Essie DJ Play That Song Neon Collection Summer 2013 Swatches and Review

Essie always does really pretty neons and this year's neon collection is no exception.  It's a little different this time around- they're jelly neons, not opaque cremes and they're not quite as fluorescent-bright as usual, but that's not a bad thing.  They look like candy!

Essie Neon Collection 2013 

(press samples)

 Essie Boom Boom Room.

Pale yet vibrant baby pink creme.  This is a true opaque creme, not a jelly. I wonder if the Boom Boom Room is on top of Boom Boom Mountain?

 Essie Bottle Service. 

Bright neon fuchsia jelly. Super saturated and glowy. 

 Essie Bouncer, It's Me!

Vibrant blue jelly-creme.  Stunning.  Dries darker than bottle color.

Essie DJ Play That Song.

Neon plum jelly-creme. 

Essie Saturday Disco Fever. 

Blazing bright dark neon orange jelly. 

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker.

I don't know if I'd call this one neon, but it is bright.  Grassy, yellow-toned green jelly.  The most sheer color in the collection.  Makes me think of lime Jell-O!

The formula on these was lovely.  On the thicker side, but not gooey-thick. Just smooth, slower-flowing thick.  Since these are jelly-finish polishes, they're sheer and need three coats for evenness and opacity.  I still have some visible nail line at three coats.  Four coats made these nearly entirely opaque, but I preferred the more translucent look of three coats.

If you prefer a more opaque look, Essie recommends layering these neons over white.  Layering over white can also brighten the color, but I'm just not a fan of this technique. 

Essie Blanc.

Bright white creme.  Three-coater.  

Two coats of neon over three coats of Blanc.

 

 I think this looks sloppy and doesn't actually save any time unless you can manage to apply them completely evenly with only one coat each.  Blanc is rather streaky and needs three coats to look even, so that's three coats of polish right there.  Then the neons also look streaky applied over bright white, and that's another two to three coats.  Five to six coats of polish, not even counting base coat or topcoat, and they still don't look as good as just applying the polish alone. 

   

I love these.  All of them.  They're bright and beautiful and the jelly finish makes them extra pretty.  The downside is that they're pretty sheer, but they dry fast enough that it makes up for it.  I wouldn't bother with the white layering thing, though. It's an extra time-consuming step and, if you ask me, completely unnecessary.  

These are available now on essie.com!

(Collection was provided for review.)