Today I'm reviewing one of the latest collections from Essie called Retro Revival. It's a collection of polishes they had discontinued and were popular enough to bring back. I bought two of the shades, "Starry, Starry Night" and "Cabana Boy". I'm a long time Essie fan, you'll know this if you've been a reader for a while, but the polish formulas and finishes are almost always perfect, the brush makes it easy to apply, and the shade range is incredible.
Starry Starry Night is a deep blue with blue glitter suspended in the polish. It requires a lot of shaking before application, otherwise it can settle and start out a little thick. It's very similar to a shade from a holiday collection a few years ago called Leading Lady, which was a red polish with red glitter. The finish is beautiful and it's a unique shade, but I worry that like Leading Lady, it will dry out much faster than other Essie shades.
The Retro Revival Collection all feature gold stars on the brush of the bottle. This is the first time I've seen Essie alter their packaging for a collection so it's kind of a neat added detail. Starry Starry Night was originally released in 1997 and since it's been discontinued loyal fans have paid hundreds of dollars for the shade on eBay. Unfortunately some reviews I have read say this reformulation isn't quite as good as the original.
Here you can see the colour a bit more clearly. Overall I think the colour and finish is very unique, and is a perfect way to dress up an outfit or make a statement with your nails without going all out with nail art. I think it applies relatively well for a glitter but I must say the wear time is poor. It chips very quickly and is very easy to just pull the entire colour off of your nail. This is both a pro and a con, a con because it doesn't last but a pro because it's the easiest glitter polish to remove yet! If I were to recommend this shade it would only be for its unique appearance, its application and staying power is disappointing, especially compared to other Essie shades.
Cabana Boy is a pearlescent grey/white shade with a more neutral-beige warm tone to it rather than a cool toned grey undertone. It's a very unique colour and finish and not really what I expected when I bought it. It has the usual Essie formula which is very easy to apply and has a decent lasting time, but because of the pale shade it does take about 3 coats to make the colour opaque. I do think some people would like to wear this shade in a more sheer way, but I prefer the colour to be more intense.
Again, it has the gold star detailing for the collection. Cabana Boy is a shade originally released in 2005.
I must say that out of the two shades Starry Starry Night is much more unique and would be a great option for somebody who already has a large nail polish collection, however, I will be getting much more wear out of Cabana Boy. I think the shade will look lovely in the summer, but is also a really nice shade for the winter months because of the pearly finish. The application and wear of this shade is far superior to Starry Starry Night but not as much of a showstopper.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know any other recommendations you have for Essie nail polish shades!
Thanks for reading,
Megan
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