Essie Imagine That Collection Swatches and Review

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Hi friends! Today I am sharing a new release from Essie called Imagine that. This is one of the non-seasonal releases that Essie does each season. The inspiration behind this release is the need for escapism and channeling our inner “kidult”.

As far as I can tell, this is exclusive to Ulta stores, which sadly makes this exclusive to the United States. Ulta is currently having a bunch of sales and these polishes are included in the sale. At the time of posting, each polish is currently discounted to $7 per polish. If you would like to pick up this collection, consider using my Ulta affiliate link.

Live Swatch Video

Essie is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in 13.5ml bottles, 8 free vegan and cruelty free.

Bizarre You Ready

Description: a cool orchid pink with blue undertones

Bizarre You Ready had a fantastic formula. The base on this was a little bit on the thicker side but it self leveled and applied really smoothly.

I found this to be one of the pinky purple shades that I always struggle with deciding on if it’s pink or if it’s purple. I’m leaning more towards pink than purple but ask me in a month and I’ll probably change my mind.

My photos show Bizarre You Ready in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

I thought this was going to be super similar to In The You-niverse from last year’s spring collection. This is more pink and darker. Side note, my nails were so damn long last year it’s jarring to see the length change!

Everything’s Cake

Description: a baby pink with white undertones

Everything’s Cake had about the formula I expected for a color this light. It’s a little streaky, kinda uneven but it doesn’t have a chalky feel to the application.

I feel like calling this a baby pink is kind of a stretch. In my opinion, this is either a white or a very pale grey with pink undertones. Colors like this just aren’t for me, I dislike how uneven they go on. If you like colors like this, I would say you would probably like this one because it wasn’t bad just not for me.

My photos show Everything’s Cake in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. Sadly I had quite a few dark spots on my nails after two coats. I did a test on my thumb by adding a third coat and still had dark spots.

Imagine That

Description: a light lime green with yellow undertones

Imagine That I feel like Essie knew this was going to be the star of the collection giving it the collection name. This had an amazing formula, especially for a yellow.

This polish is a chartreuse. I have a personal pet peeve on calling colors lime green that are clearly not the color of actual limes so this is chartreuse! Usually polishes in this color are streaky, watery and not the best in application but this was fantastic. The base was on the thicker side, but I found application perfect.

My photos show Imagine That in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. I do believe this is going to be a natural nail stainer. I had to do some scrubbing with acetone to get all of the pigment off of my fingers.

If you’re curious at how this looks compared to Essie’s My Happy Bass, this is lighter! I have a side by side of the two polishes in my live swatch video.

Keep It Surreal

Description: a deep brick red with yellow undertones

Keep It Surreal I feel like even when I was pretending at not liking red polish, I could have seen the beauty in this one. This was a solid one coat wonder on me.

Much like the other polishes in this collection, Keeping It Surreal had a thicker formula but not so thick that I found application difficult.

On the Ulta website, this is called Keeping It Surreal but my label says it’s Keep It Surreal. I’m not sure which it’s supposed to be but I’m going to go with Keep It Surreal.

My photos show Keep It Surreal in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. This is also likely another stainer, I had to scrub the red pigment off of my fingers with acetone to remove it.

I thought for sure this was going to be an exact dupe for Essie’s Not A Phase (Odd Squad collection). While this isn’t an EXACT dupe, they are so very close that there’s barely a difference between the two. If you have one, you don’t need the other.

Out Of The Blue

Description: a cool midtone blue with white undertones

Out Of The Blue is a fun bright merium blue creme. I didn’t expect to like this polish nearly as much as I did!

The formula on Out Of The Blue was fantastic! I was relieved to find it doesn’t have that chalky feel to it that lighter blues often have. The base was a fairly thick but applied very evenly and smoothly. I think it’s just on the line of being too thick vs just right.

Thanks to the thickness, Out Of The Blue was just shy of being a one coater for me, if you go in for a thicker coat this might be a one coater.

My photos show Out Of The Blue in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

At first I thought it was strange that Essie released another light blue after releasing Tu-Lips Touch in this year’s spring collection. However, side by side the two aren’t that similar.

Unreal It In

Description: a muted forest green with yellow undertones

Unreal It In I’m not sure if this polish is called Unreal It In or Unreal Lit In, my bottle says It in but the Ulta website says Lit in. I don’t feel like Lit In makes any sense so Iam going to with Unreal It In.

This polish also had a fantastic formula, this was a one coater on me. This does dry down darker than it initially applies.

My photos show Unreal It In in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. This is another potential stainer.

Final Thoughts

Overall I thought this was a pretty great release. While the color story doesn’t scream spring (which I am grateful for) I do think some of the colors are seasonally appropriate. Honestly I feel like most of the colors in this release would work well in a variety of seasons.

I do wish for a collection all about channeling our inner “kidult”, the polishes don’t really scream childlike or fun, other than being beautiful colors. A shimmer topper would have been nice but I recognize Essie’s bread and butter tends to be cremes.

My top picks are going to be Imagine That and Bizarre You Ready!

Essie
13.5ml, 8 Free, Not Tested On Animals & Vegan
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Sale Information

The Imagine That collection is available right now on the Ulta website. At the time of posting it’s currently on sale for $7 per bottle. I believe this collection will be exclusive to Ulta stores.

Essie is also sold at the following retailers: Target, Rite Aide, Walmart and Amazon. If you would like to shop Essie at a discount, do check out Beyond Polish. With my affiliate code, NicoleLovesNails you can save an additional 10%.  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!