The ALU Archives – Essie Dominica Green
The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
As much as I try to focus on readily available colors for the Archives I couldn’t help myself this week. I finally got my hands on one of my dream dc’d shades and just had to share it with you. I mean if anyone will understand the excitement over finding a bottle of Essie Dominica Green on your doorstep, it’s all of you. Back in the early days of the MUA Nail Board, when I still had time to frequent it, there were only a few of us “green queens” hunting down old HTF shades and they seemed easier to find. Now it’s like the whole polish loving world has joined in, making these rare polishes even harder to find. I had pretty much given up hope of ever finding Dominica Green on my own (I REFUSE to pay big money on eBay) when an extremely generous gift made its way to me. See this treasure after the jump! |
I now have two IKEA Helmer drawers stuffed tight with greens and I’m about to start filling a third. I own pretty much every kind of green in the spectrum that you can imagine from the palest mint to the blackest forest and yet nothing compares to Dominica Green. There’s something about this color that makes it light up on the nails like an electrified emerald. It’s not that it’s bright per se but between the slightly golden undertone and the fine green shimmer it just illuminates.
The only negative this old gal brings to the party is lack of opacity. You really have to want it with Dominica Green. Even though it applies buttery smooth I needed four coats, five on my ring finger, to take this pic. And for those of you on the 3-Free bandwagon, it is in Essie’s old formula so if you should come across a bottle, be warned.
Now there are a couple bottles of Dominica Green on eBay and if it were up to me, that’s where they’d stay. I’m sure someone will eventually cave on the seller’s ridiculous price but I’d much rather see you get the satisfaction of finding a bottle in a dusty old nail shop than give in.
If you’ve never been “dusty hunting” Dominica Green is a fantastic reason to start. Start scouring all the nail salons in town. Check their walls and don’t be afraid to look in that dust filled glass case under the counter. That’s how I came across OPI Rainforest (since a few of you have asked recently). Go out there and find yourself a gem!
Disclosure: In the interest of full disclosure this bottle was given to me by the creator herself, Ms. Essie Weingarten. Not for review, just as a kind gesture to this green polish loving girl.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
This color reminds me of an apple jolly rancher, yummy!
Good one! I agree.
OH MY GOSH!!! I love green nail polish and that one is just BEAUTIFUL!!
I’m so jealous of you! Use it wisely 
Borghese has a new collection out, with one color, Pistacchio, that looks the same — the MOST gorgeous gilded deep green in the bottle, but almost colorless upon application. I’ve no idea how many coats it’d take to achieve bottle color with that one!
I agree with the Borghese color – I got Pistacchio thinking it would turn out vivid but it went on sheer and blah. I was very let down with it.
This is such a pretty color! I agree with Stubby, it really does look like a green jolly rancher.
My husband and I are new dust hunters, and he had a really good question – are those bottles under the salon counter used? If so, it’s not a big deal, right? I know lots of nasty things can be spread with unsanitary tools, but a polish seems really unlikely to transfer anything from person to person…
It reminds me of Rimmel’s Camouflage a bit, not quite as gold looking though.
I WISH they were dupes. That would make things much easier.
So, is Ms. Essie considering reintroducing the shade, do you know? If you get the chance, urge her to do so, please. I’m new to the polish addict world and green is my favorite color. This one is awesome! Apple jolly rancher, just like stubby says.
LOL!
I wish. That’s how the whole thing came about. I mentioned to her that if she ever considered bringing back any old shades that would be one I’d love to see and then this beauty arrived on my doorstep. I didn’t even know she still had any in inventory. What a major surprise.
Wow, that looks fabulous on you! Yay for lemmings fulfilled
so i looked on ebay because i was curious to how much scalper(s) are charing and it’s $44.95!!!!!!!!!!! for a SINGLE bottle! jeez louise! i mean, i get it’s rare…i get it. but $45 for a single bottle!? that seller must be out of his/her mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anyway, it’s a beautiful colour and how special to have it given to you by essie herself!
Yeah, that’s crazy. Not as crazy as other colors that have sold for over $100/bottle but still. I hate that there are people who do nothing but hoard these beloved shades just to make money off them. Like every time a Chanel polish comes out, people buy them out to sell on eBay. So sad
Hi! Do you own Sinful Colors San Francisco? If so, how do they compare?? I’m a green queen myself!
I have San Francisco and it’s got a lot more blue in its base color
wow that really does look like the green in the dominican flag. i have friends from dominica. i wonder if they knew of this color!
It sure looks amazing! I’ll prob. never own a bottle of DG. I do own Rainforest so I’ll survive:P
This is legitimately one of the most beautiful greens I’ve ever seen.
I love green as a color but I don’t feel like I would ever find a green nail polish that wouldn’t make my nails look diseased
You have no idea how excited I am that you posted this! Here’s my story:
On St. Patty’s day I went to the parade downtown, and realized that I didn’t have any green on. I snuck into a tiny, rundown salon run by adorable older asian women. I scanned the shelves for a nice green color, and grabbed this amazingly pretty frosty shimmery buttery emerald green polish. I don’t remember looking to see if it was essie, but it was in a square bottle. When the manicure was over, I searched the web endlessly for a dupe, but the closest I came to was Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Emerald City, and it’s just not the same. I also grabbed China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, and though it’s gorgeous, it’s also not quite right. And now I stumbled across this ALU archive, and voila! The exact color, with the exact same consistency, and the exact same square bottle! I’m definitely going back to that crappy nail salon. Totally worth the 13 bucks I spent on a mani. Maybe I can bargain with the owner and buy that bottle…
*Drools!* Is there a close dupe to this?
The closest greens I think I have are three Zoyas – Irene (probably too olive), Midori (looks dang close but weaker with a gold shimmer), and Tangy (which I know is too light/yellow).
Essie’s Dominica looks like the perfect not-too-yellow-not-too-blue-and-no-gold-shimmer emerald I’ve been searching for. I must have it. I’ll keep my eyes peeled, but I’d be satisfied with a near-perfect dupe. Any suggestions?