Today I have two things to share with you: a small Essie polish haul and a personal highlight of the month (more on that after the haul).
After Christmas I decided that I should behave myself and I went into a "no buy" phase. I've done fairly well with it and haven't purchased any new nail polish since the holidays. The three I am featuring below were Christmas gifts from my husband that I picked out at TJ Maxx in December.... Groove is in the Heart, Maximillian Strasse Her, and Swept Away. They are all terrific.
After Christmas I decided that I should behave myself and I went into a "no buy" phase. I've done fairly well with it and haven't purchased any new nail polish since the holidays. The three I am featuring below were Christmas gifts from my husband that I picked out at TJ Maxx in December.... Groove is in the Heart, Maximillian Strasse Her, and Swept Away. They are all terrific.
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| L-R: Groove is in the Heart, Maximillian Strasse Her, Swept Away |
1). Groove is in the Heart: This color is EVERYTHING; it is easily my favorite of the three I picked up. It was released as a part of the 2015 Summer "Neons" collection (if you've been an Essie fan for a while you'll know why I put the word "neon" in apostrophes), and it is described as a "peachy pink neon." Neon it is not, but it IS a fairly bright pastel and it is divine. When this collection came out this was the color that really caught my eye and I was extremely excited to find it at TJ Maxx for just $4.95. The formula is not great, but that is my only complaint. The first coat was a patchy, streaky mess, but (for me) the second brought it all together really nicely, which really surprised me. As soon as I put it on I could not stop staring... It is just so beautiful! It's sort of hard to capture a picture of it that is color-accurate, all of my pictures made it look a bit more light and less bright than it actually is. The color reminds me of Van D'Go, one of my favorite Essie shades of all time, so I will include a comparison shot below. Van D'Go is more peach and even though my comparison might make it seem like they are too similar to warrant having both, I strongly disagree. All I can say is that if you are a fan of pinks and don't have this one it is well worth picking up. I am in love with Groove is in the Heart.
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| Right: Van D'Go, Left: Groove is in the Heart |
2). Maximillian Strasse Her. This elaborately-named polish was on my radar both because of the name (lol) and the color. It's such a unique shade of green that I knew I wanted it in my collection and I was very excited to finally pick it up. It's a muted grey-green with a really nice formula. I didn't have anything like it in my collection. This was another tough one for me to photograph... for some reason all of my pictures made it look a lot brighter than it really was. But in real life the grey base really comes through. I am obsessed with how beautiful the first shot below is. That color just gets me!
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| This is more color accurate. See how different?! |
3). Swept Away. I was not familiar with this shade at all, but when I saw it at TJ Maxx it caught my eye as something very different from the rest of my Essie polishes. Turns out that I absolutely love it! It's a dusty, deep rose shade that is very flattering and really shiny. I really enjoyed the formula on this one, and with thick enough coats it can easily be a OCW (one coat wonder). I can see this becoming a real "go-to" shade when I want something that will compliment almost any outfit and be quick and easy to apply.
Now that it's been a few months since Christmas I think I might take a little trip over to TJ Maxx to get some more new nail polish in a few weeks. The shopping bug is starting to get to me and I just got my tax return so....
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| Polish and makeup. Who's with me? |
And lastly, in exciting news, I'm so happy to say that last weekend I finally had one of my pictures re-posted by the U.S. Essie account on Instagram! I'd been hoping that would happen for what feels like an eternity! It was very exciting and then yesterday they shared another picture of mine too! I certainly didn't expect that! And holy crap, the exposure brought LOTS of new Instagram followers and hits here on my blog, which I am so happy about. I really enjoy nail polish and the "art" of painting my nails in general, so it's really nice to be recognized in some way. I certainly hope Essie shares more of my pictures in the future! Oh, and hey Essie, if you need a swatcher I'm your girl! : )
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| Play Date, Essie |
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| Fiji, Essie |
One last thing before I sign off... I am considering getting a DSLR camera for my birthday in April. At the moment I'm just using my iPhone 5S for everything but I'd like to up my game and create a setup that would be more ideal for making videos and taking better qualities images overall. I'm not going to be able to buy anything super cutting edge or expensive, so I'm thinking that maybe an older model camera with good specs is more of what I'd be looking for. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.
Thanks for reading! XOXO.
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