Essie Neon Collection for Summer 2013

I'm sure those of you who are regular readers will not be surprised that I grabbed all six of the colors in this summer's neon collection from Essie. It was hard enough for me to restrain myself back in the days when the brand was only in salons and select beauty supply stores; since they moved into mass market retail outlets like Meijer and Rite Aid and CVS, I don't even have to go the slightest bit out of my way to have multiple chances each week to scoop up these pleasingly square bottles. I did manage to exercise one small bit of self control: most of the display variations for this collection have Essie Blanc in them, to use as a base. I did not buy any of that white, just the six colors: Boom Boom Room, Bottle Service, Saturday Disco Fever, DJ Play that Song, Bouncer It's Me, and Shake Your $$ Maker.



Boom Boom Room, a bright medium pink, doesn't actually seem to need a white base. Here's what it looks like on its own at three coats (I nearly stopped at two, it was so well behaved):



Note that Boom Boom Room doesn't have topcoat on it up there, either, and it's still pretty shiny. This makes me question whether it should be in a neon collection at all, but I can see why from a marketing perspective it would be included, since I know pinks sell. The last two collections (drugstore, not Essie) I've failed to complete are both missing pinks because those shades sold out before I could get them.

I mention the shiny-ness because you'll note coming up that Bottle Service, a hot pink, does not display the same level of gloss as Boom Boom Room. It also does not display the same level of opacity (opaqueness? are both correct? I'd go look it up but I'm so distractable today I fear I'd wander off on the internet and not come back to finish this post today). This swatch is three coats.



Just to show the difference, here's Bottle Service with topcoat:



Saturday Disco Fever is a juicy orange. Here's three coats of on its own, and as with Bottle Service, you can see why one might want to wear underwear (white or otherwise):



I did stop being lazy long enough to do Skittle swatches over a white creme base, starting with the three warmer hues from the collection that we've just looked at. Over the white, I used one coat of Boom Boom Room (far left) and two each of Bottle Service and Saturday Disco Fever.



I did the cooler shades Skittles-style over white as well. Left to right below (all two coats over the white): Bouncer It's Me, Shake Your $$ Maker, DJ Play That Song.



I really should have done the cooler shades full swatches over white, too, as they don't look so great on their own, especially without topcoat. To prove it, here's Bouncer It's Me at three coats—I like the color, but the visible nail line and dull finish, not so much:



Shake Your $$ Maker was slightly better than Bouncer on its own but I don't think I'd wear it this way (this is 3 coats):



I don't even have any swatches to show you of DJ Play that Song on by itself. I know, bad blogger. For proper swatches of all of these colors, go visit The PolishAholic. But wait just a bit, because I've got some comparisons to show you.

Left to right below (all 3 coats): Color Club Flamingo, Essie Boom Boom Room, Studio M Power Pink. This shows how Boom Boom Room is more purple-leaning than standard bubblegum pinks.



Left to right below (all 3 coats): Finger Paints Pink Perspective, Essie Bottle Service, Pop Beauty Pinkest. Bottle Service looks more rosy-toned and less orange next to typical pink neons.



Left to right below (3 coats of each): Essie Bazooka, Essie Saturday Disco Fever, Sephora Pantone Tangerine Tango Cream. Looks like not much changed between last year's orange neon from Essie and this year's. They're both a touch brighter than the color of the year for 2012.



There is a wide range of purple neons in the world. Left to right below: Essie Perky Purple (2 coats), Essie DJ Play That Song (3), Fergie Dana (3).



I avoided green nail polish for quite a long time, so my stash isn't as deep in that color as it is in a lot of hues, but still I was surprised I didn't have any really close matches for Shake Your $$ Maker. Left to right below: CND Green Scene (2 coats), Essie Shake Your $$ Maker (3), Barry M Spring Green (2).



Finally, here's how Bouncer It's Me stacks up against two popular blue cremes from recent years. Left to right below: RBL IKB2012 (2 coats), Essie Bouncer It's Me (3), Revlon Top Speed Royal (2).



From a uniqueness perspective, Shake Your $$ Maker is my pick from this collection.

Just a heads up—next week is my employer's annual conference, so from Monday through Wednesday, I'll be meeting and greeting and moderating and schmoozing instead of sitting in front of my computer screen for hours on end, so I don't expect I'll be able to do any blog posts until Thursday at the earliest. Not to worry if you don't see me around cyberspace for a few days.