Hi everyone,
Today I’ve prepared another nail polish review for you. Essie Neo Whimsical nail polish is part of the Art of Spring 2010 nail polish collection.
The same as the other five nail polishes included in this collection, the color comes in a 15 ml bottle and you can find it available for purchase even online on Essie website for $8.00.
Neo Whimsical – no top coat
Neo Whimsical is definitely a spring shade, a pastel rose plum hue. When I first heard about this collection I must say that I thought Neo Whimsical will be my second favorite after the Pop Art of Pink nail polish, but now I’ve changed my mind.
Although the color is beautiful in the bottle is not looking its best on the nails. I’m sorry you can’t see so well from the photos because was a really cloudy day when I took the photos.
The application was hell! The polish is very very fluid and the brush it picks up to much product. It leaves lines behind even after the second layer of polish and although I tried to even the color in some parts I still didn’t got enough product.
New Whimsical – no top coat
I don’t know about other girls who have used this polish so far but I’m telling you I didn’t like the final result even after I’ve applied the second coat. Maybe I should have laid a third coat but with so many layers the nail polish will chip very fast.
It’s a shame that such a beautiful color must be so hard to apply.
Neo Whimsical 4 days later
I didn’t applied any top coat and not only because I wanted to see how much it can resist but because I really didn’t wanted to keep this color more than 4 days on my nails.
Neo Whimsical – after 4 days – no top coat
As you can see I had again a small incident at one of my nails because it looks exfoliated. The polish chipped right after the second day so until the 4th day my nail begin to exfoliate because it didn’t had any polish on it.
The photos speak for themselves I think and although I didn’t test them so hard like the others they chipped very fast. This was really a soft test if I may say that, no dishes to wash, no choirs and no cleaning around the house and they still look like this.
With the top coat on I’m sure it would have been a slightly small difference but not big enough to keep this color on your nails for so many days.
The one thing that I like was the fact that the color was not mattyfied after so many days. Usually when I don’t use top coat some nail polishes tend to became a little bit matte after 3-4 days.
I’m disappointed in you Neo Whimsical. It takes more than a pretty color to satisfy me. 
Oh I love this colour ! It was really hard to choose from this collection and I got Lilacism and Van d’go. I have lilacism on right now and its so nice
but now that I saw your posts I feel like I should get neo whimsical too, and pile on lots and lots of top coat
.-= Jaime´s last blog post: How-To: Nail Art Gradient without a sponge =-.
Hi Jaime! I hope you will have better luck with Neo Whimsical then I did. I was just writing the review about Lilacism nail polish right now and I’m not really happy about this color.
Thanks for the review. The colors looks pretty but the formula sounds terrible!
.-= gio´s last blog post: Product Review: Pupa Luminys Baked Blush #04 =-.
Hi Gio! Indeed it was quite an adventure with this color.
I just tried Neo-Whimsical for my mani pedi this past week, and I ADORE it– just wanted to shout my love for hte color here. It is a gorgeous orchid color– slightly lavender in the bottle, but on the hands and feet it appears as an exquisite pale pink, with just enough coolness to show off your spring break tan! Highly, highly recommended– the chic-est thing ever. I’ve been getting tons of compliments.
Hi Pheobe! The color is indeed gorgeous but too bad the formula isn’t that great. I really don’t like to change my nail polish every 2 days, but with this color I must because it chips very fast.
Ugh!! I had the same problem: super-uneven coverage. This formula sucks.
Hi Ginseng! Well I guess I’m not the only one. Everyone is talking about how beautiful the color is, but for me the formula, application and if a nail polish is chip resistant or not, are also very important things. Actually I never used this nail polish ever since I wrote the article.
Tavia (and everyone else), do try it again! I’ve actually found that Neo-Whimsical was one of the longest lasting colors I’ve ever used– my manicure stayed on for a full 7 days without major chips, and my pedicure, after 2.5 weeks, is still going strong! I definitely agree with you guys about the streakyness– that could be improved. But I wouldn’t say that long-lasting is a problem with this color. Try a top coat, and let it dry forever. That’s what I did.
Good luck, ladies! I think you’ll enjoy it if you give it another try. The best part is because it’s such a cool-toned color, it warms up the skin, making it look tan even when it’s not. Highly recommended all!
Hi again Pheobe! As you can see I’ve posted photos with this nail polish even after a few days. I always do my reviews like this, so visitors can really see if it’s chip resistant or not. It simply let me down, is enough to check out the photos to see the results. The beautiful color it’s the only plus this nail polish has and it doesn’t counts that much considering, the formula, application and chip resistance. Anyway I already gave this away to a friend and she wasn’t to thrilled about it either. I’m happy that you are having a good time with this color.
Hi Tavia,
I’ve never commented on a nail polish blog before (didn’t even know they existed!), but I wanted to because I felt so excited about this color. I just wanted to offer another perspective to your readers. I think people’s experience can vary and that one person’s experience, even with photographs, isn’t statistically significant– you need a range. So I’m offering my experience to expand the data sample! I hope everyone will try this particular color. It’s the best! P
.-= Phoebe´s last blog post: spiny lobsters and other textilic delicacies served up by anthropologie for spring =-.
Thanks for sharing your experience Phoebe. It’s really nice to hear other opinions and I’m happy that this color works for you. I wrote in this review only my opinion and it’s such a shame the formula it’s like this. I really love the color too but there are similar colors with better formulas out there. I know many bloggers don’t make photos with the nail polish after 4-5 days because they have too many products to review and it’s very difficult ( I know for me it is) and that’s why they are only reviewing the color and saying their first impression.
I’d love to hear your recommendations for similar colors with better formulas, Tavia– thanks!
I’ve tried one similar color from Classics nail polish, they have a protein formula. I don’t know if you have this brand available in your country but here you can find it in any beauty shop.