Lounge Lover is a very relaxed name for this year spring collection by Essie. A pleasant name. It’s the name of one of the six shades in the collection. Lounge Lover makes me think of two different things. One is vacation and lounging. The other one is a high end hotel lounge with exquisite interior design and luxurious feel about it. Both are good things. I wonder if Essie managed to combine the two in their spring nail colour range. And I’m going to find out right now. If the shades are good, I’ll have fun wearing them. Essie provides a solid professional nail colour quality. To back it up I use Chanel base and top coat. Essie nail polish is easy enough to apply, doesn’t damage my nails and lasts long enough, especially with that base and top coat I’ve already mentioned 🙂 I think using a good base and top coat with this nail colour range is a good idea. And now that we’ve covered the basics, that is, quality, let’s get to those six spring shades.

 

off tropic is green

 

Don’t shun it just yet, let me tell you more about it 🙂

 

It’s dark. Deep and sultry. Are you already saying – sultry green is a little bit of an oxymoron? Well, wait till you take a closer look at it.

 

I actually like green nail colour. And I do like it, when it’s green. So, when I saw promo photos of this shade I was happy and ever so eager to get it. Because it looked bright and nice.

 

Once I got it though, it proved to be much more wearable for most people and not as appealing to me. That is, it’s darker than I thought. Much darker than it looks in the promo photos.

 

Still, the thing to know about this shade is that it’s green. It’s just not dark enough to be an off black shade.

 

So, it’s a good way to try out green, if you like darker nail shades, like black and brown and purple and navy blue, but you’ve never dared or even considered wearing green on your nails. Then this shade might be right up your alley.

 

pool side service

 

With pool side service it went for me the other way. Not the way it went with off tropic. My initial impression here was rather negative than positive.

 

This shade looks very grey in the promo photos with just a distant touch of blue. It’s not my personal preference, because I like blue nail colour almost as much as I like green 🙂

 

So, when I got it and looked at the bottle, I was like – Ok. But when I swatched it, wore it, I was like – wow.

 

This shade, once it’s on your nails, reveals more blue than you might expect from the look of it.

 

It’s a very nice mixture of grey and blue with a good deal of blue without it going all the way blue, if you know what I mean 🙂

 

Just like off tropic is a good way to go to try on green manicure, pool side service is a great way to get comfortable with blue manicure, if you so desire. It’s just the right balance of grey and blue to be elegant and not scare you away 🙂

 

shades on

 

…is an interesting lilac shade. It’s not quite the romantic lilac you pictured right now.

 

It’s a deeper lilac. Not quite dusty lilac though. It’s lilac grows up all of a sudden kind of thing. Lilac goes sophisticated.

 

The best thing about it that despite doing all the above, it doesn’t start leaning to other shades – grey or blue or green or anything. It stays lilac. Andt that’s great.

 

This shade will look spectacular with grey clothes. If you like grey dresses or pant suits or jeans, go for it. It will bring out the best of grey showing the world it’s not just a boring colour, a business shade, I-don’t-stand-out shade. It’s nice and elegant and womanly and special. There’s a whole world in it.

 

I love this shade by Essie. It’s very rare. Perfectly balanced. There’s just something about it.

 

It provides a rare opportunity to wear lilac not as a cute little girly thing with a cute little girly dress, but as a serious and beautiful shade, openly and proudly.

 

sunshine state of mind

 

When I hear the name of this shade, I picture yellow. Because yellow is my first association, when it’s about the sun.

 

But the shade proves to be orange. Ok, I get it, it’s a sunny shade too. Bright and vibrant and full of colour.

 

Hear me though, it’s not coral. Not pearly, not shiny, it’s just dead on super bright orange. Which is less universal than corals that so many people happen to love.

 

I have to tell you, I’m not a huge fan of coral. Although I do wear it now and again, because I want different, when it’s about makeup and nail colour. Just keep in mind that this shade is so bright and ever so orange. It means, it can’t be worn just anywhere. You’ll have to find an occasion when it’s appropriate.

 

To tell you the truth, this shade strikes me more as a summer shade than a spring shade. It belongs on the beach and in all that sunshine we get in the summer. Although, it depends 🙂

 

This shade of all six here proved to be clumpy, once applied. To the point where I had to edit the clumps out.

 

lounge lover

 

…is a Barbie like pink.

 

Very bright. Almost neon in a way. Although it’s a tender neon, if I may say so. It’s light pink goes bright.

 

Not something we’re used to seeing in spring collections. Not a delicate romantic pink. Bright and big girly statement kind of pink.

 

It’s a rare kind of pink nail colour. We don’t see it that much. Almost never in permanent ranges. Usually this neon kind of pink goes very orangey and coral. Well, good news is this one doesn’t. It remains true to its warm pink essence.

 

It’s a nice accent kind of shade. A nice modern touch to a romantic outfit. You know, istead of going all baby pink or pearly pink in manicure department with a flouncy dress or a flower pattern something you can wear this shade on your nails and twist your whole look in an interesting and up-to-date kind of way.

 

Also, lounge lover is a good pink distraction from… well, other pink shades that you are tired of.

 

high class affair

 

…is a super comfy kind of shade. It’s another pink in the collection. Only this pink is very delicate, lighter and has a good portion of beige in it. It’s warm and nice. Womanly.

 

It’s more than nude. There’s more colour to it than there is in nude shades traditionally, but to me it’s a perfect nude. A nude that gives you so much more. So much more than a well groomed nail look.

 

This shade is a take on baby pink that’s much warmer than baby pink usually is.

 

It’s the kind of nail colour that will look good and special in your kind of way wherever you go.

 

I can’t think of any occasion where this nail shade wouldn’t be appropriate and look gorgeous.

 

Whether you’re in your jeans and sneakers going out for a walk, in your sleek business outfit on the way to an ever so important meeting or in your most exquisite gown heading to the red carpet. If you need to fit all three of those things in one day, this shade will be a great option.

 

That’s the collection by Essie.

 

Well, the first thing that strikes me here is that this collection follows the closest the colour trends of the season. There are those signature colours that get big on a particular season. And Essie nailed most of them in this collection. Which means this collection is a perfect colour match for fashionable clothes.

 

These shades also fit the general direction of this spring which involves romantic colours geting brighter than usual. Becoming stronger and more modern. Leaning to gem colours. That’s what we got in this collection. The same shades we almost always see in spring collections, only more intense: blue, green pink, lilac, orange. It’s all here but all looks different. Summery in a way. Vibrant and energized.

 

All in all, it’s a good collection. It has some shades in it that are exciting and that we don’t see too often.