Essie Winter 2013 “Shearling Darling” Nail Polish Collection Swatches & Review
Essie Winter 2013
If there’s one thing I’ve come to expect from Essie’s Winter collections, it’s warm, cozy shades. Founder Essie Weingarten has a relationship with fabric that really comes through in her collections and at a time when all I want to do is bury under a blanket next to a roaring fire, she delivers that feeling in nail color.
For her Winter 2013 nail polish collection she is pitting rich, dark tones against power pastels, bringing a lightness to what could have been a really heavy palette.
Formula & Application: Essie is a 3-Free brand. The square bottles are embossed with the Essie logo and the smooth plastic caps include an embossed ‘e’ on top. Bottles at mass retailers have stickers rather than embossing on the bottle. The brushes are thin, round and shorter than most. The bristles are very flexible, allowing you to easily fan out the brush to cover your nail width.
The Essie formula has a squishy, watery texture that glides on the nail allowing for precise application. One of the major benefits of the Essie consistency, and a reason I’m a fan, is that, for the most part, it self levels. So even when you think you jacked up a nail with uneven application, give it a minute and the polish will settle out.
In this collection, the application varies by finish and color so I will address that in the individual reviews below.
Essie Mind Your Mittens
Essie Mind Your Mittens
Essie Parka Perfect
Essie Parka Perfect
Essie Sable Collar
Essie Sable Collar
Essie Shearling Darling
Essie Shearling Darling
Essie Toggle To The Top
Essie Toggle To The Top
Essie Warm & Toasty Turtleneck
Essie Warm & Toasty Turtleneck
Essie Winter 2013
Bottom Line: Overall there are some lovely shades in this collection but the only real standouts for me are Sable Collar and Parka Perfect which, in spite of its leveling issues, is simply too gorgeous to pass up. I’ve made my feelings clear on Toggle To The Top and the rest are not exactly must-haves.
Essie Winter 2013 is available now at salons and beauty retailers nationwide including ULTA stores and ULTA.com. Essie nail polish retails for $8.50/ea for a .5oz bottle.
Which of these shades are you planning to pick up? Do you like to mix it up between lights and darks in the winter? If you could only wear one color from this collection, what would it be?
Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for Essie. Affiliate links appear in this post. When you purchase through an affiliate link, you help support this site. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
Darling and torgle are Gorgeous
I had such similar experiences with the collection – I was SOOO excited about Toggle to the Top and then in real life, it was a huge disappointment when it came to the application. The only other thing for me was the Warm and Toasty Turtleneck- hated it. The color was really close to my skin tone, it was dreadful. Loved the rest of them though! I did a design with the parka and mittens that looked awesome together.
Oh I would love to see that design. Is it posted somewhere online?
Only one color? Toggle to the Top. In the winter I like to wear dark shades.
That’s too bad about Toggle to the top
It looks soo pretty!
It’s still a pretty collection!
I’m loving Parka Perfect from your swatches. Another great review and photos. Thanks.
Mind your mittens looks really similar to 2011′s Bobbing for Baubles. Thoughts? I’d love to have a dupe!
Hi Wendy! I don’t have Bobbling for Baubles. It’s a shade I regret not getting. Unfortunately, I don’t know if they are dupes.
I used to have Bobbing for Baubles and I have now Parka Perfect in front of me. Based on my memories, they are different. BoB is bluer, purpler.
One more thing: you can still find BoB in the usual suspects of online retailers, I think.
I have Toggle To The Top and don’t find difficult to apply. The only “problem” is that I had to use 2 coats of top coat to tame the glitters because they “ate” the top coat. By the way, I used the European version of this polish. I’m not sure if the formula is a bit different or not but the brush is different. The brush is similar to Lanc
Interesting. I didn’t know the brushes were different in Europe. Since Essie and Lancome have the same parent company, I wonder if they use Lancome’s formula overseas as well.
Essie Mind Your Mittens (I love love love), Essie Parka Perfect (I like, but it really reminds my of that dove gray color that came out with the Orly Once Upon A Time collection-I can’t remember the name). And even though you had a hard time with Essie Toggle To The Top I really love it. It reminds me of China Glaze Ruby Pumps, but more burgundy and I like a good glitter nail polish even though they can be a pain to get off.
Toggle to the top looks identical to last winter’s Leading Lady. It sounds like this one has the same awful formula too, yuck.
I picked up Parka and Turtleneck. Can’t wait to try them. This is a beyond excellent review!!
I really want to get my hands on some of these. Especially Shearling Darling.
I didn’t have quite as much trouble with Toggle to the Top – the first coat was kind of streaky and didn’t have a whole lot of glitter in it, but a thicker second coat leveled it out nicely. I was a little disappointed by the slightly bumpy finish even after two coats of topcoat. None of the other colors in this collection are really calling to me, although I’ve been giving Sable Collar a second look lately.
Bummer about ToggleTTT! I have it and didn’t experience the same issues, maybe a bad batch? It is a gorgeous shade nonetheless! I have Sable Collar too but haven’t worn it yet, because I want to use it under a glitter but can’t. settle on the right combo for it yet, haha
Yes, I noticed the same application challenges with Toggle. It is a pretty color – I like the deeper red tone that it has but it is a bit of a challenge to apply evenly. And with dark colors you really have to watch the smudges and mistakes. I have Sable Collar too and that is a very pretty shade.
Hello great post… Would Essie’s Sable Coloar be a dupe for Opi Muir Muir?
Sable Collar is warmer, more brown and lighter than Muir Muir. I find Muir Muir to be more plummy.
I love Sable Collar.
I bought toggle awhile ago and I didn’t have the same issue with clumps.
I’m really hoping it’s just my bottle then. I was so mad, I wanted to throw my bottle against the wall. I just couldn’t get it smooth and even.
I like Toggle to the Top. I didn’t have any issues with layering past the first coat.
Mind your mittens is such a pretty color! I absolutely love Toggle to the top too, but I find when I put more than 1 coat on, the sparkles lose their “sparkle”
I have Parka Perfect and I love it. Mind Your Mittens is so similar to last winter’s Bobbing for Baubles so I passed on that one.
I missed out on Bobbing for Baubles so it fills that need for me.
I pretty much love them all and the fact they they self level? Very helpful for someone like me haha
Self leveling is key
For what it’s worth, I think you got a bum bottle of Toggle
Parka Perfect reminds me of Butter London’s Lady Muck.
They’re not quite the same. I compared it to Lady Muck which has a lot more glitter and a more greyed tone.
I agree with you, Sable Collar looks gorgeous. This type of shade is really under-rated imo, especially against Asian skin. And it can be worn year round. Great for toes too! I got the mini set of this collection, and Sable Collar is the only one I truly love enough to get a full size…
I love Toggle, and definitely didn’t have that problem with mine! Right now, I’m wearing Shearling Darling with Toggle to the Top on the upper diagonal of each nail. I love it!!