In Which Essie's Messy Pinks Make Me See Red

For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, Essie is the go to shade for many when a sheer or pale pink is called for, either as part of a French mani or as an all over nail colour. Mademoiselle seems to be a firm favourite with the bridal crew, and I've seen it featured a time or twenty as the ultimate neutral shade on magazine lists of best beauty buys.

There are several bottles of these Essie could-be-pretties in my collection, including Mademoiselle herself, South of the Hi'Way, Ballet Slippers, Sugar Daddy, Starter Wife, and the most recent addition to my crew, Fiji. Having tried this many pale pinks from Essie leads me to think that maybe their popularity is simply related to the mahoosive selection of these shades that they offer, or their habit of rarely releasing a collection without including some version of what is pretty much the standard Essie colour.

It surely can't be down to ease of application.

Without exception, every bottle of pale Essie pink I've tried has been a nightmare to put on, taking a minimum of three - and in the case of Fiji, four! - to achieve anything approaching even coverage. At which stage things are getting very opaque indeed. No matter how thinly each coat is applied or how meticulously I work, the end result is invariably so chalky and streaky looking even after a topcoat's applied that I wind up just removing it immediately.

Does anyone else have these issues? Am I missing a trick or is it just time to give up on these messy Essies altogether?