I usually leave my manicures at two coats when I apply Essie ballet slippers to maintain sheerness. Even though Essie designed it to be sheer, I noticed that a three-coat application of ballet slippers looks too opaque on my fingers. It’s quite a list actually! And spoiler alert: some shades are extremely close, and you don’t need them all! Considering I’m living in Europe, some of these shades were quite challenging to find, but I’m happy to report that I now own all of these shades. I’ve swatched most of these shades below, but I will be updating this post over the next coming weeks with the shades that I haven’t swatched yet! You can immediately skip to the comparison if you don’t want to see the individual swatches! Essie Handmade with love Essie Handmade with love There was no difference in the color or shimmer of the nail polish. However, I noticed that #096 is a little harder to find online and in local drugstores. So, considering that Essie regularly tweaks its product formulas, #096 could be an older version of ballet slippers. Essie Geranium belonged to the first 130 Essie colors ever produced, and is still part of the permanent collection in the US. To me, that says everything you need to know about this shade! It’s a true classic that will look great on (almost everyone). Sadly, it got discontinued in Europe, but it was shortly available as part of Essie’s Advent calendar for 2022. You can clearly see in this picture that Handmade with love contains a lot more orange than Fifth avenue, Geranium, and Lacquered up. Geranium and Fifth avenue are both described as orange-reds by Essie, but Geranium is slightly more orange. Although I love both Geranium and Fifth avenue, you definitely won’t need them both unless you’re really into orange reds. Lacquered up is a warm-toned red, but compared to Geranium and Fifth avenue, it’s more of a classic red. Comparison of Essie Fifth avenue, Essie Too too hot, Essie Russian Roulette and Essie Really red

Essie ballet slippers and Mademoiselle are beautiful nude pink nail polishes designed with a sheer finish. However, ballet slippers is a slightly paler pink that appears almost white in three coats.That single anecdote has maintained the outstanding reputation of ballet slippers 30 years down the line. Even today, this nail varnish is described as “The Queen’s favorite nail polish.’ Essie Mademoiselle

Always pair Essie colors with Essie base coats and top coats to be safe. How to Apply Essie Nail Polish Without StreaksThis shade should still be available everywhere: ‘Russian roulette’. Essie calls Russian roulette ‘a fiery, exciting classic bright red cream polish with subtle orange undertones‘. To me, Russian roulette looks like a neutral bright red with a bit of orange. The formula is not as creamy as Fifth avenue but more a jelly, it is, therefore, a bit less opaque. However, it was still very nice to apply. On my shorter nails, I needed two coats for full opacity, but on longer nails, you probably need three. This shade did stain my nails after I removed it, so doubling up on basecoat would be a good idea! In case you are wondering about Russian Roulette’s original collection: Russian roulette is apparently so old that I couldn’t even find the collection! It was probably released early 90’s or late 80’s.