Grey nails for a grey mood--Essie Cocktail Bling swatch

These were my nails last weekend--grey nails to match a grey mood and grey weather...this is my favorite grey-blue color, Cocktail Bling, from the Essie Winter 2011 Collection.  While I hate grey I adore this color--it's a beauty and very original.

Essie Angora Cardi swatch

This is Angora Cardi, from the Fall 2009 collection.  This color is described on Essie's website as a dusty rose, but in my opinion it is more of a mauve/plum color.  It's very fall-like and fits in with the cloudy and cold weather that we've been having lately!

Comparison of Essie Macks, Up's, and Limited Addiction

Three very similar colors (at least from the bottles you can see below)...I own Macks, and as I wrote in previous posts, I bought Up's and Limited Addiction to give as presents to some girlfriends...before doing so I decided to do a comparison to see the slight differences in colors...Well as you can see from the second photo, from left to right are: Limited Addiction, Macks, and Up's.  The funny thing is that while Up's appears to be the darkest color in the bottle, it is actually the lightest on the nail (only by a smidgen).  My ring finger has Limited Addiction, the middle one Macks, and the index has Up's. The first two pics of my fingers are with 1 coat, and the second three pics are with 2 coats of each polish.  While the differences are virtually unnoticeable, I would say that Limited Addiction is the brightest, Up's the lightest red, and Macks is somewhere in the middle.  Bug again, if you own one, you do not need any of the other two.

Essie Bobbing for Baubles swatch

This looks like dark navy in the bottle, but this is one of these weird colors which is actually darker on the nail than in the bottle.  Believe it or not, this is 1 coat, and it looks almost black, even though the picture was taken in sunlight.  This was part of Essie's Winter Collection 2011.  Even though I own this polish, I much prefer Midnight Cami (a blue-black where you can actually SEE the blue color) and No More Film (indigo-black) which are the two colors along this spectrum that I prefer to wear.

Essie Up's swatch

This is almost the same color as Essie Limited Addiction and Essie Macks! I will soon do a comparison so you can see the (ever-so-slight) differences!  Obviously I am giving away Limited Addiction and Up's since one doesn't need them if one already has Macks.  Blood Red once again!

Essie Limited Addiction swatch

This is Limited Addiction, from the Fall 2010 Collection.  Again, this is very similar to Essie Macks (I will do a comparison shortly), it is a blood red, perfect for any season.  'Nuff said.

Essie Size Matters swatch

Along with Macks, this is my other favorite Essie red.  It is slightly bluer-based than Macks and also comes off as a bit duller on the nail--perfect for winter, but also perfect for any season.  There is something really sexy about blood red!  It was part of last year's Essie's Winter Collection.

Essie Power Clutch swatch

So...another similar color to Smokin Hot--its green counterpart, I would say, is Power Clutch.  It's another color I wouldn't wear--it is green-grey, but in my mind the darker grey comes across much more than the green.  It doesn't help that it's a cloudy day here in Athens and while I took the photos outside, you can hardly see the green.  This is another color that I will be gifting away to my friend Georgia who has her birthday next week!

Essie Smokin Hot swatch

So.  It's been 3 months (technically over 3 months!) since my last post in early August and I have to say shame on me! I got caught up in the craziness of having a full-time job that is more than 8 hours a day, and at the same time, the little free time that I had I decided to be out and active as much as possible, leaving me no time for swatching.  In order to make up for lost time, I decided to show you 5 different colors, all fall-winter-like! After all, it's officially cold, we're well into fall, and I wanted to show you the shift in seasonal nail looks.  This post shows you Essie's Smokin Hot, from the Winter 2010 Collection.  Now, this is never a color that I would normally wear, it's just that ordered a few new polishes to give to friends for their birthdays, and this is one that I'll be giving to one of my favorite girlfriends for her birthday which was this week!  This is a purple-grey, but in my mind it just looks like a very dark putty grey.  Ugly in my opinion (i hate colors that can't be described in one word!) and I would never wear this, but it is popular nonetheless which is why I thought it necessary to swatch it.

Essie Play Date swatch

So as you can tell from the background I'm on a mini-vacation by the sea for the weekend, and this color is actually on my toes right now but I hate feet swatches so I put it on my hands (before putting on Bikini So Teeny which is the real color I'm wearing at the moment!) to show you.  I have Bikini So Teeny on my hands and Play Date on my toes which is a great combination.  Play Date is from Essie's Go Overboard Collection (a mini one with only 3 colors) which came out in January, and it is a purple, 3 coats shown here.  It's the only real purple Essie has (she has a ton of other lilacs/lavenders) and it is a vivid color which looks great on feet.  I will do some more swatches of Essie colors later this week before I leave for my real vacation!

Essie Bikini So Teeny swatch

So I'm going to start August off with a bang and do two posts today! Essie Bikini So Teeny is from Essie's 2012 Summer Collection and is a sky blue that sometimes looks bright and other times looks pale.  It is very similar to Essie Lapis of Luxury (see a previous post of mine) but is a shade lighter.  I like it and it is very summery.  This is 3 coats.

Essie Borrowed & Blue swatch

So I've been absent from this blog for about three weeks...yet again! I've been delinquent...I started a new job and have been running around crazy busy for the past three weeks...however I plan to return to posting once a week as I did before.  This is a lovely powder blue from Essie's 2011 Wedding Collection...it's a lovely pastel light blue color.  This is 2 coats.  As usual, this is part of my blue nail polish obssession, but to be honest, it only looks good on a tanned hand (as I have now!).