Today I have swatches of the last two polishes from Essie’s Brand New Bag Collection for Fall 2011.
I had to order these two polishes online since they aren’t available in the normal Essie retail displays, and I hadn’t yet found them at salons like Ulta or Beauty First. It’s too bad these aren’t available in the retail displays, because they’re really nice colors!
The first is Essie Glamour Purse. In promotional pictures, this one looked liked a pinkish-khaki, but once it arrived I could tell that it’s darker and more brown-grey than it appeared. It’s not like Essie’s Milky Way, the caramel-tan J. Crew exclusive from this spring. The formula on this color is great, and it went on in two easy coats. The Essie brush is short and stiff enough to easily direct the polish on the nail, which makes application easy. On the nail this color dries to a cozy, greyish taupe that still has warm undertones. It’s a pretty color for fall.
I thought it might be similar to Chanel’s Particuliere, but when I compared the bottles, Particuliere was much darker and browner. The closest matches for this color were Merino Cool, from Essie’s Fall 2010 collection, and Hot Coco, from Essie Winter 2010. Merino Cool is more lilac colored than Glamour Purse, and Hot Coco is more brown. Glamour Purse is also a little bit lighter than either of the other two. I swatched Glamour Purse on my index and middle finger and Hot Coco on my ring and pinky fingers below, just to give an idea of how it compares. Hot Coco has a darker, more reddish brown tone. I did notice that the formula on Glamour Purse seemed nicer than Hot Coco, even more opaque and pigmented.
Next is Very Structured, which I was really looking forward to. It’s a dark, sort of spice-colored rusty brown color. The formula on this one was also great and it only took two coats for opacity. I love this color! It’s unique to my collection, and it’s my favorite of the whole Brand New Bag Collection. It makes me think of cinnamon and clove and pumpkin pie, and seems like a perfect fall color. At the same time, it has just enough grey/brown to be complex and wearable, not too orange or too bright. It feels rich and flattering, just right for early autumn.
This slightly shadier picture is the most accurate to the color I saw on my nails in normal wear – it’s not quite as orange as the first photo.
Since this polish actually reminds me strongly of pumpkin-spice, I decided to check out Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice as a top layer for Very Structured. I used just one layer of Pumpkin Spice over Very Structured for the picture below. This turned out really nicely-the rich brown-orange still peeks through the sheer grey base of Pumpkin Spice, but the color is a bit darker and browner, and the orange glitters add a subtle texture without creating too much contrast.
In the shade the orange glints of the glitter showed more strongly.
So far I’ve only found Glamour Purse and Very Structured at online etailers, but they should start popping at soon, at least in salons.
(Also see my first two Essie Fall 2011 reviews: Case Study, Power Clutch and Carry On and Lady Like)
Great swatches! Someone else mentioned that Glamour Purse looked very similar to Particuliere so I would have loved to see a swatch comparison. Very Structured is an interesting color but would look bad on me – very pale and cool toned.
I love both of these, but which one looks more modern?
Thanks for your comment! I kind of think that Glamour Purse looks more modern – it has that greyed, toned down taupey look that’s been popular over the last few years. Very Structured is a bit brasher and can remind me of leather, or books or something.