If Essie’s goal is to help banish the winter blahs, then I’d say they’re off to a great start with their Resort 2013 Collection of these four happy & colour saturated hues. With a mix of crème and jelly finishes, as well as a nice selection of brights and/or aquatic tones, these four shades manage to perfectly capture the essence of the warmer weather to come .. which couldn’t be soon enough for me.

Essie – Resort 2013 Collection

Under Where – (get it? “underwear”? yes…totally cheesy of me …) a bright lilac hue with pink undertones in a jelly-esque formula, that gives surprisingly good coverage even by the first coat – totally self-levelling and highly glossy at the finish. Coats applied: 2, plus top coat

Essie – Under Where

Essie – Under Where

Positive that I had at least 1 shade in my collection that would be a near duplicate to ‘Under Where’, I was pleasantly surprised to note that I actually had nothing even remotely like it; I opted to compare it to ‘Nice is Nice’ (reviewed here), although the differences are glaringly obvious.

• index & pinkie fingers: ‘Nice is Nice’ (2 coats) – thinner flow, hybrid crème-jelly formula, lavender toned and more blue based, several degrees lighter overall
• middle & ring fingers: ‘Under Where’

First Timer – vivid aqua green crème hue with yellowish undertones, in a thicker formula that applied a touch patchy with the first coat, but levelled off completely by the second, becoming fully opaque. Highly colour saturated and almost bordering on neon, there was absolutely no staining upon removal. Coats applied: 2, plus top coat

Essie – First Timer

Essie – First Timer

While I own basically every green shade that Essie has produced, the only one that came even remotely close was ‘Turquoise & Caicos’, although even that’s a stretch, as can be seen by the swatches.

• index & pinkie fingers: ‘Turquoise & Caicos’ (3 coats) – more muted in tone, blue leaning, sheerer formula and a significantly thinner flow
• middle & ring fingers: ‘First Timer’

Come Here – electric coral/poppy hue with hot pink undertones – just shy of looking fully neon, in an ultra-pigmented formula that can almost pass as a 1-coater. Perfectly self levelling in application, it bears a nice shine at the finish, although not super glossy. Bonus: non-staining upon removal. Coats applied: 2, plus top coat

Essie – Come Here

Essie – Come Here

I easily found 3 shades in my Essie collection that seemed at first glance to be clones of ‘Come Here’, but I opted to compare it to the 2 closest: ‘Olé Caliente’ (reviewed here), and ‘Flirt’.

• index finger: ‘Olé Caliente’ (2 coats) – sheerer, hybrid crème-jelly formula, a hair lighter & just a touch less vivid in tone
• middle & pinkie fingers: ‘Come Here’
• ring finger: ‘Flirt’ (2 coats) – fully pigmented, similar formula although a touch more red/orange leaning, glossiest natural finish

In The Cab-Ana – vibrant Robin’s Egg Blue shade in a crème formula, highly colour saturated, completely self-levelling and with a beautifully glossy finish. Bonus: non-staining upon removal. Coats applied: 2, plus top coat

Essie – In The Cab-Ana

Essie – In The Cab-Ana

I was convinced that ‘In The Cab-Ana’ was an exact match to ‘Where’s My Chauffeur’ (reviewed here), but swatching the two proved otherwise.

• index & pinkie fingers: ‘Where’s My Chauffeur’ (2 coats) – thinner & slightly sheerer formula, more of a “Tiffany Blue” and bearing greenish undertones
• middle & ring fingers: ‘In The Cab-Ana’

Final thoughts: I confess to being a bit disappointed when I first beheld these shades, as at first glance none of them seemed that original colour-wise to me. I was also positive that with an Essie collection as extensive as mine, I would own several near-copies of each hue presented, but ‘Come Here’ was the only shade that has a twin (or triplet, in this case). I don’t wear lilac & lavender shades often, but I must admit that ‘Under Where’ is a shade that will suit all skin tones, while ‘First Timer’ is a great way to wear a bright green without coming off as too “Crayola”. My favourite of them all, is hands down ‘In The Cab-Ana’ (that name … *resigned sigh*), and if you missed out on ‘Where’s My Chauffeur’, you definitely need to pick this up. So yeah, no news-breaking colours, but a well-executed little collection, with formulas that are all a pleasure to apply!

The Essie Resort 2013 Collection will be available early April.

*Disclosure: Product samples provided by the company/PR for my unbiased consideration