Essie Turquoise & Caicos!

Brynn @ A Painted World

Essie Turquoise & Caicos!

Que the island music, put on your suit and grab a drink - we're going to the tropics! Well, at least my nails have. If I happen to (magically) go on a vacation to the Caribbean this year this will be the color I will pick. It's like a little vacation in a bottle.

In my mind, I'm already on the beach. Sigh. Anyway, this is Essie Turquoise & Caicos and it's safe to say that I love it. It's actually my first Essie (I don't know where I've been) and I'm really happy with it. After the first coat I was actually thinking I would need three to get a solid opaque color but it ended up only needing two.

The formula was smooth but a tad on the thin side compared to some of my other colors. It wasn't a bad thing though. First coat was a bit sheer but the second one filled everything in for a perfect finish. It has a really pretty color that shows well in artificial and natural light. Essie calls it a "flirty and pretty tropical aqua" which I think is pretty accurate. It's true to the first part of its name as it shows as a definite turquoise but not in an obnoxious way, at least for me. The brush was a good size too so applying was a breeze. Ah, a beach breeze in the Caribbean. Oops. I drifted away again.

I said I wasn't going to stamp with this one but I caved. The bright turquoise color was just screaming for something. Plus I was inspired by a mani that Let Them Have Polish did with Ulta3 Pacific Fever and stamping. It looked awesome and I wanted to do something close but a little different. So I went through my plates and picked out a little flower and vine design after debating three different images. I used MASH plate m26 with OPI Alpine Snow to help create my little tropical manicure.

Yes, I'm addicted to stamping but how could I not? It was just perfect for this color! I'm really happy with how the image came out too. Since some of the details were tiny I was a bit worried it wouldn't come out clean especially after the issues I had with the argyle image I did last week. I'm happy to say it came out beautifully! Further proof you don't absolutely HAVE to pay $7.00 a plate to have pretty and detailed nail art. I guess I'll have to give the argyle print another shot after all. =)

I will definitely be checking out more Essie colors in the future. I wish I had paid attention sooner. Now I need to figure out what I'm doing for a Fourth of July/Red Sox game mani for next week! There are so many choices and only two hands to work with.