Three Manicures with Essie Summer 2013 Polishes

I already posted my water marbling mani that I did with some of the Essie summer 2013 collection polishes, but I have also made some individual manis with some of the polishes from that collection and I thought I'd share three of those here in this same post.

For these three manicures I used the three polishes called Full Steam Ahead*, The Girls Are Out* and Rock The Boat*. I also have a little brush comparison for you guys in this post, but more on that at the end of this post!

So first I have the manicure that I did with Full Steam Ahead. It is a really gorgeous lilac shade with really fine silver and prismatic shimmer and I used three thin coats here with base and top coat. I've read some reviews about this one where people have struggled with the formula and application, but I didn't really have any problems. That might be again due to the wider brush that Essie polishes have here in Finland. The brush makes the application really effortless!

I actually wore this mani to a wedding that I attended, so I wanted to do something appropriate and delicate. I used some lace water decals** that I got for review from Adenina and I also added some loose glitter over the decals to make them sparkle just a bit. I also had to add a rhinestone to my ring finger nail as I managed to dent my mani and the rhinestone covered the little dent perfectly. Also, it was quite suitable considering the occasion.

I was so busy after the wedding as we had some overnight guests and such so that I only had time to take the pictures of the mani several days after I had done it. I think that in these pics I had wore the manicure for 5 or 6 days already, so it's not the freshest looking one out there, but it lasted really long.

Of course I also wanted to show you Full Steam Ahead alone too, so that you can fully see how pretty it is!

Then the next one is a really quick manicure that I did with The Girls Are Out. TGAO has the same shimmer than Full Steam Ahead in a pretty magenta/fuchsia base. I did two coats here with base and top coat.

Like I said, this was a really quick manicure and the stickers aren't really ment for nails, they are just some regular arts&crafts stickers, but I found them quite a while ago from some -70% sale bin and I thought they could be used on nails too. They didn't really fit too well, but it was a fun thing to try. However, they did stick really well, so if they had been a tad smaller, I think they would have been perfect for nail art.

Again, I have the polish alone for you as well, so you can maybe see the color better. This was a bit on the thick side, so you have to be careful with the coats or it might probably bubble a bit, but if you wait just a while between the coats, you're safe. Adding some thinner might help too...

And then last but not least is the manicure that I did with Rock The Boat and some water decals** (again got from Adenina). Rock The Boat has the same shimmer in it as the other two did, this time in a dusty light blue base. This one was a bit sheer too, so I used three coats with base and top coat.

I'm really struggling to decide if this one would be my favourite one, or if it's Full Steam Ahead. Both of them are really gorgeous and just my type of colors! I particularly love the shimmer that all these polishes have, it's so pretty.

I also loved these water decals, they are a little different, but so much fun! Did you notice how I tried to make my index and middle finger nails to form a heart?

I totally forgot to take pictures of Rock The Boat alone before I added the water decals, I'm so sorry about that! Perhaps you can still see how pretty the polish is?!

Lastly, I wanted to talk just a little about some differences that Essie polishes have in different countries. I usually either buy my Essies from etailers from US or I buy them/get them for review from Finland and there's some differences between the polishes depending on which country they are bought from.

Ok, so on left here I have Essie Naughty Nautical that I have bought from a US etailer (from ebay) and on right is Essie Full Steam Ahead that I got from L'Oreal Finland. Both of these polishes are from the same collection. As you can see, the Finnish version has the name sticker on top of the cap (which is really handy btw) and the US version has the Essie e. I don't really know why they are different and if other European countries have the same type of bottles that we have in Finland (that's why I call it the Finnish version eventhough I'm sure it's the same in some other countries too). Also, some Finnish etailers sell the US version on their sites, so it's a bit confusing.

However, the biggest differences and the one that I constantly keep talking about is the brush. As you can see here, the Finnish version has quite a wide brush.

Here I have some brushes so you can see the difference. From left to right I have first the OPI Pro-Wide brush for comparison, then the wider Essie brush and the thin US one. I have to say that I'm really in love with the wider brush, with that one the polish basically paints its self! I really wish they'd have the wide brush in all Essie polishes, but I know that some people prefer the smaller one.

*Essie Full Steam Ahead, The Girls Are Out and Rock The Boat were sent for me to review, for more information see my disclosure policy.

**I got the water decals for review from Adenina.