Essie Holiday 2011 Luxeffects Collection Swatches!

Good morning! Hope you all had a good weekend, it was all yucky and rainy here on Sunday. I actually didn't do much...it was nice! Today I have a collection I have been waiting very impatiently for, Essie's Luxeffects Collection! I have literally been calling the guy at the supply shop I go to every couple days for the last 3 weeks asking him about these. When I went to buy them on Friday the owner of the store was all happy for me that they finally got them in, I think he's glad I won't be calling like a stalker anymore haha!

A Cut Above is a mix of light pink small, medium and hex glitter in a clear base. This reminds me of Deborah Lippmann Some Enchanted Evening, it's not an exact dupe but it's similar! The formula was good, it wasn't thick and the glitter spread really easily. I wasn't having to try and place pieces glitter or apply it in a strange way to get the glitter on looking nicely. I used 1 coat of A Cut Above over Zoya Megan for the photos below.

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As Gold As It Gets is flakes of gold glitter in a clear base. This is pretty much the same as the CND Sheer 24K Sparkle effect that came out a couple months ago. The flakies seem a little less dense in the Essie version so I actually prefer this one. For those of you who didn't want to purchase the whole CND set just for that effect this is a great alternative! For the first 2 photos I have 1 coat of As Gold As It Gets over Zoya Kristen. The second 2 photos are 1 coat of As Gold As It Gets over Nubar Dark Wash Jeans.

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Pure Pearlfection is a fine white shimmer in a clear base. This didn't really wow me in the bottle but I changed my mind once I put it on, I really love the combo I did! I think one of those new Sally Hansen Diamond Strength polishes *might* be similar to this but since I haven't managed to find them yet I can't be sure about that. I know I don't currently have a dupe for this in my stash. I can't wait to try this over black...and white. I think it's going to look all kinds of awesome over white. What I really love about this polish is that out in the sun you could see little pops of blue and purple shimmer, it's really gorgeous! I used 1 coat of Pure Pearlfection over Nubar Boyfriend Jeans for the photos below.

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 Set In Stones is the same kind of mix of glitter that A Cut Above had except with silver glitter instead of pink. I do like this one, but it doesn't feel very special to me. Formula wise it was good and applied the same way as A Cut Above. I used 1 coat over Zoya Carey for the photos below.

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Shine Of The Times is the one we have all been looking forward to...flakies! This is pretty much a dupe of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and Nubar 2010 but shoot, I still love it. I will never get tired of flakies. If you missed out on Hidden Treasure and don't have access to Nubar this is a great alternative. I really love flakies like this over lighter colors, in the first combo below you can see a bit of the blue/purple in the flakies, it's gorgeous! The first combo I have is 1 coat of Shine of the Times over Chick All A Twitter. The second combo is 1 coat of Shine of the Times over OPI Black Onyx...I used a pretty thick coat over my index and ring finger...I like it that way, it's almost full coverage!

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Overall I really like these, are we surprised? No! My favorites are Shine of the Times, As Gold As It Gets and Pure Pearlfection. I would pass on A Cut Above and Set In Stones, they just don't feel that special to me. I'm still surprised that Essie has put out polishes like these, I used to really dislike Essie because they were so boring. If you had told me a year ago they would put out a flakie I would have laughed at you!

The Luxeffects Collection is available now! I haven't seen it in regular chain stores like Ulta or in drugstores yet but I'm sure it will be there soon! Looks like a few of the etailers already have the collection up...transdesign.com, aveyou.com both have them just to name a couple. Essie retails for $8 each!

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