Purchased By Me, affiliate links used
Hey friends! I have returned from the Polish & Beauty Expo and I do not even have the words to say just how amazing it was. I got to meet so many of you all!! Seriously, it was incredibly amazing and I cannot wait to go back next year. I will have a vlog coming up showing some of the Chicago sights as well as the Expo itself.
Today’s blog post is for the new Fall 2023 collection from Essie. I am not quite sure what the collection is called at the time of posting. I purchased these from the Ulta website. They should be popping up on other sites and in store any day now.
Side note, I have natural light shots for some of these polishes but not all. If you would like to see all of the polishes in natural lighting, check out my live swatch video!
Live Swatch Video
Essie is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in 13.5ml bottles, 8 free vegan and cruelty free.
Dance ‘Til Dawn
Description: a muted gray white nail polish with pink undertones and a cream finish
Dance ‘Til Dawn through no fault of its own, this was the color that I had the least amount of interest in. I just don’t vibe with colors like this. I can’t decide if this is a very pale pink with a drop of grey or a grey with a drop of pink. It is a very autumnal shade of pinky grey so I will give Essie that.
Both formula and application were great but since this is such a light color, it is pretty streaky. I found that I needed 3 coats to completely even out the coverage which isn’t unusual for a color like this.
My photos show Dance ‘Til Dawn in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Full Blast
Description: a richly dark ruby red nail polish with blue undertones
Full Blast is giving me ALL of the ox blood red feels. I didn’t realize until I got this one on that I even liked ox blood reds very much. I must be in the fall mood!
I was surprised at how sheer/uneven this one was for me. I expected it to be a one-two coater and it was patchy/uneven after two coats. I needed three coats to reach even opacity.
This polish is a stainer. I found it stained my skin, overlay, and my natural nails. Even my Cindy hand got stained when I was removing the polish. The staining isn’t too surprising given how pigmented and rich this color is but man was it frustrating. If you couldn’t tell from my photos, cleanup is a beast with this one as well.
My photos show Full Blast in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. If you love yourself, you will soak this one off and NOT scrub the pigments into your skin and nails!
Lights Down, Music Up
Description: a muted mauve brown nail polish with red undertones and a cream finish
Lights Down, Music Up as a brown creme lover, I thought that I was going to like this one more than I ended up liking it. In person, this has a mauvey brown look to it which is why I think I ended up not liking it very much.
Despite my not loving this shade, it had amazing 1 coat coverage and fantastic application. It seems to dry down a hair darker than it applies.
My photos show Lights Down, Music Up in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Meet Me at Midnight
Description: a deep olive green nail polish with yellow undertones and a cream finish
Meet Me at Midnight I knew that I would love this color before I even got it onto my nails! Shades like this have become one of the colors that I look forward to the most from fall release.
Both the formula and application for Meet Me at Midnight were fantastic. This was a solid one coater but of course, my swatches show it in 2 coats. Essie’s official description for it is accurate.
I fully recognize this is going to be one of those colors that some people think are butt ugly but I love it! My only complaint is that I wish it leaned a bit more towards a prugly green.
My photos show Meet Me at Midnight in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Step Out of Line
Description: a richly dark indigo blue nail polish with red undertones and a cream finish
Step Out of Line is another shade that I knew I would love. This is like the dark fall version to Essie’s Butler Please.
On the first coat, this was sheerer than I expected it to be. However, it did build up nicely for me in 2 coats.
It’s not an Essie collection if I don’t scratch my head at an official description. I don’t see any red in this polish. In my mind, a blue with red undertones would make for a purple lean. This didn’t have that, it was just blue.
My photos show Step Out Of Line in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. While I didn’t experience any staining with this polish, I wouldn’t be surprised if it stained someone else.
Underground Ball
Description: a dark plum purple nail polish with red undertones and a cream finish
Underground Ball I clearly have been spending too much time online because I can’t help but think of Grimce when I am looking at this polish. It’s a beautiful dark purple but TikTok has ruined me.
I found both the formula and application to be perfect. This polish was a lot sheerer than I expected. I thought that I had reached full opacity with 2 coats but once I got outside, I saw a lot of dark spots. If this looked as uneven indoors as it did outdoors, I would have added a third coat.
My photos show Underground Ball in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Final Thoughts
As someone who is 100000% over summer currently, this collection was just what I needed. I will fully admit, these shades are all pretty standard lineup for Fall collections but that doesn’t mean they aren’t beautiful!
I loved this release. Like I said earlier, my only complaint is that I wish there was a true prugly thrown in here. Someone on my YouTube said they wish Dance ‘Til Dawn was a mustard yellow and I feel like that would have been an excellent addition to this release.
My top picks are going to be Meet Me at Midnight and Step Out of Line.
Essie
13.5ml, 8 Free, Not Tested On Animals & Vegan
Website | Instagram
Sale Information
Essie’s Fall 2023 collection is available right now on the Ulta website. It should be popping up in all of the places where Essie is sold soon.
If you would like to pick up the collection at a discount, do consider using my affiliate code, NicoleLovesNails on BeyondPolish.com. The collection is not yet live on their page but when it is, here is a direct link to the collection.
Essie is also sold at the following retailers: Ulta, Target, Rite Aide, Walmart and Amazon. These links are affiliate links. Using my affiliate links/codes helps me keep purchasing all of these collections to review but as always, no pressure to use them!
