thing I did was swatch them all on my new nail wheels.  Oddly, I find painting nail swatches on wheels strangely calming,  am I crazy?

These polishes were all opaque in two coats - a surprise to me, as I normally find Essie polishes very sheer.  The nail wheel shows three coats though, for, whilst I find painting nail swatches relaxing, I am still a cack-handed muppet at heart, and truth be told I smudged a couple of them.  However a third coat levelled them out nicely.


The shade I ended up wearing though - surprisingly for me - was Lady Like, as I'd assumed it was the one colour in the bunch that'd give me trouble.  I was wrong, I like it a lot:

No Flash

Flash

The no flash pic above makes the shade seem a little more flesh-like than it is in actuality, the flash pic is actually a more accurate representation of the colour, it's very much a pink, but the hint of grey-mauve in the base means it doesn't appear chalky.  I hate chalky shades more than anything.  The pic shows two coats of polish with a topcoat.


What's your favourite?  And, what shades would you put in a "real" Carry On-inspired collection?

The Fine Print: Purchase.  One should never buy polish just because you like the name.  Let that be a lesson to you.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Gah! Essie Apricot Oil

Don't you just hate it when this happens?

I knocked over my beloved bottle of Essie's Apricot Cuticle Oil earlier this evening, and the neck of the bottle broke off in the cap.  INFURIATING!

And it was a present, so I've no idea where/how I can replace it!

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Nail of the Day - Essie: Sew Psyched

Utterly infatuated with green nail varnish, I am.  I went, last year, from not ever being able to imagine wearing it to owing more green nail polish shades than I do, say, pinks!  This colour, a delightfully greyed-out khaki is Essie Sew Psyched from their a/w 2010 collection.  It's a mini-bottle, I didn't suddenly sprout man-hands overnight!

It's wearable for the office - I think so, anyway, but your mileage may vary of course - and the pics show three coats with seche topcoat, as it's a little on the sheer side, I guess it could have done with four.

Wear was about average, two days for tipwear, and three days before any chips showed.  I like it a lot, and kind of wish I'd bought a full size bottle of this shade instead of a pack with all four colours in, three of which currently remain unworn.  I'm a bit funny like that.



 The Fine Print: Products were purchased at Pro-Beauty Olympia back in October.I should really dig out the others ....
 This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.