Essie Perfect 10 Trio

If this year had gone as expected, Mr. and I would have recorded hours and hours of Summer Olympics coverage on the DVR (and probably still have some sitting there unwatched even now). Instead, the only vaguely Olympic things in my life this year are the three Essie polishes in the Perfect 10 collection that was released at Ulta. It's apparently inspired by gymnastics (though the scoring system under which Nadia Comaneci earned perfect 10s is long gone). These three shimmers are called Summer-sault (red), Perfect 10 (gold), and Balancing Act (blue).

 

I used two coats of Summer-sault plus clear topcoat for my swatch (as it turned out, the topcoat didn't make a huge difference in depth and shine). This red shimmer has tiny pops of pink in it as well, which adds some extra interest, and can fool the eye into thinking it's a dark pink polish in some lighting conditions (none of which I caught on my camera).

 

 

As golds go, Perfect 10 leans quite a lot toward green; in some lights, I could convince myself it was an acid green. This was also two coats; I left the topcoat off this time.

 

 

Balancing Act is just blue; it never fooled me into thinking it was anything else. It is also a two-coater.

 

 

And finally, in the "It's the Thought that Counts?" department of nail art, I attempted a sponge gradient that no amount of topcoat could save. The concept was sound, just the execution was lacking.

 

I like this little collection. The finish and opacity are nice on all of them, and in only three colors, they managed something for pretty much everyone. Red for those who like classics, blue for the more trendy, and that gold for folks who want to really stand out.