Essence - (S)Lime up!

Weird

I like them, weird colors. Unusual colors never seem to bore me, and they're sure something else amidst the usual pinks and reds. But there are times when weird just isn't flattering anymore. At least, that's how I feel about this lime creme by Essence called Lime Up! They sure love exclamation marks over at Cosnova.

It was to be expected I wouldn't be gung-ho on this color, since I couldn't embrace OPI's 'Who The Shrek Are You?' either. As you probably already know, these two colors are very much alike. They're not dupes though: Lime Up! is a bit on the lighter and less muted side than its more expensive semi twin. This color probably is a lot more flattering on those with darker skin than mine. I believe Lime Up! came out last fall and is now part of the core Colour & Go collection by Essence.

Application

The application was actually pretty good though, definitely not as bad as some other Essence polishes I've tried. I applied three coats and experienced no problems like bubbling or streakiness whatsoever. I've worn this color for four days without any signs of chipping or even tipwear. Quite impressive for a budget brand, I'd say! But four days of wearing this slimy color were more than enough, if you ask me.

Essence Colour & Go polishes cost 1.25 EUR or 0.99 USD for 5ml.

Great polishes deserve a name....

... because naming a blog post MNY 549 just looks dumb. Why do nail polish brands do this? It doesn't even have to be a good name. Just name it anything!

Anyway, here is a polish I picked up a couple of months ago at a DM Drogerie (German drugstore chain) but this brand is also available in the Netherlands at Etos. It's a polish that immediately sparked my interest because I love a good taupe! MNY is a brand that sells affordable make-up in trendy colors for a pretty good price. The polishes cost €2,49.


It's a taupe but with purple undertones which is perfect for me because purple and taupe are my favorite colors. (Closely followed by green and blue) I have one Helmer drawer that is about 3/4 full of taupes and I have no dupes!


I needed four coats to get it fully opaque but I knew I would be making macro shots and macro is relentless. I think you can get away with three coats in everyday life.

I decided to do a comparison with some close colors:


Pinky: Essence LE You Rock Collection 02 Love, Peace and Purple. Four coats with topcoat.
Ring finger: Rimmel PRO 385 Hot List. Three coats with topcoat.
Middle finger: MNY 549 (See, it looks stupid with no name!) Four coats with topcoat.
index finger: OPI You Don't Know Jacques. Three coats with topcoat.

The Essence and Rimmel polishes are said to be dupes for Chanel Paradoxal. One difference between the two that I noticed irl but couldn't capture on camera is that the Rimmel one has more purple shimmer and a little, almost not noticeable, pearl shine to it which makes it look very glowy and shiny and brings out the purple shimmer more.

OPI YDKJ has more brown and grey and no purple whatsoever.


The base color on both Paradoxal dupes and MNY 549 is the same though so if you like the color but do not like shimmer polishes, this is the polish for you!

It wasn't until I was writing this blog post that I thought I should have also compared it to Models Own Purple Grey so I pulled the bottle out of my Helmer. They are nothing alike. Purple Grey is darker, a lot more purple and isn't as warm toned because it doesn't have brown or taupe in it. If I remember I'll show this to you another time.

So, that's it for today! I'm going to see if I can find some way to cool down because it's been absolutely tropical here. We're supposed to get rain and thunderstorms here tonight and I'm really looking forward to that. Maybe that will cool things down a bit.

Thanks for looking!

xoxo

Essence Choose Me!

Today I'm wearing Essence Choose Me! This is apparently a dupe for Zoya Charla, OPI Catch Me In Your Net and I belief there's also an Orly polish that is a dupe. I can't compare them for you because I don't own any of those. This is definitely the cheapest of them all though so if you are looking for a budget alternative, you need this in your life!

You've probably seen better pics of this on other blogs but if you haven't I strongly recommend you google this polish. It's a stunning blue-green foil glitter polish that really looks best with a bit of sunshine on it but the sun wouldn't show itself while I was taking pics.


I've seen this polish described as a glitter but I don't agree with that description. It's very sparkly but I would describe this one as a foil. Maybe a foil glitter but not just a glitter.



This is the best pic I could take that shows some of the sparkly goodness. Those of you who own this polishes or one of it's dupes know that it's much better irl but it's impossible to capture without sunlight so this pic will have to do.

Thanks for looking and until next time!

Essence: Right, Girl with Bundle Monster stamp

Hi guys!

It's been a while but I have a manicure I wanted to share with you all. Recently I finally gave in and bought the Bundle Monster plates from www.bundlemonster.com and I'm glad I did! I used an image from plate BM-222 and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme for the design.



Please excuse the tipwear. I'd been wearing this mani for a couple of days before I took the pics.

This polish is from the Essence Multi Dimension line and is called Right, Girl. It's a medium red with red and gold shimmer. The gold shimmer is not very visible on the nail but it's a nice shade anyway.



I don't own many reds (or pinks) but lately I find myself reaching for them more often so I've been expanding my pink and red stash. Do you wear reds and pinks a lot? What are your favorites?

Thanks for looking and until next time!

xoxo Kirsten

Steel Me French Tips!!!!

Last night I was over at my neighbors house, just hanging out with all the other neighbors, and while the guys built a 'Man Cave', AKA igloo outside, lol, the girls hung out and did manis. I am still so fascinated with Essence Magentic polishes, that I just had to use one. I then wanted to do a funky french, and for some reason, I didn't reach for a black!!! I know......instead I wanted a blue. While scanning my new polish case, this Brucci stood out. I really enjoy this combo!!

For this mani I used Essence Steel Me & Brucci Blue Sapphire

Essence Magnetic Metallics Polish Swatches!!!!

WHOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!! So some of you may remember about a giveaway I posted about, that The Laquerista was holding. The giveaway was for the set of Essence Metallic Magnetic polishes. Well.......I WON!!! YAY, and they arrived yesterday. Of course I had to swatch them all, and share with you guys. I have heard that the magnet it came with didn't work well, but I had no issues. I absolutely love these!! They were all one coat. Here is a group shot with and w/out flash.

L-R

Iron Goddess, Copper Rulez, Steel Me, Nothing Else Metals

and here is the magnet and how-to booklet it came with

This is Steel Me, and my 2nd fave of the bunch!

This was my FAVE of them all, Copper Rulez. Do you see the gold sparkles in it?!?!? So pretty

Nothing Else Metals

and finally Iron Goddess



I have wanted to try magnetic polishes ever since I heard about L'Oreal Star Magnet polishes, but I was never able to get my hands on any. I was beyond thrilled to learn I had won these. Have you guys tried any Magnetic polishes before? What do you think of them?

Low Budget (Euro) Matte Top Coats Compared!

Euro - Brick & Mortar

Hi everyone! It's saturday, woohoo! Finally a little time to spend on the blog. For today I have something that will mostly interest Europeans since these brands are not (that easily) available elsewhere, so sorry about that!

I know there are a gazillion matte top coats out there, but I know a lot of people don't like to buy online, so for the people who can get their mitts on these brands I decided to compare three low budget matte top coats!

What top coats?

The top coats in question, are made by Hema, Essence and Catrice. I'll be mainly focusing on their mattifying abilities and their price, and not so much the wear as this is different for everyone.

Likes / Dislikes

As you can see there is one top coat that noticeably falls behind: the Hema matte top coat. It applies very nicely, but it's more satin looking. If this is your thing, I'd say check it out, if you're more into true mattes: skip it! I have reviewed this product before, saying it was not streaky, but today it definitely was! Not so cool. The other two are pretty much identical. They're both made by Cosnova, applied the same way, so I was wondering if these might be the same product in different bottles? Unfortunately I couldn't find ingredients anywhere - which is a major letdown - I think all products should have their ingredients attached to their back.
What I didn't like about the Essence and Catrice top coats was the fact the brushes pick up color. You don't want your top coat to change color, so don't forget to clean up the brush if it got dirty.

Cheap, Cheaper, Cheapest

The Essence Matt top coat costs €1.75 / 8ml, the one by Catrice is €1.99 / 12ml and the Hema will cost you €2.50 / 11ml. As you can see the one by Hema is the most expensive, but the least matte looking. If you want to go for a true matte, I'd suggest you look into the ones by Essence and Catrice. The Essence looks the cheapest, with its price of only €1.75, but is it REALLLLY? A little breakdown:

	Hema Top Coat Matt	Catrice Matt Top Coat	Essence Matt Top Coat
Price in €	2.50	1.99	1.75
Per ml	11	12	8
Price per 100ml	22.73	16.58	21.86

So, if you're looking for a decent, true matte top coat, for the smallest price, the one by Catrice wins hands down!

One product in this post was provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for review. For more information please read my disclaimer

Review: Essence Studio Nails - Nail Fashion Stickers

Essence Nail Stickers

Hi guys! With the change of seasons Essence likes to update their collection with tons of new colors and cool products. This September they added Essence Nail Fashion Stickers to their selection and I was really curious about them. I've tried the Incoco appliques before, and those really knew how to impress me. However, these Essence stickers are much less spenny! There are 14 different designs available and I picked up 3 of them: So hot!, Drama Queen! and Hollywood! (they sure shout a lot over at Essence).

Application

Before applying these you need to clean your nails first. I removed my polish and thoroughly cleaned them with alcohol. After that you select the correct size for each nail and place them on your nails. Some rubbing should remove or reduce wrinkles. Gentle file off the excess of the sticker and you're good to go! As you can see these are nothing like the appliques by Incoco, as they are made from actual polish. Essence Nail Fashion stickers should last up to 5 days. If you'd like you can seal them with a top coat.

Let's not sugarcoat this, these aren't exactly right for my nails. The sizes were pretty okay, but they were still a little bit too small and I don't have the broadest nails in the world to start with. I tried applying these as neat as I could but my nails are just too curvy, so I ended up with wrinkles everywhere.

Wear

So, these should last five days? Nuh uh. I applied top coat on one hand to see if it would make a difference but after an ordinary shower, the stickers decided to curl up around the edges, on both hands! It looked like a big mess so they didn't even make it through the day.

Overall

Considering the price (1.99 eur) these are not that bad. They're not fantastic either. I do love the designs, I think they're fun and the finish does remind me a bit of Minx Nails. I bet someone with flat, small nails would rock the hell out of these. It would have been great if there were more sizes to choose from! The wear isn't like they promised at all, but these would make a nice manicure for a party.

I'm not sure where these stickers are being sold, but you can buy Essence products at Kruidvat (NL), Rossman, Muller, DM Drogist (DL), Ulta (USA) and Shoppers (Canada). For more info check www.essence.eu

New! Essence Studio Nails - Nail Fashion Sticker

Hi! I was just browsing through one of my favorite sites PinkMelon and I found these! I'm so excited, I just HAD to share! Essence is really good at coming up with new stuff that makes me drool. They will release nail stickers in 14 different designs to choose from! I'm guessing they're not the same as the ones we know by Incoco but maybe Minx? According to Essence: Whether striped, hip or cool, wild and colorful or subtle and elegant - these self-adhesive nail stickers are the ultimate accessory to spice up your look.

Price & Availability

Retail price will be €1.99 per design, that's so damn cheap! Essence Nail Fashion Stickers will hit stores in October and will be a part of their coreline, so I'm guessing these will be widely available!

What do you think of these?

source: PinkMelon

New Essence stampy plates!

Essence Stampy Plates

I stumbled upon four new plates by Essence, I think these are pretty cute!! What do you think? I don't know when and where these will be sold, I'll update when I know more :-)

Source: EssenceAdicta

Review: Essence Nail Art Pens

Essence & Nail Art

Essence is really getting into nail art recently. They now have an entire line of glitters, decals, special nail art base & top coats and also these six Nail Art pens! Nail art can take up a lot of time, especially if you're into freehand stuff. Will these pens make your nail art life easier?

Essence came up with these pens in six different colors, the packaging actually reminds me a lot of markers. They're fairly easy to use. Give them a good shake, press on the tip until the polish comes out and you're all set. I played around with these and they're pretty neat when it comes to drawing, thanks to the pointy tip.

Swatches

I swatched the colors over black and white, to show you how they're holding up against a bold background.

• Cool Black is really awesome, it's very opaque and applies pretty nicely, allowing to make neat tight lines (which I obviously didn't - damn caffeine!).
• Silver Star is another winner, very opaque, easy to handle.
• Then we have Silver White, in the picture it looks nearly the same as Silver Star but it's not, I was expecting this to be a solid white, but I got a pearly sheer white instead, not a fan of this one.
• Next in line is Deep Purple, I love this color but it has an extremely watery texture, so it's almost if you're making a water-colour painting with this one.
• Same goes for Juicy Orange, sheer, watery, I don't like it.
• Last but not least we have Spacy Pink. Spacy pink looks a LOT lighter than its deceiving packaging, but because it's a very well pigmented color, I liked it nonetheless.

Conclusion

Overall I'd say these are nice, but not perfect. I would recommend getting Cool Black, Silver Star and Spacy Pink and that's about it. And luckily those make up for a great color combination! You can also use top coat on these without smudging your lines, I was pleasantly surprised!

I got these at Dutch drugstore Kruidvat and they were €1,99 each.

Essence Colour & Go: Underwater

Underwater with Essence

Hi guys! For today I have one of those 'from the vault' posts, I found out I had this swatch lying around, so I thought I'd share! This pretty bright blue nail polish makes me desperately long for a good swim, on a tropical island (while pretending to be Brooke Shields).

It's pretty, bright, especially on a sunny day. In the shade it's definitely more flat-looking. Application was very good, you'd expect a crappy tiny brush, judging on the tiny bottle, but boy I was wrong. It isn't as wide as the famous OPI brush, but still wider than most. It does need three coats for complete coverage, but it dries fast! The only thing that bugs me though, is the finish, it's a bit frosty, so hellooo brush strokes. I'm not sure how I feel about frosts all together though, it seems to be a bit outdated if you ask me.

Essence Colour & Go

Essence's Underwater belongs to their Colour & Go line, these cost €1.25 ($1,60) for 5ml. But if you're lucky enough to live in the States, these will only cost you €0,80 ($0.99 ) each, hmmm interesting!