Collection: Essie Winter 2015, Virgin Snow

Shall We Chalet? (943) is described by Essie as a “seductive ruby”. It’s a midtoned red cream with a hint of a jelly to its formula. The red itself is fairly neutral, with perhaps a slight lean to the cool side. The shade is bright, though I would not call it vibrant.

It is very, very close to an older, classic Essie, Fishnet Stockings (which I’ll post for Throwback Thursday, is a slightly more intense shade.

In my usual lightbox photo, you can’t really tell a difference (Fishnet Stockings is on my thumb! Have you ever seen my thumb before?!):

They look more different in the bottle:

The color is pretty much identical, and in dim light, it would be hard to tell the difference between the two. However, in sunlight, you can kind of tell that Fishnet Stockings is richer and more vibrant. There’s a reason Fishnet Stockings is still around in Essie’s core collection!

Here, in sunlight, you can maybe tell that the thumb is a little more intense in color. Or maybe not. I’m biased because I can see it in person!

Please note that my bottle of Fishnet Stockings is quite old; I’m not sure whether Essie has changed the formula at all since its initial release in Winter 1999.

Onto Shall We Chalet?—the formula has a vaguely jelly-like consistency, but it is quite opaque once on the nail. Two coats gives you full opacity, though I’d be tempted to add a third just to get it looking perfect. It dries to a reasonably glossy shine.

Mostly, I’m disappointed that Essie chose to release a “new” shade that is so incredibly close to an existing classic shade! It’s so unnecessary. At least re-release a dupe of a discontinued shade, if you’re going to go that route!

In this particular case, I still prefer the original, so I’d say skip Shall We Chalet in favor of Fishnet Stockings. But, if you already have SWC, you don’t need FS. Unless you’re a red-crazed, like I am!

Essie Nail Polish retails for US$8.50 / CA$9.99–$10.99 and is 0.46 US fl oz / 13.5 mL. The polish is free of toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). It is made in the USA.

Essie Cosmetics, founded in 1981, is based in Westfield NJ, USA. In 2010, Essie was acquired by the L’Oréal Group.