Essie Spring 2008 – In The Mood
In the mood for all his kissin’
In the mood his crazy lovin’
In the mood what I was missin’
It didn’t take me long to say
I’m in the mood now
When I hear Glenn Miller’s “In The Mood“ I can’t help but picture the scene from Cannery Row in which Debra Winger and Nick Nolte swing dance with competitive ferocity. The same image came to mind when I first saw Essie’s Spring 2008 collection, In The Mood, with it’s cheeky names and sweet girly shades.
For the most part all the polishes applied smoothly with no streaking. Looking For Love being the exception. It was just too difficult to get a fluid sheer look. Even after the three coats I applied it was still semi-sheer and splotchy (see below).
Body Language - Is a pinkish gray nude. A very neutral and wearable creme. I honestly didn’t expect to like this one at all, this is so not a part of my normal color range. But once I had it on, I loved the clean chic look.
Great Expectations – An opalescent gray, the shimmer is extremely subtle to add depth. I see light to medium grays becoming more and more popular. In fact this color would have fit right in with the silvery/pearly whites that were seen on the red carpet at the SAG Awards.
Hard To Get – A bubblegum pink creme with a hint of lavender in it’s base. It didn’t really mesh with my skin tone but I think it would be a fun pedi shade. With it’s high gloss shine, Hard To Get is the slight deeper sister of one of my favorite patent finish polishes, China Glaze Go Go Pink.
Hi Maintenance – You know sheers and I aren’t friends so even though this milky pink makes a great french manicure base, it’s not for me.
Looking for Love – This one was the big disappointment for me. Lilac and lavender shades make my hands look alien-esque so even though I love wearing purples, the lighter ones are a no go. Though regardless of the color the formula bit it, big time. Major application issues makes me give Looking for Love a double “thumbs down”.
Secret Affair – Is my other favorite from the collection. The shade is hard to describe which is why I find it so intriguing. Is it nude, pink, taupe or a combination of all three? With this one, it really depends on the light which makes a Secret Affair a winner in my book. 
The In The Mood collection is available for sale now online and is slated to be in stores and salons on February 1st.
Who’s buying what? How many of you are going to clutch your dark polishes, run and hide in a cave vampire-style until all this pale sheer madness goes away? And who is starting to venture towards the light? As much as it pains me to say, I’m kind of loving the freshness of these light colors. Shh, don’t tell! My green and blue polishes may revolt and run away.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
I have great expectations on the way (along with most of the ChG OMG collex)I wish it was a bit darker though, from what I see in your pictures. I did franken a light grey cream sheer, just haven’t gotten around to wearing it yet. it’s a shame about looking for love the color looks like a violet pastille (candy); delicious.
I am SO disappointed that Looking for Love does not apply well! I was hoping that this would be a nice lavender.
I am pleasantly surprised with the look of Secret Affair. This one will go on my wish list, as well as Hard to Get – I am a sucker for bubblegum pinks
I already ordered Great Expectations and Secret Affair, but now I think I need Body Language too! Maybe I will just pick that one up at Trade Secret, hmm
I am looking forward to the spring shades, it seems so refreshing after spending all of fall and winter in vampies. I’m sure I’ll be back to vampies with a vengance next fall though!
Thanks for the swatches/reviews.
I’m wearing Body Language now & LOVE IT!…now I’m debating btwn Secret Affair & Great Expection….are they different enough to get both?
I’m not quite ready for “light” yet – it’s still winter until the end of March here! But I have Secret Affair on my “want list”, what a pretty, interesting shade…
Hard to Get looks rockin’ on you, Cincy!
I generally don’t care for Essie, but I’m getting most of these! Thanks for the swatches. I live in a small town in NC (by small I mean population 1,300), so I depend on your swatches to help me select shades for online ordering.
I guess I need to learn more about polish. I actually really liked the lavander shade quite a bit, it doesn’t look too bad on me but now that you mention it, it is a bit streaky on me. Not having nails for most of my life, I didn’t know that was a formula issue. Maybe I should stick to makeup.
Oh man I was really hoping that Looking For Love would be an acceptable shade but the consensus seems to be that it’s impossible to apply. I’m not a professional and I really have a lot of trouble with applying difficult to apply shades. I *might* order the bubble gum pink one. A little disappointed with this collection.
Blah…I still love my color. this is too boring!
I’m not really into pastels, but these aren’t that bad! Anyway, thought I’d shere this little beauty I just found:
http://tinyurl.com/ypm8dh
I LOVE IT!!!
I’m excited for light colors — to me they seem more appropriate for spring. I really like Hard to Get and Great Expectations. I’m not a huge Essie fan (the ones I’ve tried have always been very thick), but I might give these a go.
Oh.. great collection!
i’m wondering if body language has a slight sheerness to it? when i wear very opaque creams, for example Essie’s Ballet Slippers which I know people *love*… my fingertips look like they have white-out on them.
Am tempted to get Body Language and Secret Affair! Yay for the light colors~ it’s springtime once again
I am totally sick of sheers and french manicures. Personally I think the colors look like the everyday colors they have, such as, mademoiselle, ballet slippers, marshmallow, waltz, suggar daddy, etc. Catch my drift???
Oh my! I am still clutching onto my vampies as it is still cold and will be until March, but I am really digging these colors. I am not a huge Essie fan but those light grey creams are enticing. Thanks for posting these!
Normally, I’m not a sheers girl, but Secret Affair is intriguing since it has more than one “look”. Essie usually doesn’t last on my nails though, so maybe I’ll give it trial run by getting a mani instead of just buying it.
Even though I am loving my vampies and navy’s right now, I know in the summer I want pretty sheers, both b/c of the weather and work and I knew Essie would not fail me with this collection. I already fell in love with Body Language after seeing it on MUA but thanks to your swatch I am also getting Hard to Get since it seems like the perfect pink I’m always searching for. Thanks hun!!
I laid my blacky-blues to rest last week. No one notices the sheer pinky pales, but maybe one of these new grays will be different enough to catch a few looks…
An update: I really wanted to love these colors – but the shades ended up off on me – made my skin look sort of sickly. Oh well! Maybe I’ll do better with the next round of new releases.
On me, Body language is MUCH more gray and opaque than in this picture. It looks kinda funky.
update people: I bought Secret Affair and I love it. (i.e., it doesn’t look like white out on my finger tips)
thanks cincy!!
Can you say L-O-V-E?? I just got the entire collection and let me tell you, ALL of the colors are gorgeous on their own! I am not a light colored wearing girl but these are so fab. Muah….
I just bought Secret Affair & Body Language based on your swatches. I’m a little disappointed with Body Language, I agree with the others that it applies more opaque than in the picture. It does have a little of that “white-out” look on the fingers. I also thought it was a little streaky and hard to apply.
I have to say thank you for this review. I bought the entire spring 2008 set, and I have Hard to Get on my hands right now and they look like Barbie hands. Heh. I’m going to pick another color soon.
If you had to pick one sheer/semi-sheer/light grey which could be purchased for under $6 online (under $10 in a brick-and-mortar store) what would you go for? I keep waffling between Essie’s Great Expectations and OPI Moon Over Mombai, but there may be something I’m missing!
(I’ve had trouble with biting my nails for YEARS and I finally seem to have mostly stopped, so I’m trying to reward myself by building up a bit of a collection of polish, and I really like the subtle-modern effect of the light greys- but as a college student I can’t afford to buy them all, even at online prices.)