Pour It On – that’s the slogan seen in the Essie Winter ’07 campaign and for the molten shades is this series, it certainly applies. Never steering too far off course, this collection also includes the usual suspects; a nude & red cream. It wouldn’t be Essie if she didn’t stick to what her customers love and expect from the line.

Since Fall has officially arrived in Cleveland, the sun will be harder and harder to find so the Sunlight & Shade pics are on hold until our season of gray is over. Instead I’m using new indoor equipment that I believe gives accurate color representation.

First up, my favorite, squeal-tastic shade of the group… Over The Top. Hello gorgeous!! With it’s gun metal smooth semi-gloss finish I almost expected my nails to feel cool to the touch. The formula applied extremely smooth and the brush shape allowed me to get almost perfect application along my cuticle edge. Color me impressed!
I searched through all my bottles (that’s a LOT of searching) and the closest I could come to finding an Over The Top dupe was China Glaze Black Diamond from the Ski Collection. In the bottle I thought Lippmann Hit Me With Your Best Shot might be a contender (if only I could find you all a low cost version) but it had a slight blue cast when compared with the other two.

I only wish I could gush as lovingly about Over The Top’s metallic cousin Steel-ing The Scene. This pewter colored polish has a bit too much yellow in it, doing my skin tone no favors. And I had the same problem I have with so many chrome like finishes… brush strokes. Oh my word the brush strokes. It’s a unique color but not user friendly.

Damn you Diddy and your Making The Band!! Since I’ve set eyes on this polish all I keep hearing in my head is, “We show stoppin’, We show, show stoppin’!!” Showstopper is a hard shade to capture. The berry base, red pigment and gold ribbons of shimmer cause this shade to appear as multiple colors ranging from pink to magenta to berry red. With the exception of Steel-ing the Scene, all the shimmers in this collection applied smoothly.

Wrapped in Rubies actually reminds me more of an almandine garnet. But I suppose Wrapped in Almandine Garnets wouldn’t sound anywhere near as nice. Brownish-red with gold shimmer this shade feels more fall leaves than winter in my opinion. It’s beautious none the less. The semi-gloss finish is similar to Showstopper and Over The Top.

Who’s She Red is the color of bright red maraschino cherries. Yum! It’s highly pigmented and almost a one coat red. Very fun and traffic stopping but not what you’d call uber-unique.

I wasn’t sure if Nude Attitude was meant to be worn sheer or opaque so I tried it both ways. Holy hot streaky mess! The pictures don’t really show it but oh did I have a time trying to make this pretty. Not that I find this custard colored shade pretty but you know what I mean. Honestly, who wears this kind of color well? If it’s you, please send me a pic. I have to see! I felt like I was wearing parchment paper on my nails.

So for the first time in a while we’re seeing some daring shades from a company that plays towards a more conservative nail crowd. After the brown gorgeousness of Decadent Diva from Fall and now the steely charcoal goodness of Over The Top I can only hope this means we’ll be seeing deep blues and purples from Essie in the future. Please please please bring back VIP!

The Winter ’07 collection will be available November 1st but I’ve heard that people are already finding them at ULTA.