Women who wear nail polish love Essie. That's one of the few universal truths I've learned thus far in life. I, however, do not care for most of their colours. Why? Much too dull for my kind of living. The fact that they don't carry any fluorescent hues is the main reason I tend to steer clear of the brand as a whole.
Their base coat, though? What a beaut. They have two different base coats available and I use the milky-looking one and love it. What's the difference between the milky one and the clear base coat? Absolutely no idea - and I don't really care to find out considering it took me about three days to finally figure out what the hell "cuticle oil" is even FOR (sidenote: it's for the benefit of your nail beds so they don't get all hard or hangnail-y and using the oil daily also helps manicured nails last longer since the polish is easier to chip if the nail beds are dry). So once I learned that, I used their Apricot Cuticle Oil and it made me feel fresh as hell when I put that junk on. Absolutely their two best products. Definitely buy these, if you're in the market for this kind of thing.