[Essence] Viva la Green

I’m into greens these days – with the weather becoming sunny again and vivid green shades reminding me of the summer. Viva la Green is a bright jade green.

Three coats – because it applied a bit tricky, since it seemed that the formula of this is on the thicker side. However, Viva la Green is worth the effort.

Snapshot – Mint Greens

Here’s a small mint green collection (although Nouvelle Vague has a greater proportion of blue, it’s not really mint green, though), just for comparison.

Essie Mint Candy Apple – Essie Turquoise & Caicos – Orly Ancient Jade – Eyeko Vintage – Essence Viva La Green – Chanel Nouvelle Vague

[Essence] One Kiwi A Day

From their Fruity limited edition, this looks so yummy! Kiwi green with turquoise glitter particles.

One Kiwi A Day needs three (thin) coats to look opaque but it’s worth the effort. For these swatches, I did not use a top coat.

[essence] A Lovely Secret

Another lilac/lavender shade! A Lovely Secret lives up to its name, since it is packed with small flakies.

Two coats. My little one loves this, too.

I’m very much looking forward to today’s dinner… we’ll be eating out at a Japanese restaurant.

[essence] Ultimate Pink

It’s a pink! With a slight blue-ish shimmer (which reminds me of essence’s Time For Reflection topper)… this looks just great. Annete, another Chanel collector and Flaschenkind gave this to me as a present, when I acquired three of her vintage Dior polishes. Thanks again!

I really like essence’s “color & go” range. Bottles are small (only 5 ml), they’ve got an amazing choice of colours, and the varnishes are easy to apply, most of them are opaque after just one coat. What is more, they dry quickly and are usually made to last. So, Ultimate Pink was anything but disappointing. Love it. Such a happy shade!

Ultimate Pink seems to be pretty close to Dior Tibet (haven’t swatched this yet, but I will do a comparison).

‘Lorissa’ Manicure

Just an attempt… I was looking for a mani matching my new heels and ended up with Essie Sand Tropez, topped with Essence Blair.

Sand Tropez comes quite close to the nude colour of the heels, while Blair matches the studs. Here we have Lorissa by Sam Edelman… awesome killer heels! (They are actually really comfy.)

[Essence] Blue Addicted

Not much text these days, I’m sorry – I’m rather busy with university-related stuff and generally a bit absent-minded. Anyway, I like Essence’s current standard range, particularly their glitters. Blue Addicted seems to be a dupe to Across the Universe by Deborah Lippmann. Green and light blue hexagon-shaped glitters and smaller blue glitter particles meet in a blue jelly base.

Below is three coats, I wanted it to be quite opaque. Formula is a bit thickish but nevertheless good to work with, and it’s really loaded with glitter.

[Essence] Re-mix Your Style – Love and Dance Top Coats

At first, I wasn’t sure about those two, but anyway, I could not resist.

I used them both over Chanel Vendetta, which is an almost black purple with a hidden shimmer. The Dance top coat is actually called Waking Up in Vegas and contains loads of flakies. I’ve heard that it is a dupe to GOSH Rainbow and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. Unfortunately, I do not own these two, so I can’t do comparisons.

Feels So Good is the actual name of the Love top coat, which gives the mani underneath a pinkish shimmer, but it’s a quite complex one, so that Vendetta appears more purple than black.

I like both of them.

[Essence] Time For Romance

This is from their latest collection and thus still available. Time For Romance has a wine red jelly base and glitter particles of various shapes and sizes.

It’s quite sheer; this is two coats. I’m sure it would look great layered over opaque varnishes too, such as Calvin Klein Ruby Red or any black.

Another one of this, showing the actual mani. Again two coats, but thicker ones.

[essence] Nail Art Magnetics (again)

Challenged by their new magnet (different shape), I tried four of their magnetic varnishes again. The old magnet did not work well, at least not for me; it was way too small, which was why I temporarily switched to a Mini Babybel magnet.

I usd two coats each and no top coat and I always tried only once to get the magnetic pattern.

Mystic Wish.

Miracle Shine. (See here for a swatch without magnetic pattern.)

These swatches are older; I made them in July, using the Mini Babybel magnet. You’ll recognise the difference. They are actually very bad. Seems that my skills regarding magnetic polishes have improved over the past few months…

Magic Wand.

Pixie Dust.

Pixie Dust is still my favourite magnetic polish. I like the hint of pink in this shade. Although the Nail Art Magnetics initially came out for spring/summer, they look more like classic autumn shades with their overall metallic theme.