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.

Essie Winter Collection

Please click to see full sized.

Looks like Essie is branching out a bit from the normal reds - a few brown/taupe colors, a green?  Awesome!  It's already available for purchase online.

Essie "Made In The Shade"

Do you see what I see?!  A glitterly blue?  Go Essie!  I may have to pick that one up even though I'm getting a small collection going of sparkly blues.

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website].

Essie "Summer Collection"

Essie?  Doing a green?  Nice!  The name of this collection is a bit boring though, but hey, they are working on it. ^_^

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website].

Essie "Color Your Prom Night"

Please click on the image to see it larger.

Oh Prom - remember that night?  Yeah, I had a horrible prom too.  I actually got fake acrylics for the first time for my senior prom.  Yeah, dumb of me.

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website].

Essie "The Resort Collection"

[Please click for larger size]

Check this out!  Essie - with a blue and a green?!  Here I just mentioned two posts ago how it was all about pinks and reds.  Well, never say never.

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website].

Essie "Mother's Day"

[Please click on image to see full size]

Although Essie has been purchased by L'Oreal, they are still sending me plenty of emails.  ^_^  I've heard the largest complaint about Essie is the mountain of pinks and reds they have and this is no exception.

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website].

Essie "Color Me Delicious"

[Please click on image to see full size]

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website].

Essie "Wedding Collection"

Please click on the image to see it full screen.  Essie is coming out with a Wedding Collection this year.  The colors look sweet - Petal Pink, BBF Best Boyfriend, Pillow Talk, Walk Down The Aisle, Show Me The Ring, and Main Squeeze.  I'm not sure if they are creams or shimmers, but they are pretty.

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website].

Essie Icons of Color

Got this email in about some new Essie ^_^

You can always click on the image to see it bigger, in case you miss the bottom line about free shipping on orders of $40 or more (enter code: FREESHIP40).  

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website]

Essie Art of Spring Collection

 I've seen some good swatching reviews of this collection, specifically Lilacism.  You can always click on the image to see it bigger, in case you miss the bottom line about free shipping on orders of $40 or more (enter code: FREESHIP40).  


Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website]

Essie Glamour Do

Essie has joined Twitter [official Twitter page] and so I figured no time like the present to swatch the only Essie in my collection Essie Glamour Do.  This was a promotion from Glamour [official website] magazine's 70th anniversary and the first 5,000 people to go to Glamour's website back in March 2009 and enter their information, won a bottle.  I don't know what number I was, but I was in the 5,000!


Free is free, and this was one tiny bottle, at only 0.16 fluid ounces compared to others which are normally around 0.5 fluid ounces.  Even the China Glaze Matte Magic was 0.325 fluid ounces.  Here's my bottle next to a bottle of Seche Vite top coat.

Glamour Do is a very sheer, very light pink.  It took me 5 coats to get this level of opacity, and as you can see, I smeared my pointer finger.  By the time I was done taking pictures, I smeared my ring ringer too, hah.  Overall it's a pretty color, but I'd probably use it either as a layer color over white, or just as a quick sheer for the day.

Essie can be purchased on their website [official website] or etailers like Head2ToeBeauty [official website] or TransDesign [official website]