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Hi friends! How is everyone’s 2023 going so far? Mine is going pretty well! My nail room is finally done with construction and I am in the process of moving things back in place. I got my photo area set up first (of course) and then my computer area second (also of course) because I really wanted to get to swatching some new collections!
The first of the collections being this one, it is Essie’s Valentine’s collection for 2023. All of the information I could find says that this is themed after “the best breakup you’ve ever had”. So let’s call it an Anti-Valentine’s day collection? So we have 6 polishes in very non-tradional Valentine’s day colors.
As always, I will have links to where you can purchase these plus a coupon code to save some coins. I’ll have a live swatch video up later this week for this release.
Live Swatch Video
Essie is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in 13.5ml bottles, 8 free vegan and cruelty free.
Burning Love
Description: a rich, muted coral with red undertones
Burning Love had a fantastic formula. I do not like coral polishes, that aren’t neon coral, as a general rule. I found in the bottle, this was very coral looking but once I got it onto my nails, the “red undertones” came out.
I do have very warm undertones naturally so I do think this pulled more red on me than it would on someone who has cooler undertones.
I kinda liked this one where I anticipated that I wouldn’t. Would I reach for it again? Probably not, but I didn’t hate it like I thought I would.
My photos show Burning Love in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Flirt With Freedom
Description: a blackened purple with a shimmer finish
Flirt With Freedom had a great formula. It starts off sheer, streaky and patchy but it builds up perfectly in 2 coats. Like the other shimmer in this collection, the polish has a frosty/metallic feel.
You do get a lot of brush strokes with it, they mellow out a bit as the polish dries but they are still apparent to the naked eye. I will note that at arm’s length away, my eyes weren’t able to see brush strokes.
The base color of this polish is a warm, blackened purple base. Not really my favorite thing ever but it makes sense for an anti-valentine’s day theme. It has a very rock and roll vibe.
My photos show Flirt With Freedom in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Fuel Your Desire
Description: a iris purple with red undertones
Fuel Your Desire also had a great formula. It felt slightly, and I mean slightly, more chalky than the other polishes but it self leveled perfectly and I didn’t have any application issues.
The base color is a warm toned medium purple shade, it has a hint of a pinky tone and a dash of grey, but it is definitely a purple. Again, not a color I typically gravitate toward but I loved how this one looked!
My photos show Fuel Your Desire in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
This color reminds me of a less neon version to Cirque Colors Socialite. Seeing the two side by side, they’re not anything alike but that polish popped into my head when I was swatching this one.
License To Thrill
Description: a cobalt blue with red undertones
License To Thrill had an amazing formula! It was opaque on me in ONE coat. As per usual, I used two coats but yeah it was good in one.
The base color on this one is a beautiful deep cobalt blue. It is both bright and dark at the same time. I do not see any red undertones in this one. I see like a hint of grey but no red.
I freaking love the color of this polish! This is in the family of shades of blue that I could just but over and over again and never be mad at it.
My photos show License To Thrill in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
No Ex-pectations
Description: a cool, deep gray with purple undertones
No Ex-pectations totally blew my expectations! Ok, not really, I know based on colors that this was going to be a favorite for me. I just didn’t want to start another paragraph ‘had a great formula’ and haven’t given y’all a pun in awhile.
Anyway, this polish did in fact have a fantastic formula. It was just shy of being a one coater. Maybe if you have shorter nails, it could be a one coater. It applied buttery smooth and self leveled perfectly (all of these polishes do).
The base color is a greyed out medium purple. After last month’s (Un)Guilty Pleasures collection, we all know I love me a greyed out polish. This was no exception.
My photos show No Ex-pectations in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
U Wish
Description: a mid-tone red with a shimmer finish
U Wish also had a fantastic formula. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t flat out hate this color. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either.
As I have mentioned, I have red undertones and polishes in this color family tend to look very orange on me. This one did pull slightly orangey but not bad at all. I don’t dislike orange polishes but I do dislike red polishes that look orange. Does that make sense? Probably not but that’s what I’m going with.
The shimmer does show brush strokes to the naked eye. I feel like they didn’t show up as obviously in my photos but it was very obvious in person. Like the other shimmer, this has a metallic/pearlescent vibe to it. Which is not my favorite type of shimmer.
My photos show U Wish in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Final Thoughts
So in general, I am team Valentine over Team Anti-Valentine. I love pink and I love it when releases are themed pink. So I went into swatching this collection expecting to not love it. And that would still be accurate.
I liked that we had a variety of purples, the blue was a nice touch but I really disliked the reds. I fully recognize that red is a staple in a Valentine’s Day collection. I’m sorry just these aren’t shades of red that I really like. I do wish we had one bright pink instead of 3 purples but since this is an Anti-Valentine’s day collection, the color story makes sense.
My favorites were No Ex-pectations and License To Thrill with Fuel Your Desire being an honorable mention.
All of the polishes had amazing formulas and I am just continuously impressed by everything about this brand. I honestly feel dumb writing them off for so long! I will have another review up later this week for Essie’s Spring 2023 collection!
Sale Information
This collection is starting to pop up in places. Currently online, I’m only seeing it on Amazon, Target and Ulta. I purchased mine on Ulta’s website. I haven’t yet seen these pop up in store but YMMV.
Essie is also sold at Walmart, Walgreens or CVS. At the time of posting, these aren’t up on BeyondPolish yet but if you want to shop these at a discount, and support my blog do consider shopping there with my affiliate code NicoleLovesNails to save you 10%.
