Essie 'Skirting the Issue'

I posted a few weeks ago about how impressed I was with my first experience of Essie nail-varnishes.

Following the success of the pastel lilac colour I bought, I have been itching to try out the rest of their range.  I caved a few days ago and bought “Skirting the Issue” – a deep burgundy colour from their new ‘Stylenomics” range.

I am normally loyal to OPI, but seeing as they do not sell them in any shops in my local town centre, I struggle when picking colours as they look so different on swatches on the internet.

Normally before I purchase a new cosmetic, I have a scout around the beauty blogs to see what kind of buzz is surrounding the product.  In this case, I did it the other way round – I purchased then searched the blogs.

Several of the blogs criticised the varnish for needing several coats to get an even finish.  The colour (when photographed on people’s nails) also looked a lot lighter than I expected.

Oh dear.

Anyway, seeing as I had bought it, I had to try it out.  Here’s my opinion....

The first thing I noticed was that the consistency is quite runny.  It is easy to overload the brush and it was difficult to control it around the base and sides of my nail where I found it tended to run or collect.  I think there is a fine line with nail varnishes between them being runny enough to glide on the nail and dry quickly, but thick enough that you still maintain some control.  This erred on the runny side.

These are my nails after the first coat. 

 

It did ‘glide’ on quite nicely, which is the same experience I had with the lilac shade, but you can see on my thumb what I mean about the product ‘collecting’ and you can see on the edge of my ring finger where the product has started to run.  However, it was generally quite even for a first coat of a darker nail-varnish. 

These are my nails after the second coat.

I expect a nail varnish to reach its intended colour after two coats, as I find anything more than 2 coats makes it tricky to dry properly.  I found it quite difficult to get an even covering with the second coat.  I tended to get a bit of a ‘dip-dyed’ situation going on, where the tips of my nails were darker than the base.  My thumb nail gives the best representation of how even the colour ended up.  You can also see where it has run again on my middle finger.

The colour was definitely lighter than I was expecting.  It is a nice burgundy, but not as deep as I would have liked.  The flash on my camera makes it look lighter....the photo [below left] is without a flash and you can see it looks considerably darker.  The photo on the right gives the truest representation of the colour I achieved.  Some of my nails are definitely darker than the others...there is a definite lack of consistency in the depth of colour.
 

Having said that, I love the finish.  Both this varnish, and the lilac I previously bought, both have a very luxe, shiny finish. I did apply a top coat of cheap clear nail varnish but after a day of wearing it my nails have not dulled as much as they do with other brands of nail varnish.  It is also the kind of nail varnish, both in colour and finish, which makes your hands looks quite ‘groomed’. 

Overall I do like this nail varnish, once I accepted the colour was not what I was after!  I maintain that the consistency is difficult to control – I doubt I will be able to use this if my nails are shorter as you need enough nail space to be able to even out the colour and the brush carries too much product.  It will certainly not be a ‘quickie’ nail varnish that I can apply in a rush.  It needs a steady surface, concentration and time to apply.  But if applied with care, it does produce a good, glossy end result in a colour that is very ‘this season’.

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UPDATE:  In a pang of boredom the following day, I decided to paint another coat of colour and clear polish on top.  I do have a tendency to do this.  I find that 3 coats of colour, plus a base and top coat, never dries properly if all applied at the same time.  They give the illusion of being dry but will still smudge or pick up texture patterns.  This may be my lack of skill in application!  But often I find if I do the generic 2 coats of colour and a base & top coat, they dry easier.  Then the next day if I apply again I find it dries a lot more robustly.

So anyway!  Here is a photo of my nails after a 3rd coat of colour and a further clear top coat.  I definitely prefer the depth of colour this extra coat has given and the colour is now much closer to what I was originally after.  Quite a long-winded process though to get this nail varnish to work for me...