Essie comes out with a collection of poolside-perfect neon polishes every summer, and 2014's release Too Taboo is no exception. With playful names like Vices Versa and I'm Addicted, this collection is inspired by the thrill and excitement of shopping and finding the perfect item. I received all six and will be covering my soft spot, blues and greens, in this post. I was a bit slow to publish this time because I went back and re-swatched for photos I wasn't happy with (perfectionist spoiler alert: I'm still not 100% happy)--so that's why all the different nail lengths and shapes.
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| Essie Chills & Thrills - direct sunlight |
Essie Chills & Thrills is the closest thing in my collection to a blurple (blue-purple) polish. It reminds me a lot of
Nails Inc Baker Street, but dustier and with just a hint of purple/violet. Of all six polishes in the Too Taboo collection, this one is the least neon due to the muted blue tones, and could fit in with a fall collection. It applied smoothly in two coats.
It's not quite a neon, and yet looks pretty at home next to one of my new favourite summer drinks, a Blackberry Mojito Tea Lemonade >:)
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| Essie I'm Addicted - indirect sunlight |
Essie I'm Addicted is a gorgeous cyan blue, and unmistakably neon. Although it can look a bit patchy on the first coat, the second coat evens everything out well. I put down a coat of white polish on my ring finger first to see if it could punch up the neon-ness; although it looks a bit brighter in this photo, in real life the difference is not noticeable at all, meaning I'm Addicted is a pretty opaque neon! This is easily one of the brightest polishes in my collection and dries to a semi-matte finish (swatched here with Seche Vite top coat on top.)
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| Essie I'm Addicted - indirect sunlight |
*sigh* Isn't it so pretty? (Side note, I wish all my swatch photos turned out like this D:)
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| Essie Vices Versa - direct sunlight (no top coat) |
Essie Vices Versa is a neon yellow-leaning green that screams summer. Unfortunately, unlike I'm Addicted, it is a bit sheer and more difficult to work with than its sisters; it was pretty challenging for me to get the swatches to look even. For best results, apply coats in as few strokes as possible and with very little pressure on the brush. I swatched three thinner coats on the middle and index fingers and three thicker coats on the ring and little fingers, and there are still visible nail lines. The photo above is swatched without top coat to show the semi-matte finish (I'm Addicted also looks like this sans top coat.)
I'm thinking this polish's colour is hard to capture correctly, because I've seen very saturated, deeper greens in other swatches. This polish approaches chartreuse territory and is very yellow-based. (See this swatched on
Temptalia, which I consider the best source for colour-correct swatches out there.)
Second half of this collection is coming up soon! Which of these three would you want to wear on the beach?
