“Turquoise & Caicos – a flirty and pretty tropical aqua.” – from essie’s site
This color’s apparently one of essie’s more popular colors and I’ve read that it’s also a really good match for the perfect Tiffany’s blue. I love blue in general, as it’s my favorite color, and teals are no exception for that. As such, I wanted to try it. Unlike the bulk of my haul that I mentioned earlier, I bought this one at Harmon’s. Reason being, despite its popularity, I’ve also read from some people who had issues with streaking and it being a really thin formula. At least this way, I can return it if I don’t like it… unlike my Amazon purchases, which I’m stuck with – whether I love them or not. It’s one of the things on Amazon that isn’t eligible for returns.
It was released as a part of the Summer 2010 Resort collection, but is now a part of essie’s permanent collection. It’s a pretty pastel turquoise cream that has jelly-like qualities as it’s applied and levels out really well. With my diagonal mani, I accidentally made ridges on two of my nails when I left the tape on too long. By the next day, they disappeared, which was a surprise for me as when that generally happens, they don’t level out. It’s great color both both spring and summer.
All of the pics were taken with natural light and no flash. As my nails are currently swatched with butter London Scoundrel, a swatchicle will have to do for now. I did use this color for my diagonal mani with essie Good as Gold, so please refer to this post for actual nail pics for now.
I should have taken a picture of my nails when I first used it for my diagonal mani, which I posted in my last post, but I unfortunately didn’t think of that while I was doing them. At the very least, I can talk about my experience with it. As pretty as this color is in the bottle and with the finished mani, the application process was a complete NIGHTMARE!! T.T The formula’s rather crappy. It’s very thin & watery, which makes it very streaky with application. It took me at least 3 coats to get complete coverage, but a 4th one would have made it even better.
For such a pretty color, I’m not sure if it’s worth the trouble it took to get it to look decent. If I had used thicker coats, I could perhaps get it down to 2 coats. I had no problem with the drying process; just waited 3-5 minutes in between coats so I wouldn’t mess up the coat beneath it. For some weird reason, when I used this on a swatchicle, I had none of the issues that I experienced when I first used it on my nails. It only took 2 coats to be opaque, but I did 3 to be safe. Below are the pros and cons that I had with this nail polish. I may just keep it because I love the color, but if I do, I probably won’t repurchase it and would look for a dupe instead.
Pros:
- It’s a really pretty color – reminds me of a tropical ocean
- Looks good on the nails once full coverage is reached
- It levels out quite well if you accidentally apply too much polish
- Decent drying rate
Cons:
- Takes 3-4 coats to get full coverage
- Watery & thin formula, which makes it streaky when applied
- Because it’s so thin, it also tends to run over the cuticles, even when you’re being careful
Overall Score: 3.5/5
- After thought: It’s a gorgeous color, but doesn’t have a good formula. If you absolutely love the color and don’t mind making the color work, definitely pick this up and give it a try. Otherwise, skip it and look for a dupe.