L'Oreal vs. Essie

Today I went on a bit of shopping spree with my new paycheck and bought an eclectic group of things.

The first thing you should know about me is that if I have 50 cents in my pocket, I will spend a dollar. I am a very frugal shopper but I buy a lot of things that I don't really need.

It's a problem.

Now I have a summer job while I'm home for the summer so I have a paycheck every week and a list of things I want to buy.

I love nail polish. I have an entire makeup bag filled with all different brands and colors. I paint my nails a different color at least once a week, if not more. I get bored easily.

I was always too cheap to splurge and buy an Essie nail polish (I saved those for the salons) but after much consideration, I gave it a shot and bought "Watermelon" a few months ago. Then I bought "Eternal Optimist" and was addicted.

It's by far the best nail polish I've ever used and I wanted to buy all the colors so today I went out in search of three colors, "Navigate Her", "Playdate", and/or "Overboard".

I didn't find either of those but I did find, "Off the Shoulder".

I also bought one of the new L'oreal polishes, "Butterfly Kisses". I've seen the commercials and was interested to see if there was anything to fuss about.

Off the Shoulder is a bubblegum, electric pink. It's neon but not Pepto Bismol color. It's a great, light summer color and is sure to look amazing with a tan.

Butterfly Kisses is a lavender color; it's not too light or too dark..a perfect pastel for the summer season.

Both are great colors in the bottle but I wanted to take the nail test and see how they measured up.

I put two coats of each on my hand; two fingers of "Butterfly Kisses", the other two of "Off the Shoulder". Side by side, I liked the Essie color better.

It popped more; the L'Oreal color was too light but I'm sure with a few more coats it will darken up.

Essie is known for going on smooth, without a bump on the road and most polishes can't hold up to Essie standards but I have to say the L'Oreal nail polish was smooth as butter. No clumps or caky drying.

All in all, both polishes are wonderful but Essie "Off the Shoulder" is definitely my new favorite shade of summer.