Essie Fall 2011 Nail Polish Collection Swatches and Review

I think this may be the very last of the fall collections I have yet to post... Which is a little sad, because it reminds me that fall will be over soon. September went by insanely fast and now I feel like I've blinked and October is nearly gone. I'm trying to make the most of it, but why can't it just be fall all year round??

Anyway, here's Essie's Fall 2011 collection:

Case Study. This is a medium beige creme. It looks darker on my nails than it does in the bottle, as do all the colors in this collection (and most of the cremes in all the fall collections this year, odd). It's a little bit of a dirty beige, not so clean and stark like some beige cremes. A bit of an edge to it, but still completely conservative and office appropriate.



Carry On. Very dark vampy plum creme. It looks very dark but not quite black indoors, but outside it looks a lot more plum. This lighting makes it look darker than it is. It is obviously plum/burgundy in all lights and isn't as similar to Essie Velvet Voyeur as it seems here.



Glamour Purse. Essie describes this color as "almond taupe" and I'd say that's a pretty fair description. This is one of those putty-like 'greige' (still can't get used to that word) colors that have exploded in popularity within the past three years. It's flattering, it's a neat color, but it's very, very, very common/done/dupe-able.


Lady Like. This one is unexpected. I thought it would be a plain pink creme from all the promo pictures and in the bottle, but on my nails it's a dirty, dusty greyed pale pink. Reminds me of one of my favorites, Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge. It's really nice. My favorite in the collection.


Power Clutch. A dirty green-grey. It's dark and it's a little murky looking. I like this dirty/smoky/murky trend. This one looks more grey than green to me, but the (blue-toned) green is definitely there. I just expected a greener color, like a drab olive, based on the promo pics. Still cool, though.


Very Structured. This is a difficult one. It changes colors so much. In sunlight it looks like a pumpkiny orange with a little taupe or brown mixed in. In other lights, it looks like an earthy, dark terracotta. Essie calls it burnt sienna and I think that's the best way to describe it. It does look a lot darker on the nail than in the bottle, more so than the other colors. But this one also feels the most like a fall color.

The formula on these was perfect. Smooth, even, not runny or gooey. The tiny little Essie brush has really grown on me because I can get such a precise application with it. Also good for people with really small nails. I'm glad not all brands have gone for the Pro-Wide-style brush. Amazing drying time on these as well. Absolutely no complaints on the formula or brush. I did three coats of each color and I think they look best at three.

Overall, not as interesting as most of the other fall collections. A lot of really nice stylish, flattering, office-appropriate-yet-still-chic colors here. Nothing wild or outrageous or too edgy. It feels very fashionable to me, like there's a little bit of 'trendy' in it but still manages to stay classic. Strong colors, good formula, just nothing really brand new in it.

This is available now at both salons and Essie retail vendors (Meijer, Walgreens, Target, CVS, etc.)

(Most of these were sent to me for review.)