Essie

Essie Nail Polish [6 - Ballet Slippers] Review

By Maychiri's Thoughts - January 17, 2025

One little itty bitty nail polish as a gift! This s the Essie Nail Polish, in the shade 6/Ballet Slippers!
 
 
As soon as I saw that BIPA had a special promo with Essies I knew I had to try and get one Essie! What kind of promo? They were giving a GWP with every purchased Essie nail polish, a free mini size Essie Nail Polish, in one of 3 shades. Two of them were red and reddish magenta, both of which were way too red for me... but there was also a third option: Ballet Slippers! How did I know this? Well, Pink Panda had the same kind of promo some time before BIPA had had it, so I knew which three colours were in play. And I knew I had to get Ballet Slippers! I had read that this was Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite nail polish, one that she wore all the time, so, of course, I wanted to see what a colour approved by the monarchy would look like! Surely, it must be a very elegant colour; it seems very neutral and pinky and like it would be effortlessly elegant... I cannot wait to try it out! I mean, it it was good enough for the Queen, it should he good enough for me, right? Essies have been very good in the past, I am hoping this one continues the trend! Now, let’s finally see this little ballet-inspired nail polish!
 
 
 
Packaging: since this is a mini nail polish, the bottle differs slightly from the well-known Essie one. Besides being narrower (though, the same height as a standard Essie), the only other difference is that it lacks the white text with the Essie logo on the bottle. Instead, it is just clear glass. The sides still have that recognisable Essie relief, though! Gotta have that! The cap is honestly funny with how huge it is proportionally to the bottle; it is almost the same size as the bottle itself! It’s white, which is a nice combination with the pale pink. Oh, and it closes so tightly! I struggle to open it! So you know that no air is getting inside. It’s a very cute bottle, I must say! I like it!
 
 
 
 
Ingredients: nothing nourishing and 3-free (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). Though, it does contain colophonium/rosin, which is a know allergen. The scent is like most nail polishes, though a bit more vinegary. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.
 
 
 
Colour: ughhh, I don’t like this colour. It’s... how do I phrase it? Matronly? I am trying to be kind and respectful, knowing whose favourite colour this used to be, but I really don’t like it. To be quite blunt, it’s an “old lady pink”; like the kind of nail polish you’d see grandmas wearing. Not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with that, but it’s a certain aesthetic, one that I don’t vibe with. I come from a different generation, with different tastes, that’s all. Anyways, the colour is super light pink, a pale pink that is a classic colour. It’s a very milky kind of colour that reminds me of strawberry yogurt. It’s also a very ‘girly’ colour, which, I guess, is appropriate, given the story of how it was conceived. It is definitely giving ballet-core with how gentle and feminine and delicate it is! 
 
 
It goes with everything... but it doesn’t go with my skintone very well, sadly. It is too light on me with two coats; it just ends up washing me out. And it doesn’t look as elegant as it should on me; this is without a doubt a very elegant colour, suitable for formal occasions, if it meshes with your skin. On me it looks kind cheap. Oh no... why did this one have to be the one that doesn’t look good... I was so looking forward to it. Now I am sad.
 
 
 
Brush: another typically incredible Essie brush! The brush is actually pretty normal-sized (as far as Essie brushes go, at least) but it looks ginormous in the tiny bottle. It’s flat and wide, wide enough to cover all nails with polish easily. The brush picks up way too much pigment; even though said pigment is sheer, don’t forget to tap off the excess! The brush applies nail polish as evenly as it can, though the formula just isn’t even. But the brush certainly tries to make it even, and it is quite precise, too. I didn’t have a huge mess all around my nails after painting them, so, despite its large size, it is still pretty precise. And it’s so bendy! This makes it so much easier to paint nails, because it conforms to the shape of the nail – you are in control, not the brush! Ah, I love these Essie brushes so much! They are so incredible!
 
 
 
 
 
The formula is just gorgeous! It is a bit thin, but it is so super silky and smooth! Not one bit gelly! It applies relatively evenly, but even when it’s not applied evenly it sort of evens out over the next minute or two. So while the initial unevenness might not be the best thing, I found that my nails looked amazing after a few minutes. Still, a fantastic formula, albeit a bit harder to use.
 
 
 
 
 
 
One coat looks very elegant; almost completely sheer but still elegant. Seriously, there is barely any colour on with just one coat, there’s just a faint light pink milky sheen over the nails. Since it is pretty even with one coat, you can leave it at this and your nails will looks gorgeous – but I am going to apply a second coat, just to see where it goes... and how milky it becomes. Oh dear, it becomes so milky. Oh no. And it’s somehow more uneven now??? What gives? The polish is still not quite opaque, I can still see my nails underneath pretty clearly, and I don’t know... I don’t like this. I thought it would be even, given how easily it applied, but I just cannot make it even to save my life... and I’ve been trying! 
 
 
 
I normally never have this much trouble with Essies... anyways, the texture is glossy, which is quite nice. It salvaged what it could from the colour and milky finish, and it is certainly better than it being matte.
 
 
 
Longevity is surprisingly... bad, for an Essie, at least. I don’t like this. It started to chip on day 3, that’s way too soon. And it just continued to chip more and more with each day. I left it on for a week just to see what would happen, and boy, it did not look good by the end of the week. It was actually in horrible condition, all chipped and ruined. Thank god for the light colour though, because it helps conceal all these chips and scratches. Oh, I forgot to mention, this Essie is not very scratch-resistant. It doesn’t get scratched up immediately, but give it a few days and it will be covered in scratches. A hair wash destroyed it, and that’s just the first hair wash. All the subsequent ones until the end of the week just further compounded the damage. This is really bad... of course, the damage will be minimised with a good base and top coat, but you won’t always have that privilege. 
 
 
And without anything to protect it, the nail polish just doesn’t last very long. Which is shocking for an Essie, whose nail polishes usually last incredibly long. 
 
 
 
 
As expected, this nail polish is quite easy to remove. No need to scrub your nails to remove it, it slides off easily. And of course, since it is such a gentle colour, it doesn’t leave any stains.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All in all, while this might have been Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite nail polish, it certainly isn’t mine. That is not to say that this is a bad nail polish – on the contrary, its quality is quite high, as befitting of an Essie, but the colour really isn’t my type. I thought it would be..  I don’t know, less milky? It just looks... matronly, shall we say, with two coats. With one coat it looks much better, as it gives just a sheer pink colour to the nails, enhancing their natural beauty. But with two it just looks dated and old-fashioned to me. I’m sorry, I just frankly don’t like it. And it’s not quite even with two coats. I tried to make it as even as possible, but even then, there were rough patches. With two coats (as recommended), the colour is a very pale milky pink. It washes me out massively, as it is just too pale pink for my skintone. I can see why it was (is?) a popular colour, it certainly goes with everything you wear and it is quite elegant. But, it is just too old-fashioned to me. And I am disappointed by the longevity – an Essie should have better longevity than this. It lasts maybe 3 days before it starts to chip, whereas most other Essies tend to last 5 days without any major chipping. Fortunately, the neutral colour hides chips extremely well, so they are not very visible, but still, this shouldn’t happen so quickly. After that, it continues to chip little by little, until, by day 4, it already looks bad. And it gets scratched up as well, though not immediately. However, not everything is bad; the brush is really quite excellent and the formula is the standard super silky and easy to use Essie formula that I’ve grown to love so much. Although, as awesome as the formula may be, it still had issues with being uneven, like I said. So... my feelings are quite mixed, in the end. I was very hyped for this particular shade, knowing that it came with the freaking late Queen’s seal of approval... but I just don’t see the hype anymore. I am actually kinda disappointed, which is not a feeling I often get with Essies. I’ve been spoiled by them always being insanely good. But one of them eventually had to have been mid, it’s just a shame that it had to be this one. Sigh. I... I just cannot recommend it. It’s got too many problems. Sorry. But hey, at least it was a gift...
 
 
 
Rating: 6.5/10
 
 
Would buy again? Eh, NO


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