Sunday, September 2, 2012

Disappointment in Two Photographs - Essie Mirror Metallics


Often on blogs, we tend to post about the things we love - because well, that's what is exciting and fun to share! Sometimes there are polishes that just don't make the grade - usually these are booted out of my house before I have a chance to photograph them. I attempted to take pictures of a couple of the Essie Mirror Metallics for you, even though these polishes really disappointed me. Bringing a little balance to the blogging equation, if nothing else!

Essie Good As Gold


First up, Good as Gold. I tried this over the Revlon Colorstay basecoat. These colours are finicky, brushstroke-y, they pull, and are generally completely pants in terms of application. They seem to especially hate this particular base coat. A shame, as I like the colour quite a bit.

Essie Penny Talk


I tried a different base coat with Penny Talk, and it fared slightly better, though not by much. This is Barielle Hydrating Ridge Filler. Still get the pulling and general ickiness. The colour is absolutely smashing though, so this really hurts my heart!!

So, I like the idea of having an all-metallic collection. Well done on the concept, Essie. However, the application and formula was such a let down for me. Clumpy, streaky, and generally disobedient. I've tried them over more base coats than you see here, and none of them were successful. I even tried over bare nails, my ridges were super super evident, even though they aren't bad at all! I haven't used a formula this terrible in a long time. Such a shame because the colours are truly lovely. Even though I was initially super mad at Essie for putting something like this out there, I've decided to keep these. They actually make lovely nail art (when I say nail art, I mean polka dots, because that's all I can do) polishes.

Still disappointed, but happy to share that with you. Has anyone found a base coat or technique that makes these polishes work for them? I'd love to know!

kittytokaren


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19 comments:

sel said...

i read something once about finicky colors being easier to work with if you do base coat, a coat or two of color, a coat of SV, and then a final coat of color. i haven't tried it but it intrigues me.

Aimee said...

It sounds like they apply like a matte or holo polish. If that's so, you might want to try something like Nfu-Oh's Aquabase or with a buffing and no base coat.

scReamViolenc3 said...

Gah! I've been lemming Penny Talk since it came out. I love the Revlon colorstay base coat (and the polishes!).

kindlebot said...

I have Penny Talk as well. I'm wearing it right now and it looks okay. My advice would be to put the first coat on thick and really fast, so it can't dry. Just slop it on, attempting to get out brush strokes. I do wear a base coat, but I waited a day so it was dry. If you have a wet base it makes the formula even worse.
So to summarize:
-put on base coat day before
-apply really thick
-apply fast so it doesn't dry while applying.

Good luck!

Rebecca said...

I had similar problems with Penny Talk! I was so excited to wear it (I pictured what outfit I would pair it with and everything) and the formula was awfully frustrating. I ended up giving up completely. I had pulling, streaking, bubbling and horrible brushstrokes... but since the mirror chromes are perfect for stamping I kept them around just for that.

Unknown said...

I have found that these polishes are fabulous for stamping! :)

beachgal said...

Not a fan of this collection - way too frosty and not really metallic in my book. Seems most gold polish looks like a bad Christmas tree ornament - hard to find a good one. I did pick up the blue in this group only because I thought it might fill this huge gap in my collection of light blues...I cannot wear powder blues at all. It's sitting still in my untrieds and probably will stay there 'till I donate it...despite I do think the blue one has enough silver in it that I can wear it like a powder blue - just cannot get past the frost.

kostia said...

I wore Penny Talk over Orly Bonder and it was a disaster. I had big chunks of foil coming off within a day. Definitely going to try this polish again, but I love copper so much that it was such a disappointment!

Bailey said...

I had absolutely no issues with Penny Talk (I'm currently wearing it on my toes) but I didn't use any base coat at all. Even when I wore it on my fingers I had no issues. I was expecting brush strokes like crazy, but even they were very minimal.

Laura @ Sawan-Heaven said...

For holos and mirror metallics, I always put on a base coat, then a top coat THEN the color. For some reason they work really well on top of top coats.

Crystal said...

rolling them in the palm of your hands before applying can improve the formula. don't shake them! it will make things worse. I always feel bad about my negative blogs but hey, not evey single product can be perfect right ;)

Kate said...

Try them for a pedicure, I had the chrome on my toes and it looked nice. I didn't see any streaking and it wore really well

BeckBeck said...

I skipped the collection because I'm not a huge fan of chrome finishes in general, so I can't comment on the polish. I do, however, love the use of "pants" as an adjective.

kittytokaren said...

@sel - I will try it for sure, but I found that the shinier the base coat I used, the worse it was, so I'm not sure the top coat thing will work. I am giving it a shot though!

@Aimee - Yeah I don't think this is worth me being a whole other polish for. I tried it with no base coat - my nails aren't perfect enough for that, even with some mild buffing.

@screamviolence - I generally like that Revlon base coat as well! It's only with these polishes that it doesn't work. But I love it otherwise.

@kindlebot - I will try the thick coat thing - sounds like it could definitely work. I'm not willing to wait a whole day for my base coat to dry though...too impatient! I did let my base coats dry before I did the polish though...just not that long.

@little miss polish - Yeah....I feel you.

@Rebecca - If I was a stamper I'd used them for that as well, but sadly I'm not that talented! LOL! But I am keeping them for my own nail art purposes. I was so crushed by PT too - such a gorg colour.

@A Girl - Too bad I suck at stamping! LOL! Oh well, I will use them for dotting :)

@beachgal - I laughed at "bad Christmas tree ornament"!!! Bahahaha. There is a covert frost revival going on right now...people who have previously said "I hate frosts" are sporting them and calling them something different and making excuses about the brushstrokes. It irritates me. But tastes change, so I guess I have to give them that.

@kostia - OK so Orly Bonder isn't one I will try! Oi...that sounds bad.

@Bailey - Sadly my nails aren't perfect enough to rock no base coat - I tried it and it looks horrible.

@Laura - sel mentioned that above and I will def have to give it a try. I'm very skeptical as every shinier base coat I used HATED these polishes, but hey maybe there is something different in the topcoat that will make it work. I'm going to go for it :)

@Crystal - I do know not to shake my polishes...thanks. And yeah, not everything is perfect and wonderful and magical! Even from my fav brand...

@Kate - I'll try that thanks :) I do love a metallic pedi

@BeckBeck - HAHHA I wondered if anyone was going to catch that. I thought I'd get some Americans telling me I was a complete idiot. I'm glad the only comment about it so far was positive! <3

k2k

Grace said...

I wound up passing on these. First Essie collection in a while that I've just let go by. The only one I was interested in from the promos was the copper. I kept seeing them in CVS and it just didn't look like it would suit my skin tone the way I thought it would from the pictures. Polishes like these are always tough for me to wear. I remember from back when Sally Hansen put out those chrome polishes (or, ahem, "nail makeup") back in the day that they worked best on bare nails, with no topcoat.

Anonymous said...

I put on the silvery lilac today (Nothing Ever Metals) and it totally hated my base coat (Perfect Formula clear). It looks ok now after two coats. And I was reminded of the Sally Hansen's chrome nail makeup, too! I've got two bottles in my "old bottles" stash...I should go compare!

July said...

Hi.
I didn't like this collection at all, eventhough was promisimg the first time i knew about it.

By the way my nails are really short this time wich it totally dislike, but i've always loved your short nails, so well polished and taken care of and it gives me enthusiasm to apreciate mine as they grow, and keep them as neat as yours.

Vi said...

Not sure if you've read this yet, but Alli from The Daily Varnish seems to have figured out a way to apply these metallic Essies on. Here's the link to her post!

http://thedailyvarnish.com/2012/09/13/how-to-make-your-essie-mirror-metallics-look-perfect-seriously/#more-5092

Laikabear said...

Very late comment but I tried using the matte topcoat with these and the application went much more smoothly... (see above comment). I did base, one coat of the metallic, one coat Essie Matte About You, then one coat of polish and it looked really good. If you have ridges I'd do the Barielle or another ridge filler as the first base. These look SO good when they apply well!

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