Essie Holiday 2009: Sweet Time of Year

Essie's holiday 2009 collection contains three colors based on candy. Yum!

"Rock Candy" is a sheer pale pink; "Lollipop" is a plain red; and "Mint Candy Apple" is pale mint green. Mmm, candy! Cue up the Homer Simpson drool.

To be honest, I like my candy with chocolate (caramel and toffee accepted, too). Hard candies such as peppermints aren't my thing, and in terms of the colors offered here, they are not ones I am lusting after for the holidays. I love the mini Essie bottles, so the little miniature collection package is a great way to sample the collection.


"Rock Candy," the sheer pink color, applied very nicely. I put three coats on. I don't mind the visible nail line; I think it is supposed to show a little.



"Lollipop" is a bright, traditional red that goes perfectly with the Christmas season. I have already stated that I am not very interested in red polish, but I do think this red is pretty and a good red representative for my polish collection.


The green seems to be the standout, especially since my ULTA has plenty of the red and pink in stock, but no green. :-P The pale mint green is very striking, but I had issues applying it. In fact, I had to remove my first attempt and start over. I also did an additional nail just to see if this problem was a fluke. (What is it with me and pale green polish problems? lol!)



I always think of candy apples as red, although of course there are the caramel coated ones as well. I wondered about the mint candy apple, and was pleasantly surprised to find Lacquer Laine contained the research and had found a real-life example of a mint candy apple. She gets extra points for the pictures of other scrumptious versions of candy apples, as well!!


Verdict: "Sweet Time of Year" is very "Essie" with its sweet approach; after all, we've got yet another soft, sheer pink. Yet, we have the fabulous and fashionable mint green, which is a great way to do this pale green trend without shelling out for Chanel Jade or MAC Peppermint Patty. I loved the Essie fall collection, with the fashion-forward putty, navy, mauve and gray accompanied by the on-trend neon hot pink and neon orange, and I find this a cute follow-up.

Euridice Scores:

Originality: 5 (everyone else is bringing on yet more pearls, frosties, shimmers and glitters...not that there is anything wrong with that).
True to its brand: 5
Application for newbies: 4 (that green gave me some issues!)
Beauty: 4.5 (it is awfully pretty!)

Overall Euridice Score: 4.5 -- Almost a Euridice yay!