Loading, please wait...

4.0/5
554 reviews
Essie Nail Polish Reviews
    ChickAdvisor Reviewers' Choice Award™ 2021 ChickAdvisor Reviewers' Choice Award™ 2020
    4.7/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    July 18, 2011

    I just love Essie nail polish! I have about a dozen of different colors and I use them all the time! My favorite color is mint candy apple, but brazilliant is great too! Too coats are enough for most colors, but the paler, pastel tone may need 3 coats (like mint candy apple)

    Flag as Spam
    4.2/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    July 18, 2011

    Essie polishes are nice, their thin but apply very smooth. Their well know for their pale sheer colors that are perfect for french manicures. Lately they've been coming out with great vibrant colors for summer which is nice to see from a brand that mainly did muted colors or pastels. I've really only has experience with newer Essie in which the formulation is that perfect thin but streak free consistency, most of my essies are opaque in 3 thin coats. Wear time is average with a base and top coat.

    Flag as Spam
    3.5/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    June 09, 2011

    I have a few Essie nail polishes and I kind of love them. The thin formula is nice, but usually need a second coat. That being said, I find I need a second coat with most polishes I use. Every summer I paint my toes red, and Forever Yummy is by far my favourite red this year. It's a bright red that really stands out on my toes, and I love that the brush is small enough that I can paint my baby toes.

    Flag as Spam
    4.5/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    March 15, 2011

    Essie is hands down my favorite brand of nail polish. I love that its a thin formula and not thick and goopy. It comes in so many wonderful colors and it is so long lasting. Rarely chips on me. Lilacism is my favorite essie color. I always get so many compliments on it,

    Flag as Spam
    4.3/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    December 05, 2010

    I like to have sheerly-painted tidy nails and this polish is just enough color and opacity to look well-groomed. A thinner formula but two coats usually does the trick. I haven't used a dark shade (I used Mademoiselle) so I can't say how the darker shades look.

    Lasts a long time on my nails. Has a powerful scent though. I wish they could formulate it with a lighter scent so I don't have to have my window open while applying the product.

    Bottom line: I WILL re-purchase!

    Flag as Spam
    3.5/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    December 01, 2010

    I tried Really Red when I got it in a sample kit, and I really liked it, the color was beautiful. But I think it's kind of hard to apply, there seems to be a lot of polish on the brush. But I still love it. :) I also have a pearly pink color, and I don't love that color as much.

    Flag as Spam
    4.8/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    June 08, 2010

    This is a very necessary review. In my mind, there are two kinds of necessary reviews: really good ones, and really bad ones. This is a case of a really good review. I have been looking for a 'go-to' formula of polish that is really consistent and performs well. I was thinking that perhaps I would have to settle with decent or passable polishes for the rest of my life.........

    I actuall picked up an Essie Polish on sale at Shoppers. It is regularily a little on the pricey side for me at 11CDN regular. But it goes on sale for 3 or more bucks, which is nice and definitely more within my acceptable price range for non-luxury brand polish (I will admit that I can see myself splurging on when my budget - or Bay Card allows. =)) I can say now, though that I would say that for the right shade I would, without hesitation, pick up another shade (or two, or three, or four...).

    My first imbibement was the shade Pink Glove Service. This shade actually proved to be a dissapointment in terms of shade and pigment, but that was my own fault, but the formula was to die for. It looks like a jellyish pink shade in the bottle but is essentially clear on nails. It was a mid-read on my part because after the fact I should have known that it would have been clear based on the bottle shade.

    After the Pink Glove Service experience I wanted to try out some other Essie products and I picked up To Dry For, a quick dry top coat that I reviewed and loved. I was wanting to add some more shades but the one in particular that I wanted I couldn't find in stores and hadn't gotten around to picking it up on E-Bay. It was Lapis of Luxury. A cornflower creme that was so pale denimish and smooth I just couldn't resist. I wanted it instantly. It was part of the Resort Collection so it wasn't included in the usual Essie range and the shoppers that I get Essie at didn't seem to have it. I wound up this past weekend going to Shoppers and took a walk around the beauty counter cashier display and found the whole Resort Collection (I may have to go back for more). They also had the spring collection and there was a striking shade of red called Rouge Nouveau. It's a deep red with both orange and blue undertones so it compliments many skin tones - even my pale hands that usually do not enjoy oranges. They were also on sale for 6.99CDN a piece. Boo yah. Could it get any better? Yes - I was using my mans bank card so he picked them up for me! Yooo Hoooo!

    I'll tell you now about the polish party that was had when I got home. So much fun. Lapis of Luxury was everything I wanted in terms of shade and finish. I did two coats initially then To Dry For, but I found the next day that it was still a little streaky so the next time I applied I used three. Not a problem as the Essie formula dries well. Red Nouveau is a total knockout. Totally vampy but fun at the same time. Two coats does it great, no problem.

    The Essie brush is narrow, but I really like it and find that it compliments their formula well. I find that it does have good control and I don't end up getting polish all over my fingers. The bottle is simple but sleek. It's a pretty bottle - easy to hold in your hand.

    The wear is good. I have been using OPI Start to Finish Original as my base coat with TDF as that was the only product I had. I have already reviewed the OPI STF and I can actually say now that it does get thick really fast. It just doesn't go on as nice as it did when I first bought it. I'm only about a quarter of the way through the bottle. I am hoping though, that wear is improved now that I've bought Essie First Base Base Coat and used it tonight with Lapis of Luxury. Since I've enjoyed so many other Essie Products I'm optimistic that this will extend my manicures. Usually my nails last about 2 days - which isn't good as many other people say that they get up to a week on their nails. I'm thinking that I'm just really hard on my nails and I do type alot in a day.

    To conclude (finally) I would say that Essie Nail Polish is very nice and would certainly reccomend it.

    Swatches courtesy of makeupandbeautyblog.com (Pink Glove Service), vampyvarnish.com (Lapis of Luxury and Red Nouveau)

    Flag as Spam
    4.8/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    April 20, 2010

    I love love love Essie nail polish. Essie has a wide range of neutrals, light pinks and reds which I usually lean towards. The quality is fantastic because it stays on your nails until you decide to remove it, and the nail polish is reasonably priced considering the quality. I would highly recommend this brand of nail polish

    Flag as Spam
    3.5/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    November 30, 2009

    Alot of people tend to stick with the famous OPI brand because it's been around longer. Little do people know that OPI's quality does not match the ones of Essie's. Essie may not have as much colours as OPI but their polish lasts longer and stay true to the colour that you intially applied on to your nails.

    Essie's colours stay shiny much longer and does not stain your nails as other nail polishes do. Also, as mentioned before, the colour that you applied on your nails do not dull down or lose it's colour once it's been worn (a bright red will stay bright red and not turn dull and dark).

    The price is much cheaper than the leading OPI and has a wide variety of neutral colours as well as reds and other shades. I highly recommend Essie as it's quality is superb!

    Flag as Spam
    4.2/5
    Value / Valeur

    Quality / Qualité

    Effectiveness / Efficacité

    Recommended? You Betcha!
    November 02, 2009

    Essie nail polish is wonderful. Manicures and pedicures last a long time and they have beautiful colors to choose from. This fall collection is no exception.
    I especially love the warm grey and pink of chinchilla and angora cardi.
    However the neon Bright Tights and Pink parka, while cute in the bottles, are a little too shocking on nails, particularly in light of the deeper tones of the other four colors. You can't really use them together, (I liked the idea of a chinchilla nail bed with Pink Parka tips), as an alternative french manicure because the neons don't show up well over the darker colors and require more of a white base because of the transparency.
    But, all in all, it's a splendid fall collection worth picking up a bottle or two, (or six!).

    Flag as Spam

    These reviews are the subjective opinions of ChickAdvisor members and not of ChickAdvisor Inc.

    Loading