Essie Neon 2017 Review With Swatches

Neon polishes are released at this time every year and, although it’s such a cliche, they instantly make me think of gloriously sunny holidays, festivals and fun. And the essie Neon 2017 collection sums up this feeling perfectly. Bright, bold, pretty and still wearable  – these are the perfect way to get your fingers and toes ready for the beach… whether that’s in the Maldives or Margate.

The collection has taken inspiration from the graffiti-splashed walls of Miami and, unusually, they’re all in the same colour family – covering coral, orange and red. The essie Neon 2017 range is exclusive to Superdrug so click the links below to order or pop into store – plus all essie polishes are currently £2 off. As though you needed another excuse to stock up on these beautiful shades!

I love that this collection was released with the essie prime & pop base coat* – for some reason neon nail varnishes are always sheer by nature which can mean you waste a lot of product trying to get your manicure looking its best. But a little trick is to pop a white nail varnish underneath the neon colour to really give it some oomph!

essie ‘mark on Miami’* is described as a ‘vibrant ember orange’ and flipping heck is it vibrant! My camera had a small freak out trying to properly capture this and thats exactly what you want in a neon: none of this wishy-washy almost-neon nonsense! Essie have managed to perfectly capture the highlighter-esque neon colours and the white base coat really works to make them pop. The photos below show one coat of the base coat and two coats of ‘mark on Miami’ – the first coat was lighter but a little streaky (understandable with sheer colours). Neon polishes by their nature dry with a matte, rubbery texture you definitely need a top coat to get them looking glossy and pretty.

essie ‘gallery gal’* – a ‘vivacious coral pink’. The photos make this look a little more orange than they appeared in real life so bear that in mind if you’re looking for something less warm. Again, this needed two coats of the polish over the white base coat.

essie ‘off the wall’* is a ‘bombshell shocking pink’ (is it just me or are the colour descriptions a bit… lacklustre this time? Usually they’re so fun and OTT – I miss them!)

ANYWAY! This is the classic neon highlighter pen pink colour and I love it! I actually did three coats on the pointer finger to show you the difference in colour in coverage. As the shades get darker the coverage is a bit patchier, which makes sense as neon polishes are quite sheer in general.

The last polish in the essie Neon 2017 collection is essie ‘the fuchsia of art’* is described as a ‘rich, vivid magenta’ but I’m still confused by the word ‘fuchsia’ in the name of this polish. I know that the flower has many different shades of pinky/purple but when I hear ‘fuchsia’ I think of a bold pink. But anyway! I wasn’t too excited about this polish at first but I’ve been wearing it since Sunday and I really like it. I wouldn’t necessarily class it as a ‘neon’ but it’s very vibrant and eye-catching colour so this could be your gateway polish if you need to ease into neons! I’ve had lots of compliments about it over the past few days so it’s definitely a crowd pleaser. The mani below is shown with two careful coats; I wanted to do three but the colour was getting darker with each layer and I wanted to show it in this state. If you’re not fussed by a little streaking then two coats is more than adequate.

I feel so summery right now! The essie Neon 2017 collection is absolutely beautiful and contains some of the prettiest and best neon formulas I’ve seen in a long time. Which shade has caught your eye? Will you be treating yourself while they’re in the sale? Don’t forget that these are a Superdrug exclusive!

Lex

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