Essie Summer 2011 Collection - Braziliant

Essie has a very strong spring collection with shades inspired by the beautiful St. Tropez.  Lovely pales and shades of blues.  I was in love with that collection and I would love if the summer collection would follow in its footsteps, however Brazil-inspired brights aren't really my thing.  I will look at all the new shades in this collection but I am betting that I will go back to the spring shades, that aqua shade is just too amazing to be topped.  Each season, Essie offers six new shades and this one is no exception.  We have four brights in this collection, one pale, and one pale lavender.  "If you want to pick up some color at the beach...  I say go Braziliant."

First, the non-brights from this collection.  My favorite shade is named Smooth Sailing and it is a "breezy lavender blue with a reflection of pearl".  I can still see that lavenders are still popular going into summer and they are my favorite shade to wear against tanned skin.  This one will work in very easily with all of the shades that I already own in my polish collection.  The second of the non-bright shades is the pale in the collection.  This shade is described as a "soft seafoam green" but really looks more of a very pale taupe to me.  This shade actually looks rathering unflattering, since it is quite cool but I don't view it as a green shade.  It reminds me more of a pale shade that went wrong in the sun.  So far, I only want the Smooth Sailing shade.

Now we move to the bright shades from this collection.  Too Too hot is the first shade and the least neon of this group.  Every single nail polish collection has to include some kind of red and this is that shade for this one.  This one is a "sizzling rich red coral" with a cream finish.  This one is a warmer red and I prefer more of the cool reds that we tend to see in the fall and winter.  I have enough cool reds that I love that I could skip on this one very easily.  The second shade is another one of my least favorites in the collection.  This is one of the orange shades and is named Meet Me At Sunset, a "vibrant deep orange".  I just can't stand orange shades and this one is no exception.  The other orange shade is Braziliant and I like this one even less than the other one.  "Hot orange with a touch of shimmer" is the way this shade is described and I can't stand oranges or brights so we all know that this one is out.  The last of the bright shades is Super Bossa Nova and is the one with the best name of the collection.  This is one is an "upbeat bright fuchsia" and is the only one of the brights that I actually like.  It is easier for me to like a bright purple than any other bright shade. 

So I only like two shades from this collection but that actually is more than I initially thought that I would.  I love both of the shades that are more on the purple side and will be easy to wear right into my collection.  The Super Bossa Nova shade will work only in the summer months but I think that Smooth Sailing will be able to be worn all year long.  Looks like I still prefer the spring collection from this company...

photo courtesy of allurabeauty.com