The other day at the grocery store, I got to chatting with the cashier who was helping me. She was sporting one of the cutest sparkly manicures I’d seen in a while, and when I told her how much I liked it, she replied, “Aw, thanks! Since I have to wear a uniform every day, I like to do something to spice it up.”
Amen to that! Working for Tabs, I also have to wear a uniform of sorts — you know, sensible shoes and clothes that show I’m responsible enough to handle midnight gravy runs, and other crucial cat-assigned tasks. To spice things up this week, I plan to wear something from Essie Luxeffects.
The new collection of nail polishes launched earlier this month with five glittery shades ($8 each), and WOW! — what a surprise. I think of Essie as a pretty conservative line, so it’s neat to see them take a detour down a sparkly path.
The glitter flecks they used for these polishes, which are designed to be worn alone or layered with other lacquers, come in different shapes and sizes, from larger hexagonal flecks to tiny round ones smaller than a grain of sand, and the variety creates the illusion of depth and dimension.
The collection includes…
Essie Luxeffects from the left: As Gold as it Gets, Shine of the Times, A Cut Above, Pure Pearlfection and Set in Stones
Set in Stones
A Cut Above
Essie loaded up these polishes with glitter, and for each of these swatches, I only used two layers.
Shine of the Times
Pure Pearlfection
As Gold as it Gets
All of them dry relatively quickly, too — not exactly lightning fast, but about 10 minutes, without a base coat.
Quietly iridescent Pure Pearlfection seems a little out of place beside flashier glitters like A Cut Above and Set in Stones, but I appreciate the variety. 🙂
PRICE: $8 each
AVAILABILITY: Available now at Ulta stores, Nordstrom and also online
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A
Desperately seeking Chrismas tree skirt…
A victim of the famous Christmas Tree Incident, the red felt tree skirt I’d been using forever finally bit the dust last year. I’ve been looking for a replacement but haven’t been able to find one that isn’t hot pink, crushed velvet or bedazzled, or any combination thereof. If you have any leads on a basic red one, let me know.
Speaking of kittehs and the destruction they wreak, a cat lady friend sent this cartoon the other day…
Haha! I wonder if these cats are drinking catnip martinis. 🙂
Party time!
Tonight is El Hub’s holiday work party, so it could be a late night for me. For makeup, I’m thinking about smokey eyes and Urban Decay Naked2. Hmm…
I hope you had a great day today. Talk to you soon.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
They’re so pretty! Especially the last 3. If only ulta shipped internationally 🙁
Just bought them on Amazon! for $3 a bottle….way cheaper and legit. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_beauty?_encoding=UTF8&node=3760911&field-brandtextbin=Essie
Ooo i will have to take a look at these. Have a wonderful time at the christmas party!
I got a plain felt navy blue one at Target two or three days ago. I really wanted the winter white one with snowflakes embroidered on it, but I thought better of it . . . owning a large, black dog who thinks he must cover every bit of horizontal anything with his fur . . . Hope this is helpful!
Wow I come across your post right after I saw them at CVS and bought one myself! I’m actually wearing A Cut Above at this moment and so far loving it. But it’s been like 2 minutes so we’ll see.
Also, were you aware that Essie had a wedding collection? Ahh the things you can find at Marshalls.
Hi Diana,
I recently bought a pink glitter polish, but can’t figure what nail polish to wear underneath it. What colors look good with A Cut Above?
Newsha
I have A Cut Above. I like to layer it over a wine red or metallic gold. It’s really pretty!
I ran out like a mad woman to my local Walgreen’s after seeing swatches of Shine of the Times! Took me a while to find the display… it was on top of the hair care aisle shelves! Just a tip if anyone has trouble finding it at Walgreen’s. (And I live in the East Bay area).
PS– Anyone have a suggestion of a good, affordable gold hex glitter topcoat?
I like the variety too!
What a lovely collection! Love as Gold As It Gets.
I want A Shine of the Times and As Gold as it Gets
That Silver and Gold one would look hella sexy over some black polish….
These look beautiful for winter. And have fun at the party tonight! 🙂
these are so pretty!
If you only need a smallish tree skirt, you should be able to find a basic one at the dollar store, though we’re getting far enough into the season that it may be hard to find. My folks had a tree skirt incident involving a cat, but it’s more the fault of my dad who insists on putting on tinsel combined with the stupid cat that insists on eating it…
They picked up a few substitutes a couple of weeks ago. 😉 And there’s tinsel garland instead of strands this year.
I want them all!
Ngghh these are gorgeous! I’d love to see when you wear them layered over another color. I haven’t bought Essie polishes in a long time, but these are seriously making me want to get them.
I really like A Cut Above! It would look so pretty over a nude or blush shade.
One thing I noticed about chunky glitter polishes is that they feel really rough on my nails. Do these feel at all smooth on the surface?
Do you wear topcoat with them? I use Seche Vite and it seems thick enough to smooth out any glitter with 1-2 coats. Hope that helps!
i rarely say i want to buy nailpolishes but omg omg … i want shine of the times, pearl pearlfection and as gold as it gets.
must hunt these down!
I absolutely LOVE this nail polish! even though i’m a die hard OPI kind of girl, I would absolutely try this! great article thanks for the info. 🙂
So pretty! I hope I can find these in Canada!
Been seeing Shine of the Times on a few sites but your swatches here convinced me! Ordered one from Zappos last night at 3 am, if anyone is having trouble finding it!
GOING TO LAYER IT OVER EVERY COLOR muahaha!
Oh, I just laughed very hard at the cartoon. Our littlest likes to climb up inside our very large tree. She has no claws but manages to scale that thing like a champ! 🙂
I love that Essie’s glitzing it up a little. I’m with you on A Cut Above. I’m definitely picking that up.
How about this? Not plain red (I only saw the ones with the white fur trim) and maybe a little frilly, but I thought it was cute! 🙂
http://www.amazon.com/Tapestry-Patchwork-Christmas-Tree-Skirt/dp/B005OK7VQM/ref=sr_1_18?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1323881020&sr=1-18
Wow, I love the Set in Stones nail polish! That would be perfect for a New Year’s Eve party. Great post!
Essie must know of my weakness for glitter. 😛
That cat cartoon is so cute! I think your niece and nephew (Rocky and Jazz) feel the same way about backpack straps, shoelaces, etc. They get yelled at for messing with them. The poor dears…we treat them so badly…LOL!
I have two from this collection. But shine of the times is my favorite. I’m wearing it today over a chocolate brown cream. Love it!
Omg, that cat cartoon is a riot. If only Tabs could talk! Have fun at the party tonight, I’m sure you’ll look glam and fab!
Loving it! My fav is a cut above…
I lovee A cut Above it looks so pretty in the bottle!!! Thanks for the post! Now I am inspired to try some glitter! xx
http://thefreshfacedbeauty.blogspot.com/
Haha, that cat comic made me laugh! Awww….poor kitty, but I can understand the frustration. 😉
Now, onto the polishes, which are what initially caught my attention (big surprise, right? :P). As Gold as it Gets is a stunner! I can picture it layered over navy, black, purple, and pretty much anything! Very versatile, and I like that in layering polishes because that’s the whole point of them right?
Thanks for swatching all these polishes. I’m sure that you’ve created many lemmings, Karen! 😉
wow! they are so wonderful!
so ccol & so amazing 🙂
Love them all, especially As Gold As It Gets.
This post is perfect, especially since I bought Set in Stones and Pure Pearlfection last night on a whim at the store! Good to know what you think of them. Now I’m definitely going to do my pedi/mani for my hubby’s holiday work party on Friday! I was thinking OPI’s Bogota Blackberry with Set in Stones over it.
I normally am not a fan of gold, but I really like “As Gold As It Gets”! I also love that the glitter is a bit bigger and not the same old thing =)
I was running errands a week or so ago and saw that essie collection and I went, “and one for me and one for me and…” When the smoke cleared, I had them all. 🙂 Merry Christmas to me.
I picked up Shine of the Times and adore it! I layered it over “Cocktail Bling” – I can’t wait to try it over another pastel!
I’m liking these more now then I had when I originally saw the collection. Shine of the Times and Pure Perfection are gorgeous.
You could do a basic red skirt by going to the fabric store, get about a yard or so of red felt and cut out a circle 🙂 Bedazzle and adorn as you wish 😉 My tree skirt is pink satin with lilac satin trim and ivory pearls 🙂
Ahhhhh…I thought I had all of them and in seeing your review, I realized I’m missing Shine of the Times. Dammittt!! That’s the 1 I wanted the most out if the set. Ah well…
My cats leave the ornaments alone – shockingly, but they can’t stop using the tree skirt as a litter box (I know, gross). It’s been years since I’ve had a tree skirt *sigh*
I absolutely love A Cut Above. I’ll be checking these out as Essie is finally available in Belgium!
I want to get Pure Pearlfection and try it out as a top coat on a bunch of colors 🙂
Ooooh so pretty and festive! I love Set In Stones!
i bought these to but haven’t used them yet cause I wasn’t sure how easy they would com,e off so I am getting my nails done tomorrow and was going to then use them how easy or hard is it to come off?