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Hi friends! Today I am sharing my swatches for the newest Essie Expressie collection. Expressie is Essie’s quick dry nail polish line. I wasn’t originally planning on swatching this collection. However, folks over in my Discord server voted on me reviewing them so that paired with Ulta having them on sale got me to pick this collection up.
I don’t have any issues with the Expressie line, it just gets expensive reviewing them 8 million different collections Essie releases each year so I had plans to just stick to the main line. However, if folks want me to also review Expressie I’ll keep them in!
Sorry for the super long intro, this collection is called Power Moves and is the Spring 2024 collection. It is available now in all of the places where Essie Expressie is sold. I purchased my set from Ulta but it’s also available on Amazon, Target, Walmart and a bunch of other retailers.
Live Swatch Video
Essie is a US based mainstream brand. The Expressie line is a quick dry formula with 10ml bottles, 8 free, vegan and cruelty free.
Choreo Queen
Description: deep midtone purple with strong blue undertones,
Choreo Queen had a good but slightly thinner than I was expecting formula. On the first coat this was also more sheer than I was expecting but it built up really nicely.
Essie’s description is spot on, this a medium purple with cooler undertones. I found in natural lighting, it leans towards periwinkle.
My photos show Choreo Queen in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. I will call this a 2-3 coater as I noticed in editing that my thumb nail had some dark spots.
Feel The Hype
Description: strong navy blue with black undertones
Feel The Hype had a opaque, slightly thicker but amazing formula that I generally expect from Essie cremes. This has the type of thickness that you see in opaque polish without being difficult to use. This applied smoothly, evenly and was almost a one coater for me.
While I would say Feel The Hype is incredibly dark for a spring collection, I love that Essie went this route versus releasing yet another pastel blue.
My photos show Feel The Hype in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. While I didn’t personally experience any staining, this is a very pigmented polish so make sure to wear base coat and do not scrub this off while removing it.
Main Character Moment
Description: bright lime green with yellow undertones
Main Character Moment was a streaky streaky mess and honestly pretty disappointing. The formula was on the thinner side, borderlining on being watery.
I wanted to love this polish so much and honestly thought it would have an amazing formula seeing how Essie just released a chartreuse that knocked my socks off. Sadly, this is thin, streaky and not a fun polish to work with.
Do not be fooled by the description, this isn’t a lime green. I would say it’s chartreuse that leans more towards green than yellow.
My photos show Main Character Moment in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I had very obvious dark spots on my nails after three coats. I didn’t personally experience staining with this polish but as a chartreuse polish lover, pretty much all of them are stainers.
If you’re in the market for a great chartreuse creme, Essie’s Imagine That is the way to go. Check out my review for that polish over here. Imagine That leans more towards yellow than this polish does so they’re not exact dupes but they’re similar.
Never Skip A Beat
Description: midtone brown neutral with red undertones.
Never Skip A Beat admittedly I went in to swatching this polish thinking it was going to be rather boring. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
The formula was fantastic, it applies smoothly, evenly and self leveled like a dream. This is a warmer toned medium brown creme, I would say it’s either a dark light brown or a light medium brown. While this a warmer toned brown, it wasn’t so warm that I got lobster hands with it.
My photos show Never Skip A Beat in 2 coats plus glosst top coat.
Power Moves
Description: hot orchid pink with blue undertones
Power Moves had a fantastic formula, it applied smoothly, evenly and self leveled perfectly. The base was slightly on the thicker side but again, the type of thickness that adds to opacity and not difficulty in use.
I have a love/hate relationship with colors that can be described as pinky purple, or purpley pink. Mostly because I can never decide if I want to categorize them as a pink or a purple. I think this is in the pink category personally.
My photos show Power Moves in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Take A Breakdance
Description: sandy neutral vegan quick dry nail polish with yellow undertones.
Take A Breakdance I had originally thought it was kinda weird that Essie was giving us two browns in the same collection. The promo images from this release made this polish and Never Skip A Beat seem a lot more similar than they were in person. This polish has more a neutral/yellow undertone than NSAB.
This had a pretty good formula. This was the first polish in this release that I swatched and I had originally had some difficulty with it but I am not crediting that to getting used to the angled brush these polishes come with. I found application to be fantastic when I was recording my live swatches.
My photos show Take A Breakdance in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. All of my nails except for one were actually good in two coats, I just added a third to all of them just in case the polish darkened with a third coat.
Little side by side of Take A Breakdance and Never Skip A Beat.
Final Thoughts
I won’t pretend like this collection is in any way ground breaking, it was overall a good collection. The only disappointing polish in this release was Main Character Moment. That was the polish that I was most looking forward to and so a wonky formula was a huge let down.
While Essie does call this their quick dry line, I have never noticed these to dry any quicker or slower than the regular Essie line. The biggest differences between this line and the main one is the brush is angled and the bottle holds 3.5ml less in volume.
My top picks from this release were Feel The Hype and Never Skip A Beat.
Essie Expressie
10ml, 8 Free, Vegan & Not Tested On Animals
Website | Instagram
Sale Information
The Power Moves collection is available right now in places where Essie Expressie is sold. I purchased this collection from Ulta. At the time of posting, I am seeing this available on Amazon, Target, Walmart, Walgreens and CVS.
