Fragrance Direct is a discount cosmetics, beauty, fragrance etc website. I have written about Fragrance Direct before, I'm definitely not new to the site ;). I have bought a lot of nail polishes from there before including Essie (£2.49) and OPI (£3.49).
This time I have a 100% Essie haul including 10 gorgeous retired limited addition shades. Some of them are actually pretty recent from last Christmas/Autumn!
First up is Jump In My Jumpsuit.
I said the same on my Instagram, sometimes I forget how beautiful a classic red looks.
This is a slightly darker toned red, my perfect shade of red.
I think it looks really bold and beautiful.
The formula was incredible.
I only used 1 coat for the swatch.
It's really creamy, super opaque and incredibly easy to work with. It dries super glossy.
The Europeans Essie polishes have a very flat wide brush, which makes application super easy.
More info and swatches after the jump!
More info and swatches after the jump!
Next is Fifth Avenue.
I kind of bought this for sentimental value. When I placed this order I was about to go on holiday to New York, so of course I had to have this... I didn't really NEED another red.
That being said, I can never have too many reds, it's one of my go to colours when I don't know what to wear.
This is a much lighter and brighter shade of red and slightly more orange toned.
Again the formula was great.
It was almost fully opaque in 1 coat. You could easily get away with just 1, but there was the slightest visible nail line, so I added a second coat.
It's completely streak free and dries super glossy.
Take It Outside is a relatively new shade, from the Autumn 2014 collection.
This is a very light taupey grey. It leans more on the brown side of taupe than purple.
The formula was great!
Again it was almost fully opaque in 1 coat. There was the slightest visible nail line so I applied a second coat. You could easily get away with just 1 thicker coat as it's completely streak free.
The second coat does slightly depend the colour. I did actually prefer this on just 1 coat as the rosiness from my nails peeked through making it a little warmer toned.
it dries super glossy.
Next up is a surprisingly favourite.
This is Eternal Optimist.
In the bottle this looked really dull and not something I'd ever wear, but on the nails it was this gorgeous pinky neutral.
The formula was super easy to work with.
It was slightly sheer on the first coat, so does require two coats. The second coat also deepens the colour.
It dries glossy.
This is another Essie that came out last year, summer 2014. It feels like last month all of these collections came out, I can't believe Essie has just launched its Summer 2015 shades!
This is a bright hot red toned pink, or as Essie calls it a hot guava pink.
It's not the most unique shade, and it immediately reminds me of OPI Koala Berry (I haven't compared them yet!) but these kinds of colours are great for the summer.
This had an incredible formula.
For a lot of these shades I applied 2 coats even though they could be fine with just 1...
This is just 1 coat. There was no reason to apply a second one.
It's fully opaque with an even finish. It dries super glossy.
This was one of the ones I was really looking forward to, but now I'm not so sure about it.
This is Warm & Toasty Turtleneck from the Winter 2013 collection, woah that's long ago!
I wanted this one for ages but never really ended up buying it, until now..
It's a great neutral purple shade, but I already have a favourite neutral purple shade that I would pick over anything else! (Kester Black French Lavender). It's very similar but slightly lighter and cooler toned.
That being said, it has a great formula.
It was almost fully opaque in 1 coat, and you could get away with doing 1 thicker coat. I applied 2 for the swatch as the second coat slightly deepens the colour.
Again it dries super glossy.
Next up is Strut Your Stuff, another summer 2014 shade!
This is a super bright fun true blue.
When this came out, it was compared to the blue from the Neons collection called I'm Addicted, but this had a better formula.
The formula on this wasn't as great as the others.
It's a lot more sheer crelly-like whereas the others are all straight up cremes.
It was almost fully opaque in 2 coats, but there was still a slight visible nail line so I used 3 for the swatch.
That being said, it was a very smooth, non streaky formula.
Next is Muchi Muchi.
Essie used to do a lot of these sheer pink shades, it's not something I'd wear all the time but a nice palate cleanser in between brights.
This is a little too pink for me though. With sheer polishes I'm after something very subtle and delicate.
I used 3 coats for the swatch.
There is still a visible nail line (more obvious in real life), but like I said it's a sheer polish so it isn't meant to be built up to full opacity.
This was slightly streaky on the first coat, but could be worn at 2 coats.
It dries super glossy.
Almost at the end now!
This is Dress To Kilt, another stunning deeper red shade.
This and Jump in my Jumpsuit at 98% similar. You definitely don't need both. I managed to photograph both colour accurately and you'll be able to see that this is slightly darker. But that's it really. I don't prefer one over the other. They're both great!
The formula, again, is fantastic.
I used 2 coats for the swatch, although you could easily get away with just 1 thicker coat.
It dries super glossy.
Finally, last is All Tied Up.
This is a dark rosy toned polish with tons of golden glitter.
I swatches this in the evening with artificial lighting and it looked straight up brown. It was shocking to see the colour in these photos! And when I googled swatches this is what I saw everywhere. But I swear it was brown. I'll have to test it out in natural day light to see the actual colour.
Anyway, the golden shimmer is stunning, again in artificial lighting it wasn't very apparent but when I used my phone's torch the shimmer jumped off my nails.
The formula is incredible.
It was almost fully opaque in 1 coat, but a second coat deepens the colour slightly. It dries glossy, but not quite as glossy as the others so I did apply a topcoat to this swatch.
That's it for the haul! I'm seriously impressed with Essie, they have really stepped up their game! Essie is known for its hit or miss formulas, but these were all so easy to work with.
Check out Fragrance Direct for all their amazing offers. Their stock changes regularly, so I like keeping an eye on the website for any new Essie's. As far as I'm aware most of these are still on their website, but there are tons more.
xx Elaine
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