The “It” Nail Color

Fiji is one of the most popular Essie nail polishes, and rightfully so. It’s the most beautiful pastel pink you’ll ever see, that is also a favorite of a lot of celebrities, bloggers and TV presenters; it’s a universally flattering color that looks gorgeous on every single skin tone. It also has one of the worst and most difficult formulas to work with I’ve ever come across.

I recently attempted to organize some of my nail polishes (seriously guys, I think I need an intervention; I’m such a nail polish hoarder, it’s not even funny) and found Essie’s Fiji, which is one of my favorite spring/summer colors. I’m a sucker for pretty, smooth pastels, especially ones that tend to bring out my skin tone, rather than blend into it.  It’s an elegant, classy and very feminine color that I always get complimented on, whenever I happen to wear it. It also looks super cute on my toes, especially when I’m rocking that summer tan. I was so excited for my little Fiji mani session and then, upon applying my first coat, I remembered why I have such love/hate relationship with this polish.

The formula of Fiji is horrible. No, really. It’s thick, streaky, but sort of runny at the same time (hello? how is that even possible?). It takes me three coats to get that nice, even, full coverage. Add a base and top coats and you have yourself 5 coats of nail polish, and as you may know, the more coats you wear, the easier it is for the nail polish to chip and crack. This color has been around for years and years AND years, and I’m not sure why Essie haven’t tried to improve this formula.

If you don’t usually paint your own nails, you’re better off taking your Essie polish to a manicurist and having your nails painted professionally. Otherwise, you’re in for a very frustrating ride for which you’ll need to bring lots of nail polish remover. Even for an avid nail polish lover and nail-painting addict like myself working with this color was very difficult, I can’t help but love this color though! I think that Sally Hansen’s Pink a card (swatched here) is VERY similar to Fiji and MUCH easier to work with.