Hello my little catamarans,
I picked up Essie Smooth Sailing when one of my favorite local nail/beauty supply stores, Eve Beauty Source, was having their closing sale. I forget what the discount was, but it was good enough for me to pick up a few bottles of polish that I probably wouldn't have purchased without the discount. One of those polishes was Essie Smooth Sailing, which I had originally read about on Musings from Manhattan when I still followed that blog. Nothing against her, but she doesn't update frequently enough. I know that's rich coming from me, but... you know what? Hush. ;)
Color: Essie Smooth Sailing is a medium blue polish with silver/gray shimmer. I would call it a flakie but it the flakes are small and subtle. It reminds me of Zoya Skylar though they aren't quite the same. A comparison is probably in order. I think the color is one of those muted blues that is good for someone who is a little afraid of color or who is looking for a more mature blue. The finish aside, this color strikes me as more mature than all the super bright or neon blues that I usually see in the summer collections. The color and the finish really remind me of blue jeans for some reason. The flakes/glitter give the polish a nice depth and while they're visible, they aren't in your face like a traditional glitter or flakie polish. It's more like a subtle shimmer.
Formula: The formula is a little watery. This is definitely one of those polishes where you have to be careful about how much polish you have on the brush.
Application: The first coat applied smoothly without any dragging but it also applied kind of sheer and uneven because the polish wasn't thick enough to really cover the nail. With the second coat I noticed that I could see where the brushstrokes overlapped and the polish was still far from opaque, particularly because of the patchiness and balding. With the third coat I definitely noticed the brush dragging a little more. However, the polish was opaque in three coats (except for one spot on my index finger that I had to go back over with a fourth coat). When I was painting with my nondominant hand, the situation was basically the same. Application wasn't any better but it wasn't any worse.
CONCLUSION: Even though I was fairly critical about the application, I would recommend this polish if you really love the color. It's an OK polish. It's not perfect so it's probably not going to be the best polish for a beginner but it's manageable and if you have a steady hand you should be able to get even coverage and in the end, the polish looks fine. Personally, I think the blue is a touch too dark for me and it kind of ages my hands.
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SWATCHES
Color: Essie Smooth Sailing is a medium blue polish with silver/gray shimmer. I would call it a flakie but it the flakes are small and subtle. It reminds me of Zoya Skylar though they aren't quite the same. A comparison is probably in order. I think the color is one of those muted blues that is good for someone who is a little afraid of color or who is looking for a more mature blue. The finish aside, this color strikes me as more mature than all the super bright or neon blues that I usually see in the summer collections. The color and the finish really remind me of blue jeans for some reason. The flakes/glitter give the polish a nice depth and while they're visible, they aren't in your face like a traditional glitter or flakie polish. It's more like a subtle shimmer.
Formula: The formula is a little watery. This is definitely one of those polishes where you have to be careful about how much polish you have on the brush.
Application: The first coat applied smoothly without any dragging but it also applied kind of sheer and uneven because the polish wasn't thick enough to really cover the nail. With the second coat I noticed that I could see where the brushstrokes overlapped and the polish was still far from opaque, particularly because of the patchiness and balding. With the third coat I definitely noticed the brush dragging a little more. However, the polish was opaque in three coats (except for one spot on my index finger that I had to go back over with a fourth coat). When I was painting with my nondominant hand, the situation was basically the same. Application wasn't any better but it wasn't any worse.
CONCLUSION: Even though I was fairly critical about the application, I would recommend this polish if you really love the color. It's an OK polish. It's not perfect so it's probably not going to be the best polish for a beginner but it's manageable and if you have a steady hand you should be able to get even coverage and in the end, the polish looks fine. Personally, I think the blue is a touch too dark for me and it kind of ages my hands.
SWATCHES
This is the only indoor photo.
I wore this with Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me on my thumb.
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