Essie Retail Swatches

So Essie was went retail and is now available at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Target, Meijer, etc. etc. ... which is both great and irritating.  Essie wasn't readily available here, so I'm excited to be able to get my hands on them without ordering, but it does suck to see destroyed displays.  Since Essie has been available at Walmart.com, my collection has tripled - free shipping, so I can order 1 or 2, not feel guilty, and not have to actually set foot in Wal-mart - it's a dream come true!  ;)

Today I have for you a bunch of the retail exclusives that I've managed to pick up - Dive Bar, Sweet Talker, Mochacino, Jamaican Me Crazy, Devil's Advocate, and Mango Bango.  There are 5 I don't have - Oui Madame (pearly/frosty white shimmer), Trophy Wife (teal pearly/frosty shimmer), Beach Bum Blue (cerulean pearly/frosty shimmer), Miami Nice (hot pink shimmer), and Master Plan (neutral/taupe cream) .  I doubt I'll be picking any of those up - maybe Miami Nice, but it's doubtful.  None of them really appeal to me.  If you have one and love it, tell me why - convince me!!  ;)

Now on to the ones I do have... we'll start with Dive Bar.  Check out these bottle pics!

I saw that purple shimmer mixed in with the teal and about died - it's so gorgeous!  On the nail though...

Where did that purple go?!  I wore this for 2 days and held my hands every way I could think of with every light source I could and never saw any purple... none.  Such a disappointment... I kinda want to swap mine away, but I would feel bad, since there is no purple!  Others say they see it though... am I blind?

Once this was on my nails, I realized it wasn't all that unique.  Here it is compared with Too Rich For You by Nicole.

The Nicole is in the center... these two are super-close.  TRFY has a few more sparkles than Dive Bar, but the colors are dead-on dupes.  No muggle would notice the difference!!

Sweet Talker is a pretty pale blue, perfect for spring time!  Makes me think of Easter and daffodils... and bunnies!  ;)  You can barely see it, but it does have some shimmer, not just a plain creme.

When I received Sweet Talker, I immediately thought I had a Hard Candy Sky dupe on my hands - both are sky blue and have the same aqua shimmer.

Once swatched though, it's obvious the two are quite a bit different.

Sky (middle) is very milky and so danged sheer and streaky, you really have to use very thick coats.  Sweet Talker isn't fantastic in the application department, but it is better than Sky.  Could probably use a little thinner - it was a bit thick.

Mochacino is a gorgeous neutral/taupe with little flakes of silver running throughout.  This is probably my favorite of the retail exclusives, one of my favorite Essies ever, and probably in my top 20 polishes.  I just adore it!

It's perfect for work, but the little flecks of silver keep it interesting and edgy.  I wore this one for a week straight and didn't get sick of it one little bit.  I don't have anything to compare it with... let me know if you can think of something!

Jamaican Me Crazy is a fuchsia shimmer - so shimmery the particles are almost foily, but it's not a foil.

My camera absolutely hates colors like this - these berry-ish shades never show quite right and the crazy amount of shimmer made every other pic blurry.  I like it a lot and was surprised, I usually shy away from pinks.  Maybe I'm branching out?  I think this will look great in the summer, especially on toes!

Devil's Advocate is a really dark purple - practically black.  It's extremely shiny!

I don't have OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark (blasphemy, I know!), but I'm thinking this is really darned close.  I do have William Tell Me About OPI, which is a less black version of LPAD, so I compared the two of them.

WTMAOPI is lighter and always appears purple, where Devil's Advocate looks like black in most indoor lighting.  It was smooth and easy to use, but I bet it could stain cuticles like a mofo!

Last today I have Mango Bango - my first coral creme!

I never thought I could pull off coral, but I was proved wrong - I can!  :D  Mango Bango probably isn't all that unique, but I absolutely loved the color on me.  It's such a happy spring/summer color, I think I'll probably use it a ton.

I picked up Elf's Summer Ready Nail Kit after seeing it reviewed at Polished Pirate, mainly because of that coral, so when I got it, I had to compare it to Mango Bango.

Elf's Coral is lighter, pinker, and kinda jelly-like, where Mango Bango is deeper, more saturated, and definitely a creme.  Gahhh I love them both so much!  I've suddenly become a huge coral fan - give me your must haves!

I have to say, when I swatched this one, I was oohing and ahhing over the formula as much as the color - it was so smooth and easy to apply.  I wore it as a full mani earlier this week (so a couple of weeks after originally swatching it) and I really had a time getting it even.  I'm assuming I just need to add a little thinner, but dang, that was quick to get thick!

These retail exclusives are available wherever Essies are suddenly showing up - Walmart, Walgreens, Target, Meijer, CVS, etc., and retail at $8.00.  The price varies on where you get them, but I haven't seen them cheaper than $7.75 in store.

What are your favorites from the retail exclusives?  I LOVE Mochacino and Mango Bango, and like Jamaica Me Crazy quite a bit, but I could have skipped the others.  I can't wait until they put out new retail exclusive shades!  :)

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: varies - 2 to 3

Revlon Top Speeds - Chili, Espresso, Stormy

So... moving right along here...

This is Chili, an orangey-red jelly that I just adore!  It's so shiny and squishy!  *squee!*  Formula on this one was great, perfect in 2 coats!

Espresso is a deep dark chocolatey brown with a gorgeous, almost hidden shimmer.  It's there, but not super noticeable.  Formula was great here as well, 2 coats.

And here is Stormy, a greige neutral tauple cream.  I showed this in comparison to Below Deck here - it's a little less purple than many similar polishes.  Formula wasn't quite as great on this one, kinda reminded me of Vintage in the previous post - thick and unable to self-level.  I didn't use topcoat in the swatch, but it really would have helped!

Of these, I prefer Chili - I'm suddenly starting to love all these bright colors on me, though I have shied away from things so bold in the past!  I can't wait to wear this one in the summer months.  Espresso is actually one of my favorite browns, the shimmer in it makes it not quite so severe.  I love the color of Stormy - I think it is my favorite of all the greige colors, but the formula is lacking - I'll try to thin it out and see if it improves.

One more post to go in this series!  :)

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: 2

China Glaze - Anchors Away!

I apologize that I didn't get these swatches put up before you'd seem them 1000 times... I've had this collection since a couple of days after they were released.  I should have gotten them done sooner, but my job has stressed me out beyond belief and I really didn't feel like swatching for a few days.  However, here they are, hopefully better late than never!

This is the first time I've bought an entire collection at once - I did end up with a couple of other entire collections, but I've bought them in pieces.  Not this one - I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.  A lot of people were meh about it, but I think it is absolutely stand out!

We'll start with the Knotty Nauticals, which is the brighter of the two sets in this collection.

Oh yeah, and see all that shine?  It's all polish, baby - I didn't use topcoat on any of these!!

This is Ahoy!, which might actually be my favorite here.  I hardly ever wear pinks - I can't find any that really flatter me.  I think this one looks pretty good - I actually wore it for a couple of days this week!  You might be saying "it's not really pink...", but this is as close as I get!  It's a really saturated almost jelly base with gold flecks that really make it glow.  Stunning!  Two coats

Gak!  A pink and a red that I like on me in the same collection!?!?  Crazy!  This is Hey Sailor! an incredibly shiney orange-based red jelly/cream combo.  I actually saw someone post on the NB the other day that they think this might be a new type of finish and I totally agree.  This collection is the first I've seen to have these jelly/cream things.  They're as opaque as a cream, but they have the glossiness of a jelly - I love it!  Two coats.

Life Preserver is a dusty orange version of this jelly/cream thing - opaque in two coats (one if you are careful!) and it shines like crazy.  It's dustier than my picture shows, but still a bright vibrant color.  I love oranges and this one does not disappoint!

I had the hardest time capturing the glass fleck in Lighthouse correctly.  It blurred no matter how still I held my hands!  I don't have a lot of yellows, but most of the ones I have are not fun to work with.  Lighthouse was a breeze!  My friend said it looked like sparkling urine, but he's a boy, what does he know?  It is sparkly though... three coats.

Starboard is another jelly/cream opaque in two coats.  I think this one will be great to wear during the summer.  It reminds me of thick lush grass squishing under your bare feet!

First Mate is amazing.  I own several blue creams, but nothing tops this one.  That wonderful jelly/cream finish, perfectly opaque in 1 coat if you are careful (I used two because I'm not careful!), and it never looks black, which is a problem for a lot of navy blues.

Next up, the Sand & Sea set!

Pelican Gray is a pretty neutral gray, not leaning overly blue or brown.  It has a slight bit of shimmer (the secret shimma!) what you can barely see on the nail.  Mine seemed a bit goopy though, probably needs to be thinned for better application.  Three coats.

Sea Spray  has that same secret shimmer that you can just barely see, it it makes it so special!  I also found it a little thick and hard to apply evenly.  This is three coats.

Sunset Sail is not as horrible looking on me as I thought it would be, but it still doesn't look good.  It's a really pretty peachy nude with a subtle silver shimmer.  It might be more flattering on cooler skin tones - I thought it looked pretty good on All You Desire!  Three coats

Below Deck is another one of those purple/grey/taupe things, but I think I might like this one better than the others I have.  It looks good on warm skin and is edgy, but still work appropriate.  This was two coats, but it could have used a third.

I wore Knotty for about 3 days, which is pretty decent for me!  It has the same multi-colored shimmer as the previously reviewed Sally Hansen Fairy Tale Ivory, but it is more beige than nude.  I was hoping it would be like a sparkling Your Nails But Better, but it was just a tad too dark for that.  I kept it on for 3 days though, so I wasn't too disappointed!  Three coats.

And finally we have White Cap, another glass fleck.  The flecks seem to change from gold to green depending on the angle.  My camera freaked out on this one and refused to get a clear shot.  I think it would look great layered, but it also works on its own for a interesting sheer.  Three coats.

All in all, I love this collection.  The only one that I don't know if I will wear is Sunset Sail, but I still like it - how often do you find a collection where you like everything?

To be honest though, I was a little disappointed in the application of the Sand & Sea set.  I was really looking forward to Pelican Gray and Sea Spray, but I had troubles with both of them.  I'm hoping a little thinning will make the difference.

I was FLOORED with how amazing everything in the Knotty Nauticals set was - color, formula, finish - it truly is a winner!  If you only decide to pick up part of this collection, make it this half - you won't be disappointed!

Let me know which ones you love (or hate!) in the comments!

And... I have done a bunch of comparisons on these... I will post them next!  :)

Anchors Away is popping up in Ulta and Sally's now and retail for $5.99 each.

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: NONE!!

Number of coats: varies