It's a road trip down the coast with your bestie with the new Essie Spring collection! This is definitely the brightest and most colourful Spring collection we've ever seen from Essie. It's a pretty group of colours and there's some REALLY great formulas in here too. If you like brighter polishes, this will be a great collection for you. Let's take a look at the swatches & comparisons.
Excuse Me Sur
At first I wasn't going to get this entire collection and this was the only polish that grabbed me as a "Kindra" colour so it was the one I was most excited for. The formula was a bit thicker yet a little streaky. It's aaaaaalmost opaque in 2 coats but I still had a couple spots where it wasn't totally opaque, so I did a third coat. It self-leveled pretty good but not perfectly.
*Edited to add: I forgot to mention! Even though the colour and formula of Van D'Go and Excuse Me Sur were the same, I did think that the brush on Excuse Me Sur was a little bigger making it easier to apply. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination but the Van D'Go brush seemed really skinny. Maybe because it's an older polish. Has Essie secretly made their brush a tiny bit bigger over the years? Not sure, but application was a bit easier with Excuse Me Sur.
Backseat Besties
This is a cool-toned Barbie pink. It applies nicely and self-leveled ok and was incredibly close to being opaque in 2 coats. It's only when I looked up close that I could see a bit of unevenness, so I went with 3 coats.
B'aha Moment
Woah. This formula is incredible! It applies perfectly in one coat. It's totally opaque and self-leveling. Be careful though, she's a stainer. I had to scrub my cuticles with baking soda and lemon juice before I could keep swatching.
B'aha Moment is a creamy pomegranate colour and I thought for sure I had a dupe for it, but everything I compared it to was different. Bachelorette Bash is much brighter and pinker. Raspberry is definitely close but has a totally different formula and a more red tone. Raspberry is also a jelly polish while B'aha Moment is smooth and creamy. Gala-vanting is much darker and more red toned.
Double-Breasted Jacket is quite a bit more red and Watermelon is a brighter pink shade.
On the Roadie
Oh my gosh I love this one! It's got a great creamy formula, self-levels nicely and opaque in almost one coat, but you'll need two.
All the Wave
Ooooh! Another creamy polish that is perfectly opaque in one coat! I did not expect to like this one at all but it's a very pretty blue with a hint of purple.
Designated DJ
This was probably the one I was least excited about because it looks like a complete dupe for Bahama Mama (and you've seen how many burgundy polishes I have!) But I put it on and of course I love it. The formula isn't quite a creme, it's a little bit crelly but not completely. It's hard to describe. If you put too much polish on your brush you will flood your cuticles, but if not, it applies nicely in 2 self-leveling coats.
My faves are On the Roadie, B'aha Moment and Designated DJ. On the Roadie is such a pretty shade of kelly green. I don't love greens that lean yellow and this one definitely doesn't, but it's not super blue toned either. It's so great (and I'm not even a person that wears green polish all that often!). B'aha Moment is striking on the nail and it's formula is frickin' incredible. And I'm shocked how much I like Designated DJ! That bit of purple in the formula makes all the difference to me. I would've said Excuse Me Sur was my fave of the collection had I not already owned a couple dupes, but if you don't already have Couture Curator or Van D'Go, pick up Excuse Me Sur. She's a beauty! If you are a fan of blues at all, then All the Wave is a definite must as well.
Which ones are catching your eye from this collection?
15 comments:
I really want On the Roadie and All the Wave! And after your review on how different B'aha Moment and Designated DJ is from other Essies, I want those too! I don't really care about Backseat Besties, but I don't have Van D'go, so I'm wondering if I should pick up that or Excuse Me Sur!
Good picks Jennifer! I feel the same about Backseat Besties. There is literally like no difference between Excuse Me Sur or Van D'Go, so it doesn't really matter which one you get! Haha. It was the same 3 coats application that didn't completely self-level all the way (but top coat would fix that). I hope Designated DJ is different enough for you! I just love wearing burgundy's and I can see myself actually getting wear out of it because of that purple tone. But I've seen other reviews say that they see no difference between Designated DJ and Sole Mate or other burgundies. It's all in the rationalizing of how much money to spend on polishes I think! ;)
Jennifer! I just remembered something I forgot to write in my review! When I was swatching these yesterday, the brush on Excuse Me Sur seemed slightly bigger than Van D'Go. Van D'Go's was super skinny. Maybe Essie has slightly changed the brush over the years? The bigger brush on Excuse Me Sur was easier to use. Of course it wasn't bigger by much (or maybe it was my imagination that it was bigger) but it was enough that I noticed a difference! Maybe that will help sway you into picking one of them.
Amazing post and swatches as usual Kindra! I think I need All the Wave, based solely on the fact that I am fed up with Butler Please. Love the colour but THAT FORMULA!!! And ever since I first saw you post about Mesmerized I've been needing it (but I'm a lazy bones and won't order online :D )
Excuse me Sur is probably the only other I'll pick up, love that one!
Defo Essie brushes are slightly bigger noticed that last summer when picked one up in duty free...i usually purchase in TKmaxx as they're cheaper xx
Thank you Bailey! Those are some good choices. I actually liked the tone of All the Wave better than Mezmerised.
Thanks for your input! I'm glad I'm not just imagining things.
Wow, awesome post!! Thanks for making sure that Excuse me, Sur and Van D'go are dupes. I love Van D'go so I won't pick up Excuse me, Sur but I think I'm loving Designated DJ more than Bahama Mama. (The horror!!) I don't have Bahama Mama but it's been on my wishlist since I first saw but I love that Designated DJ is more purple. Thanks for doing comparisons, it really helps to seem all together. :)
I noticed the same thing about the Essie brushes! I put on an older one, and the brush seemed rediculously skinny!
I know Mrs W!! I like the purple tones of Designated DJ more than Bahama Mama too, I think.
I'm glad this was helpful to you!
Sarah - yes! Ok, so I'm not crazy :)
Hmmm...that is interesting about the brushes! I have been waiting to get them back in the UK or ask my husband to get them for me, haha, because of the bigger brushes for Essies in the UK! But if they are starting to get bigger in CA/US as well, I may as well just pick them up here! Did you notice the brushes were bigger on the other colors from this collection as well?
Jennifer I just pulled out a bunch of bottles and checked the sizes of brushes. The new ones are definitely nowhere near the size of the Essie UK brushes but they ARE ever so slightly bigger. And yes it was like that for the whole collection.
Do you think the new Essie brushes are bigger like the one for Fill the Gap base coat? I noticed that brush being bigger than the normal nail polishes but I haven't bought any new Essies in a while.
I'm not entirely sure, but this whole thing has got me thinking I should do a blog post comparing different Essie brushes. A friend of mine sent me a polish from Europe, so I could compare that plus new and old bottles of Essie polish. Could be interesting!
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