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Hi friends, I have an interesting blog post for you all today. I have a new release from Essie called Cyber Society. Promotion for this one has not yet started, as far as I can tell it is an exclusive collection to Target. The theme is… questionable?
I am looking forward to when Essie explains this one because for now, I don’t really get it. I’m not mad at the color story though so I was pretty excited to try these out!
No real disclosures since I did purchase these and as always, I will have links and sale details at the end of the blog post.
Live Swatch Video
The video for this collection will be live Tuesday, February 7th at 2PM Eastern time! The video is currently live for my YouTube channel members. To join channel memberships, check out this link.
Essie is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in 13.5ml bottles, 8 free vegan and cruelty free.
Cyber Society
Description: a bright medium purple
Cyber Society had a great formula. After swatching Hyperlinked, I expected it to be more opaque on the first coat but it was a little sheer and streaky. It does built up nicely and self levels perfectly.
The shade of medium purple is bright without being a neon and more cool toned. I loved how this one looked!
My photos show Cyber Society in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I added a third coat because I had a light spot on one nail. I don’t think this will be a 3 coater for most people.
Geek Chic
Description: a grey metallic shimmer that shifts blue, purple, pink and gold at extreme angles
Geek Chic had an amazing formula. I never would’ve expected a polish like this for Essie! It does start off very sheer, but it applies really nicely.
This is like a metallic pearlescent kind of shimmer. So you do get a lot of obvious brush strokes with it. While not my favorite type of finish, I LOVED the color shiftiness of the shimmer! I was seeing blue, purple, to pink with a hint of gold at extreme angles. Like I said, very color shifty!
As I mentioned this polish is sheer so I did have some VNL with it both on my natural nails and the clear part of my nail. As per usual, the sheerness was exaggerated due to so much of my nail length being clear.
But like I always say, give me some shifty shimmer and I am not mad at all about VNL! This polish was amazingly beautiful and I love that Essie released a polish like this.
My photos show Geek Chic in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. This polish dries down dull so you will want top coat for a glossy finish.
Hyperlinked
Description: a cyan blue creme
Hyperlinked had a fantastic formula. The coverage was fantastic and it was just shy of being a 1 coater on me. I do think if you have very short nails, this will likely be passable in one coat.
I want to note that it does have a strong odor. It doesn’t have the blue smell that blue polishes have but it does have a strong odor. I usually don’t notice nail polish smells but this one really popped me in the nose haha. It does seem to dissipate fairly quickly, it was only noticeable to me when I first applied the polish.
I LOVE this color and I loved this polish, funky smell or not. It’s a very vibrant cyan shade. It actually reminds me a lot of one of the Orly Lisa Frank collab polishes called Sky’s The Limit. They are *very* close but not dupes.
My photos show Hyperlinked in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
And here is a quick comparison to Sky’s The Limit. They are *very* close but not exactly the same.
In Our Domain
Description: a dusky darker bubblegum pink
In Our Domain also had a fantastic formula. It applied buttery smooth and self leveled well. It applies a tiny bit more streaky than the other polishes in this release but not terribly so.
If you aren’t super picky, I do think this will be a two coater. I found that I had light spots all over my nail that wouldn’t photograph well. I did have one on my ring finger that I couldn’t cover in 3 coats but that might have been down to application.
My photos show In our Domain in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Color wise, this was incredibly similar to Orly’s Meet Cutie from the Hopeless Romantic collection. They aren’t dupes but again, similar.
NFTea
Description: a dusky peachy almost warm honey shade
NFTea had a beautiful formula. I fully expected it to be a little chalky but it was perfect.
The color appears to be a dusky warm peachy shade. I almost called it a warm honey but I feel like it isn’t quite that color.
My photos show NFTea in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Unrelated, I cannot stress how much I dislike the name of this polish.
I thought this polish was very similar to Zoya’s Gidget (Classic Leathers Fall 2022). They aren’t dupes, this is a little bit darker and peachier.
On The Download
Description: a very pale grey with a delicate pink toned shimmer
On The Download had a good formula. I found it to be a bit streaky but overall application was good.
It is that shade of pale grey that is so light you question if it’s not really white. Honestly, I could see this passing for an off white.
I was slightly disappointed that the shimmer in this one is so subtle. In the bottle, it had a pink to gold shift. On the nail, it didn’t have the gold shift, or if it did the shimmer was so subtle I missed it. Bummer.
My photos show On The Download in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned in the intro, I do not understand what the theme of this collection is. I *think* it’s supposed to be like how we are a technological society? But I don’t know.
I don’t really buy into NFTs so that immediately made me go “Ugh, seriously?” but I will say I like the color story a lot. I don’t know if this is a Spring, Summer, or transitional collection. From what I recall hearing from other nail bloggers is that Essie does several non-seasonal releases throughout the year.
Which I am really feeling. I knew they released a lot of collections but wow! I just started reviewing this brand and this is the 4th collection of the year!
My top picks are going to be without a doubt Geek Chic and Hyperlinked. While I will freely admit that Geek Chic was the only real unique/special polish in this release, I do like the colors.
Essie
13.5ml, 8 Free, Not Tested On Animals & Vegan
Website | Instagram
Sale Information
The Cyber Society collection is exclusive to Target stores. Each polish is priced at $9.99 for 13.5ml bottles. I have seen these at my local Target as well as online. I did opt to purchase my set from eBay. I found a seller on there that had them at a better price than on Target’s website with free shipping.
If you would like to purchase other Essie polishes and help support the blog, consider shopping on BeyondPolish.com and use my affiliate code NicoleLovesNails to save an extra 10%. If you would like to support my blog, use any of the following affiliate links to shop Essie online Walmart, Amazon, Ulta, Walgreens or CVS. By using my links it helps me keep purchasing collections to review.
