One of the reasons that I haven’t been blogging a lot lately is because I had a bad nail break on each hand, and I really couldn’t be bothered to cover them up with fakes just so that I could swatch for the blog.

However, they’re growing back now and I’m pleased as although I’ve been wearing polish, it’s been boring shades. I’ve missed swatching too. So, I’m back to my “swatched by brand” project. And today I have Essie, for you, as requested by my blogger friend Product Pixie.

I’m not mad about Essie polishes. Famed for pale, nude, sheer shades, I have previously owned some of these, but I have given or swapped all of them away. So what we have left is a collection of polishes that, in all honesty, I rarely wear. I find Essie brushes to be a total faff and it takes me forever to paint my nails with one. It has to be a pretty special colour for me to go out and buy one. And yet, I appear to have amassed a fair few. What I like about this swatching by brand project is finding old polishes that I probably look over a dozen times a week but never actually wear. And there are a fair few gems here actually.

Chinchilly is a murky greenish grey. I really like this one, although application is a bit on the runny side.

Cap Ferrat is, from what I know, an old and discontinued polish. It is super frosty and strokey but I do quite  like it actually. Cool grey with a hint of pink.

Rock Star Skinny is one I really like. Dark maroon with an almost blue-ish silver sheen to it. This is an old photo as I cannot find my bottle of this for the life of me. Shame.

Sexy Divide is one of Essie’s most famous polishes. No idea what the name means but I know that this is a stunner of a purple jelly. Not a bad rival to Illamasqua’s Baptiste – it has that same blue-ish pink shimmer. It glows and is really striking.

Lollipop. Oh no no no no no no. This is four coats. Personally, I hate coloured yet sheer jellies, but this shade still has a ton of loyal fans. I know people love them, but not me. One for the pile marked “blog sale”.

Mochachino. Another old and discontinued one. The bottle is different and I think this was some kind of collaboration outside of the usual Essie range. If you like it, Orly Nite Owl is practically identical.

Bold & Beautiful. Three coats of the kind of oxidised, blood red shade that really does nothing for me. Nothing wrong with it, I just wouldn’t wear it.

Merino Cool. This actually applied brilliantly, best out of all of the Essie’s I have. Practically a one coater, this is glossy and nicely done.

Huckle Buckle. An old favourite – I picked this up in my very early days of blogging and I still love it. It has a milky, opalescent quality to it – sheer lavender with pink shimmer. It is best used for layering though as is too jelly-ish to build. Definitely a stunner though.

Splash of Grenadine. Nice, actually. A blue toned pink creme that manages not to be too sickly or bright. Ideal for summer toes, and will look great with a tan.

Amalfi. Discontinued, but for all the right reasons. Isn’t this three coats of utter grim?

Sag Harbor. I was so happy to rediscover this fab greyed out pastel. I’d forgotten about the delicate pearly shimmer that this polish has. And it just about manages not to give me lobster hands, unlike…

Turquoise & Caicos, which gives me the worst case of lobster claws ever. These mint greens hate me. Shame, as this is actually quite a nice shade.

Damsel In A Dress. Another that I was really happy to rediscover. Pretty plum shade with delicate silver frosting. Very similar to this season’s OPI Vampsterdam.

Mink Muffs. This looks so much better in the bottle than it does on. I usually like brown shades but this one is a tad boring and muddy for me. It applied nicely though.

Playa Del Platinum.  Oogh. Not good. Not good at all. Platinum? Are you sure?

Lapis of Luxury. This, I really like. It is creamy and bright and more cornflower than pastel. It made me feel all summery, which is no mean feat seeing as I swatched this on a day where it didn’t get above -1c and there is still a lot of snow on the ground.

So there we have it. I’m a bit ashamed to say that swatching some of these today is actually the first time I’ve used them. I don’t feel overly excited though. And given the fiddly little brush, it took me twice as long to swatch these as it would the same number of shades from any other brand.

I do keep an eye on Essie collections, but on the whole, I find them to be a bit safe and not all that unique. What do you think? Can you suggest any shades that might bring me out of my Essie apathy?

Oh and look…. someone was trying to help…

*all bought by me or given as gifts from friends and bloggers