07 May 2013

Essie Neon Collection 2013 - DJ Play That Song: Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! As promised in my last post I have a new collection for you. While I have some good things to say about the new Essie neons, I also have some not so good things to say. So if you're thinking about getting any of these, don't just look at the pretty pictures but also read/skim what I have to say about them. Yes, I know we're all overloaded with information, I'm guilty of just looking at the pretty pictures as well. But sometimes I think that people just see my photos and think that because a polish looks good, that there wasn't any problems with it. Blogger problems, right!?

Essie Neon Collection 2013 - DJ Play That Song

Keep in mind that for all swatches I applied the colours over one coat of Sally Hansen White On, a pure white that is almost/but not quite a one-coater. You can wear these on their own, but the colours really pop when worn over white.

I'll go through each polish, and offer some of my thoughts at the end.

Boom Boom Room is a bright baby doll pink. This was the only one out of the six that was not thin and watery. I used two generous coats for these swatches and I found that formula-wise it levelled nice and even.

Essie Boom Boom Room

Essie Boom Boom Room

Bottle Service is a bright hot fuchsia. The formula was thin and dried matte, however, it was one of the better formulas and went on very smooth and streak-free. I used two coats over white. Note: this one is impossible to capture accurately, it's slightly darker and more of a cool-toned magenta in real life.

Essie Bottle Service

Essie Bottle Service

Bouncer It's Me is a vivid *rich* cobalt blue. Absolutely gorgeous. Like the others, the consistency was thin and watery, and it dried matte. I used two coats, thin on the first one and thicker on the second. There was slight streaking on this one though. :(

Essie Bouncer It's Me

Essie Bouncer It's Me

DJ Play That Song is a gorgeous warm-leaning purple. I used three coats over white, which was pretty frustrating. This one is also a bit watery and dries matte.

Essie DJ Play That Song

Essie DJ Play That Song

Saturday Disco Fever is a bright, eye-searing orange. In the bottle it has a slight coral tint, but that disappeared on the nail and it was just orange - like traffic cone orange - not the coral that was described in the press release. Another one with a thin watery formula that dries matte, and I used two coats here.

Essie Saturday Disco Fever

Essie Saturday Disco Fever

Shake Your $$ Maker is a very vibrant kelly/Irish green. This was another three-coater and even then there was streaking and shrinkage at the tips of the nails. Super bummer.

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker

So now that you've seen the individual polishes, let's talk about the good and the bad, okay?! First, the good: the colours, oh man the colours!! I find the colours in this collection absolutely gorgeous. In the bottles they look fairly bright, but not really neon. However, when layered over white, they are so vivid and vibrant. I really mean it when I say they "pop" when layered over an opaque white base. I can also see these being fun for nail art, for example a white-based neon tribal design (*note to self - update nail art to-do list*).

But here's the bad: the formula on these. The formula on these was not horrible, but I wouldn't say it was the greatest. Had I known, I might not have bought them. Here are my concerns:

  • My first concern - the number of coats. All of these polishes took 2-3 coats, but that was over the white base. So if a polish was three coats, in reality that's four, way too much in my book. For swatching four coats might not be too much, but when we're talking about a full mani.... "Ain't nobody got time for that!" 
  • Second concern - the streaking. Even with two to three coats I found they did not go on evenly. Some were better than others, but in the photos you may be able to see the unevenness in some of them. 
  • Third concern - thin watery formula that wants to pool in your cuticles. It seemed to pool more than usual because I was also trying to cover up the white base (unsuccessfully at times). 
These are my concerns, so you may not experience them or really care. Read other reviews before deciding on whether to buy them. I don't dislike them, but I wish that they were better. 

What do you think of these? Was this review helpful/not helpful?

21 comments:

  1. I actually *love* it when posts go into depth about the polishes. I don't like it when it's just pictures because I really want to know what you thought of the polish as a whole in person! There's so much that we can't see in the pictures.

    Anyways, great swatches! I actually love the two pinks! That's rare for me! haha

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    1. Thanks so much for your feedback, and glad to hear you liked my swatches. I'm with you on liking when posts go into depth, but from a blogger standpoint I can see why many stick to photos with minimal description - it's a lot of time to put together these reviews. Sometimes I don't say much about a polish because it's fine and I don't have much to say about it. But I try to say enough so that someone can make an informed decision. :/

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    2. Well thank you for putting so much time into your posts.. I always love and appreciate them all! Sometimes polishes can just speak for themselves without too much of a description, so I definitely understand that too! Haha

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  2. I bought 2 but haven't had time to try them yet. Essie's formula has been getting better lately so this is kind of sad.

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    1. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts when you try them. You might not feel the same way I do about them. I still plan to get more Essies though, despite my disappointment with these.

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  3. What a shame the formulas weren't very good! I don't usually go in for brights, but a couple of these really caught my eye - the green and the magenta in particular.

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    1. Yes, I was really hopeful for these as well. I would recommend the magenta over the green if you wanted to get something from the collection, it has a noticeably better formula.

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  4. I have bouncer it's me. And I agree - the polish was a total letdown. I couldn't believe how watery the formula was - the first coat looked like a disaster! I didn't layer it over white, and the three coats still were sort of sheer. The matte finish was disappointing too! I didn't expect that. Essie has NEVER ever let me down before this :-(

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    1. I love the colour on Bouncer It's Me, I just wish it was less sheer. Boom Boom Room (the lighter pink) is more of a cream, and it would be great if the other polishes were like that one.

      I wish that Essie had made it more clear that these would have a thinner formula and a matte finish.

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  5. I got Bottle Service and I love the color - glad to see that boom boom room isn't one of the troublesome colors because that's the only other one I was thinking of getting ;) Thanks for a comprehensive review!

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    1. You're welcome Kelli! :) Boom Boom Room is a great colour, I love it! And formula wise it's much different than the other polishes, more of a creme.

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  6. I don't really care for neons, and even less with formulas like these.. :(

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    1. I don't normally go for neons but I was very interested in this collection because they are not your typical day glow orange neons.

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  7. Those colours are GORGEOUS! It's too bad about the formulas though. I haven't had the best luck with Essie polishes yet, they've all been thin, watery and streaky for me.

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    1. I've had good and not so good experiences with Essie. Some polishes are very thin and streaky, like you said, but others are fantastic. I have the winter collection and love it, so I had high hopes for this one.

      I agree with you on the colour, hopefully these will be good for nail art!

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  8. I really like the colors of these polishes but I agree that that many coats of polish is just too much!

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    1. I hear you! I always do what I can to make my swatches look the best possible - to showcase the polish. But sometimes it's not feasible for everyday use.

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  9. Thanks for the honest review! I was going to get all of these but I don't think I will anymore. I appreciate it when bloggers share the troubles they have had with application/formula. There is nothing worse than getting a polish because it looked great in the photos and then being disappointed when you try it.

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    1. You're welcome Vicky! I also dislike it when a blog has great photos and doesn't really say much about the polish or really describe it fully. My aim is to be honest as possible while doing it in a constructive manner.

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  10. thank you for the review! I think I can pass on this collection and move on to the summer and winter collection! The only color I really liked in here was DJ Play that song. I love when the bloggers talk about the formulas and how easy/difficult was the application :)

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  11. I just bought and did a swatch review of "Shake Your $$ Maker." I agree completely. It was super watery; just kept sliding down my cuticle and would not stay on the tips either. Gorgeous color though. And I did two coats but they were thick and took FOREVER to dry. YIKES!

    Thank you for reviewing the color!

    Dee (dynomitenails.blogspot.com)

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