Essie Moments Collection

Last summer, I decided I needed the wrapped bottles that Target had for the Essie #essielove Moments collection (also known as the Celebration Moments collection, at least on the Ulta website). I decided this several months after the collection was released, by which time no Target seemed to have whole collection in the wrapped bottles, but I persisted and bought them when I found them until I had all six (left to right below): Nailed It, The Best-est, Sheer Luck, Birthday Girl, Mani Thanks, and Congrats.



The Best-est is a medium-toned cool grey creme. Of course I already have plenty of cool grey cremes, but the bottle wrap is a lure I wasn't able to resist in this case. This was opaque in two coats.



Congrats has blue, silver, rose, and pink glitter in a silver microflakie base. It probably would build to be opaque on its own, but you know me ... if I think it might work as a topper, I'm gonna try it that way. So I put one coat of Congrats over The Best-est, then added clear topcoat for extra shine though I didn't need it for smoothness.







Nailed It is a deep burgundy creme which I in no way needed to diversify my stash, but again, the bottle wrap. Two coats were plenty, and it was really shiny on its own without any topcoat.



Nailed It also got the Congrats as topper treatment. This was less pleasing than the combination with The Best-est, though it does show how dense the microflakie base of Congrats is ... too dense to make a good topper over such a dark color, I think.





Oh look, here's another shade I almost certainly have a dupe for: Sheer Luck, a white crelly shimmer. The Essie website calls this pink, but it's so light a pink that it pulls pretty much completely white on me. My swatch is three coats, leaving it not yet opaque.



The shimmer is subtle; I could only get it show up for the camera in direct light, and even then it's hard to see.



To show the sheerness of Sheer Luck, I dotted it with The Best-est and Nailed It, then added one more coat of Sheer Luck and a clear topcoat. It was interesting to see that Nailed It looked dusty purple when veiled like this.



Mani Thanks is a light gold metallic shimmer, opaque in two coats. There are some hints of pink in the shimmer along with the gold.





I added some dots of Nailed It to Mani Thanks to attempt to distract from how this shade of gold isn't the most flattering for me. I also added clear topcoat to smooth over the dots.



Finally we have Birthday Girl, a light pink shimmer that's slightly on the sheer side. I used two coats for my swatch and there's a hint of visible nail line remaining.







I plussed Birthday Girl with a glitter gradient using Congrats and a light hand.



I was running out of something at this point (attention span and/or time; my notes don't say) so I completed my swatching session by trying Birthday Girl as a topper over Nailed It and The Best-est, which I'm glad I did because only then did I see the gold as well as the pink the shimmer of Birthday Girl. It's really quite pretty this way.



I'm undecided on whether this collection was a good choice for me. Congrats, sure, yes, that is a good addition to my stash, but I feel like I either have dupes or close enoughs for everything else. Those bottle wraps sure are cute, though.

Revlon Color Charge Jelly Collection

I took a day off from playing in the snow to spend some time in my studio playing with polish. Of the many things queued up for swatching, I picked out the four Revlons I'd gotten most recently: Silver Base Coat, Hibiscus Jelly, Crimson Jelly, and Violet Jelly.



Of course the silver had to go on first. Silver Base Coat is a chrome-type metallic finish (as opposed to a foil-like metallic) that goes on smoothly.



I couldn't wait to see how the jellies would look, so I did them all at once over the silver. Top to bottom: stripes (Hibiscus Jelly over whole nail, Crimson from 1/3 down to tip, Violet from 2/3 down to tip), Hibiscus Jelly, Crimson Jelly, Violet Jelly. These jellies are decently pigmented and nicely self-leveling; one coat over the silver was plenty of color. Hibscus is a pink-y orange. Crimson is a slightly pink-y red. Violet is a warm-leaning purple.



In direct light, these glow very nicely. They're also nicely smooth even though I didn't put any top coat on.



As pigmented as these are, I wondered how they would do for jelly sandwich manis, so I grabbed Revlon Sequins, which has gold glitter in a clear base. I put down one coat of Hibiscus Jelly, one coat of Sequins, then one coat of Crimson Jelly on my index finger and one more coat of Hibiscus Jelly on my remaining digits. Looks like these work just find for jelly sandwiches.





You know I was just itching to do some comparisons, and I'm happy to say my stash is organized enough now that I could actually find some other jellies easily. My first thought when I saw these Revlons is that they reminded me of the Wet 'n' Wild Candy Gloss Nail Tints (minus the blue one), so I grabbed those, plus some of the Essie Silk Watercolor colors and OPI Color Paints, which I figure a lot of you might have in your stashes.

For the purple comparison, the lineup was Essie No Shrinking Violet, Revlon Violet Jelly, Wet 'n' Wild One Grape or Another, and OPI Purple Perspective.



Top to bottom below, all over Revlon Silver Base Coat: two coats of Essie No Shrinking Violet, one coat of Revlon Violet Jelly, two coats of Wet 'n' Wild One Grape or Another, two coats of OPI Purple Perspective. The Essie is more cool-toned and sheerer than the Revlon; the Wet 'n' Wild is more warm-toned and sheerer. The OPI comes closest to matching the Revlon, but it takes two coats to build up to what one coat of the Revlon provides.



For the red-ish pink comparison, I chose Essie Blush Stroke, Revlon Crimson Jelly, Wet 'n' Wild Edie in Pink, and OPI Magenta Muse. I was bummed to see that my Magenta Muse had dried up while in storage; I'm not sure why, as the cap seemed both closed properly and not cracked. I added a ton of thinner and waited as patiently as I could (between session of shaking the bottle) for it to get to the point where I could use it.



Below, top to bottom, over Revlon Silver Base Coat: two coats of Essie Blush Stroke, one coat of Revlon Crimson Jelly, two coats of Wet 'n' Wild Edie in Pink, two coats of OPI Magenta Muse (some uneveness here due to my not being quite patient enough to let the thinner do its whole job). The Essie and the Wet 'n' Wild are both noticeably more pink than the Revlon. The OPI is closer to a match but still more pink. I bet Wet Paint Jelly Rancher Red would have been even closer than the OPI; I may have to do that comparison some time even though sadly the Wet Paint brand is no more so I'm hoarding the ones I have.



For the pink-y orange comparison, I used Essie Blush Stroke (yes, again), Revlon Hibiscus Jelly, Wet 'n' Wild Floral Support, and OPI Chromatic Orange.



Top to bottom, again over Revlon Silver Base Coat: two coats of Essie Blush Stroke, one coat of Revlon Hibiscus Jelly, two coats of Wet 'n' Wild Floral Support, two coats of OPI Chromatic Orange. I knew Hibiscus was way more pink than the Essie orange jelly, which is why I used Blush Stroke here, but Hibiscus is clearly way less pink than Blush Stroke. The Wet 'n' Wild comes closest to the Revlon, but it's not pink-leaning enough to be a match. The OPI is way too yellow-leaning to come close to matching the Revlon. As with the Crimson Jelly, I'd like to see how Hibiscus compares to Wet Paint Jelly Rancher Red; I'm betting it's pinker but maybe not by too much.



Overall, I think these are good polishes. It's been a while since we saw jellies in the mainstream world, and I think every stash needs a few. These would be good ones. My favorite is Hibiscus Jelly, as it seems to be the most different compared to what's already in my stash. The Silver Base Coat is a nice silver, but I don't think it's necessarily nicer than ones I already have. Maybe I need to do a comparison of silvers, too, though those are less organized than my jellies right now so I would have trouble finding the best ones to compare. I really need to win the lottery so I can hire that polish stash assistant I've always dreamed of having.

Essence Nail Candies

When I first saw the Essence Nail Candies at Fred Meyer, I bought only two of the colors to try them out, in keeping with my ongoing attempts to slow my stash expansion. But then on this last display hunting trip, I noticed the whole line was marked 50% off because it was going away, so I panicked and bought the rest of the shades. Thus today I have all eight that were in the display. Left to right: Oh Lolli Lollipop, Always in My Mint, Peachy Keen, Sweets for the Sweet, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, Soda Pop & Candy Shop, Like Love Birds, A Hint of Mint.



I started with A Hint of Mint, putting one coat on my index finger and building to four on my pinky. I was impressed that the single coat looked so even; was thinking it would be streaky since this color is so pale. I'm not sure that the slight green tint is so great with the slight yellow staining on my nails at one coat, but it looks okay by the time we get to three coats.



I did the same one to four coat approach with Like Love Birds. This is a more flattering color for me.



All the Nail Candies have a slight shimmer to them. It's shy, and I could only get it to show up in direct light, and even then only scattered sparks of it.



The above two were the original ones I got to try the line; when I brought the rest home I thought comparisons were in order. I started with the two green ones. Below, left to right: Always on My Mint, Hint of Mint, Always on My Mint, Hint of Mint (three coats of each). These are super close; Hint of Mint is a touch more opaque.



Then I put on the pinks and purples. Left to right below: Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, Like Love Birds, Soda Pop & Candy Shop, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch. All are three coats. Like Love Birds is the most pigmented of these pales. I like Soda Pop & Candy Shop best with my skintone.



Finally it was the peaches turn. Left to right: Sweets for the Sweet, Oh Lolli Lollipop, Peachy Keen, Sweets for the Sweet. I had a hard time seeing any significant differences among these on the nail.



Given how sheer and buildable these were, I wanted to try making a milky jelly sandwich, so topped the peaches comparison with Orly Color Blast Multicolored Gloss Glitter followed by one coat of Nail Candies Peachy Keen. I liked this combination quite a lot.





I had to Google to find out what the "6 in 1" on the caps of these refers to. According to the Essence website, these "...the nail polishes harden, protect your nails from daily demands, even out irregularities, have a fruity scent, dry fast and give your nails a high-shine finish". (Essence, unlike me, doesn't go for the Oxford comma.) I looked this up only after I swatched them, and do not recall any fruity scent, but that could be because I was already high on remover fumes. I also didn't notice them drying particularly fast, though the room I was working in was somewhat cold. They were shiny and did self level nicely. So I guess if you're in the Pacific Northwest and like these, run to your Fred Meyer before they disappear. But you don't need all the shades, as the comparisons show, so that should make the hunt easier if you choose to embark on it.

Funky Fingers Alex's Lemonade Polishes for 2015

I just can't seem to get enough of glitter gradients lately, so looking at the two glitters Funky Fingers has released this year to raise funds for a childhood cancer charity (Alex's Lemonade Stand, that's where I went with them when it was swatching time. I laid down a base of the mystery white creme I decanted from somewhere, then adorned the tips of my tips with Alex's Pink Lemonade and Alex's Lemonade before adding clear topcoat. This is a summer manicure if I've ever seen one—so bright!





I also tried them one at a time as straightforward toppers. Here's Alex's Lemonade over Funky Fingers To Infinity and Beyond. There was some dabbing necessary to get the larger glitters to behave; I'd say this was about the equivalent of two coats of Alex's Lemonade. These are scented polishes; this one smells lemony and sweet when dry, and continued to do so even after I added clear topcoat. I didn't find it overpowering but I'm not especially sensitive to scents.





I paired Alex's Pink Lemonade with Funky Fingers Pluto 4ever. This combination turned out to be much more low contrast than I expected. Application was the same as its yellow sibling; about two coats including some dabbing, with clear topcoat added to smooth things over. This one smelled sort of generically fruity, some sort of berry, maybe?





I was having fun, so I kept playing with these. I alternated them over a base of Funky Fingers Comet Mebro.



I didn't add topcoat to the look above, because I had the idea the Comet Mebro was sheer enough and the glitter bright enough to make a crelly sandwich. And so it was. Not surprisingly, the yellow glitter came through a little stronger but the pink didn't get entirely covered.





I give both of these a thumbs up for being fun.

Julie G Candy Shoppe Colors

Contains one press sample previously reviewed

Today I have quick Skittles swatches of the latest collection from Julie G, the Candy Shoppe Colors with a "Jelly Bean Finish". Since I lined them up neatly for a group shot when they had their display post debut, I let them get creative for their pre-swatching pose.



I started with the warm colors, first, doing Skittles with Lemon Drop (yellow), Candy Shop (orange), Wild Cherry (red), and Pixi Stick (pink). I used three coats of each, which still left me with a hint of nail line showing; I wasn't crazy about how that looked with these shades.



The "jelly bean finish" as printed on the bottles turned out to be quite right; these colors do look like jelly beans when dry. There's a very slight texture to them but the overall feel is smooth and a touch waxy, just like a real jelly bean.



The cool colors came next; I did three coats of these as well, and they mostly were more opaque than the warm colors. Top to bottom: Sour Apple (green), Sweet Tooth (turquoise), Sour Grape (purple), Lollipop (red violet). Much as I love purple, I wish they'd swapped one of these out to get even more variety in the collection—adding a white, maybe, or a pastel pink, or even just making one of the purples lighter.





Given that these were somewhat sheer, I tried some layering combinations next, along with a straight swatch of the last color, the black. Top to bottom: Lemon Drop and Sour Apple, Sweet Tooth and Sour Grape, Pixi Stick and Lollipop, Licorice Twist. I loved how well these layered to make new colors; just imagine if there were a white, too, and I could make pastels. Maybe I should try it with that Revlon Ethereal from the other day.





If I'd gotten this post up closer to when I did the original swatches, it would end here, but the photos sat waiting for me to get to them long enough that I did one more experiment days later, namely seeing how one of these Candy Shoppe colors would do in a jelly sandwich as compared to true jellies. Left to right below: L'Oreal Jolly Lolly, Julie G Wild Cherry, Wet Paint Jelly Rancher Red, Julie G Wild Cherry; all have Maybelline Gilded in Gold in between.



Below I've used Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine matte topcoat on the two shiny jellies and left the Julie G being jelly bean-y.



And here's everybody all shined up with Beauty Secrets topcoat:



This is a fun collection that feels like summer. My favorite part is the way the colors can be layered to make new ones. These are $3.99 each at Rite Aid when bought singly; the display says "buy 2, get 1 free" and they did ring up that way when I bought them, so might as well three. Seems with Lemon Drop, Wild Cherry, and Sweet Tooth you could make a lot of other colors via layering.

The Wet Paint polish in this entry was provided free for review purposes.