essie it's genius

essie has always kind of flown under my radar.  The only places I knew you could buy it was on their website or through etailers, so I just stayed away.  I finally saw them at Trade Secret, but nothing caught my eye.  When essie announced in November 2010 that they were going retail (for more info, check out All Lacquered Up), I thought maybe I'd see more of it...  Well have I ever.  Now it's in Wal-Mart, HEB, Walgreens, CVS...  those are the only stores in my area, so it was like an overload for me.  It's nice!  


I picked up it's genius at Walgreens I believe, for $7 a bottle.  While I was a little surprised by the price, I figured it would be worth it.  This is a violet quartz with beige undertones according to their website but I found it to be a lilac purple with gold shimmer.  Go figure.  I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 2 coats of it's genius, and a top coat of Seche Vite.  The formula worked well.  This is a DBP, Toluene and Formaldyhyde free brand.


See the gold shimmer in the bottle?  I have a bonus sun picture.


Maybe it is a violet...


Pretty shade picture for you.


And finally indoors with the flash.  I do like that the name of the polish is a sticker on the top of the bottle.  I tend to find the bottles of some polishes not to be perfectly flat, and the sticker doesn't sit just right.


Overall, I was happy with my purchase, but I think I would have been a bit happier for about $4.  I'm constantly questioning the cost of everything, so this could just be me.  :)


You can purchase essie in a number of locations; check out their website for more.  You can also like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.