Essie Fall 2009 Collection

Just a quick post since I'm short on time! I'm so behind in posting reviews... just a few more to go and then I can get back to posting more fun stuff!

From the top!

Angora Cardi. Muted mauve-purple creme. This is a darker shade of mauve that leans to the purple side and it is slightly greyed. It has a bit of a faded/muted/dusty look to it.

Bright Tights. Very bright light neon orange creme/jelly. WHOA. Bright. Love it! As with all my neon photos, this is not 100% true to life. My camera can't capture the true glow of a neon shade. So, imagine this maybe a shade lighter and as a glowing, retina-burning bright orange. This is a lighter shade than a lot of my neon oranges- lighter than Zoya Paz and China Glaze Japanese Koi. It is slightly lighter and significantly more neon-glowy than Essie Mini Shorts from last year.

Chinchilly. Soft light grey creme. Cute name! This is an interesting grey. What sets it apart from a lot of the other greys I own is that is seems to have a drop of green mixed in. It is light and has a slightly warm/taupe cast to it compared to, say, China Glaze Recycle or Rescue Beauty Lounge Concrete Jungle. It doesn't have that blue look that other greys have. This one has a faint green tint.


Midnight Cami. Deep midnight blue shimmer. Gorgeous. It doesn't look like much indoors, but when the light hits the shimmer in this shade it lights up from within. Very pretty. Not horribly unique- it's your standard blackened-blue vampy shimmer. Still pretty. The shimmer in this version of the dark navy shimmer is particularly fine-textured. Very tiny particles and it has a very smooth look.

Mink Muffs. Warm taupe-grey-mauve creme. Difficult color to describe. It's like a warmer version of Sephora by OPI Metro Chic. It has that same fashionably edgy 'mushroomy' look that Metro Chic and others have, but more of a purple-red tint to it. Maybe this is a taupe-mauve? Smoky, dusty, unusual.

Pink Parka. Light pink neon creme. Like Bright Tights, this is much brighter in real life. Glowy. Neons in fall, I love it! Strange choice but you won't hear me complaining. Anyway, this is again a lighter shade than most of the neons I have. It verges on delicate bubblegum pink, but neon. It's probably closest to China Glaze Pink Voltage or Color Club Lazer Pink in terms of shade depth, but it is not a dupe of either.


The formula on these was odd. It was thin... very, very thin. Watery even. Yes, definitely watery. I have really been loving Essie's new formula lately, but this isn't anything like the past year's worth of collections formula-wise. The watery texture of the polish combined with the incredibly small brush did give me some trouble when applying. It had a tendency to spread unevenly or pool in the cuticles. Strangely enough, the pigmentation was pretty good on these. They were all very sheer on the first coat but mostly opaque on the second coat. I did three coats of all anyway. I think the neons really needed the third coat. Drying time was good- nice and quick on all of the shades.

What a strange collection! I think I like it. Very unusual color choices. Two mousy taupes, two neons, a midnight blue shimmer and a dusty mauve. It seems very random. I think that's pretty cool. Essie is really breaking away from their 'we-only-do-sheer-pinks' image lately and I think that's awesome! I think they've discovered that they do neons particularly well and I would have to agree- Essie's neons are pretty close to the top of my list. I'd love to see them branch out into greens since they had such a big hit before with Dominica Green. They have been doing more blues lately as well- the North Fork collection, Mesmerize and now Midnight Cami. Keep it up, Essie! You're doing great!

Overall, I think this is one of the most stylish and unusual collections Essie has ever done. I like all the shades, especially the neons and Chinchilly. The formula could use some improvement, though. Maybe if it was just a bit thicker... But, other than that, pretty cool.

This collection should be available now in stores and I know that Essie.com has it in stock.