NOTD: Starry Starry Night

I don't know about you, but I can't hear that name without Don McLean starting up in my head. ("Vincent" came out when I was just starting junior high, and I knew all the words without having the foggiest idea what it was talking about.)

Okay, so, everybody knows about this polish, right? The star - so to speak - of Essie's newly released collection of re-releases, basically. It sold out everywhere and I couldn't find it anywhere by itself, so I bought a foursome of minis from Ulta:

Here they are out of the box:

They are tiny. I mean, totally ridiculously tiny, almost as small as those Glosstinis I griped so much about a couple of years ago. You can see it on the box if you look close: they are 0.16 oz. Barely more than a full-size bottle between the four of them. The names are also on the box, but for the record, L-R, this is Starry Starry Night, Life Of The Party, Bikini With A Martini, and Birthday Suit. The palest one is predictably not my thing, but I quite like all the others. And I am crazy about Starry Starry Night, not surprisingly. I swatched it on a wheel, and I loved it so much I couldn't bear to wear it until I had found a full bottle. (It's on the way to me from Macy's. I decided to get the inevitable OPI Hello Kitty purchase over with at the same time, so a little set of those is on the way as well.)

(Incidentally, I have also worn Life Of The Party, already, but the sun didn't cooperate to get a decent picture. It's a nice slightly-offbeat red that reminds me a bit of I'm Not Really A Waitress. I'll have to compare.)

I hear the old version of SSN may have had diamond dust in it, and this one does not (allegedly because they couldn't get their hands on enough diamond dust for the purpose, although I've already forgotten where I read that). It is somewhat like a navy-blue version of Ruby Pumps - in that it's glitter, but not out-there glitter, in a jelly base. Instead of tonal glitter, though, it has silver. Man, it's beautiful.

Shade above, full-sun below.

(It looks like out-there glitter in the bottle, doesn't it? But it doesn't really go on the nail that way. I guess maybe that's because of it being a jelly.)

As for the others, Birthday Suit is apparently one of Essie's original colors - y'know, the ones I found so boring I can barely be bothered to buy an Essie at all, normally. (Pastel and creme, the kiss of death as far as I'm concerned.) Bikini With A Martini is very 90s and sheer and will be fun for layering. You know how I love a good layering polish.

Incidentally, while it's still pretty hard to find the new Starry Starry Night, the common wisdom among polish junkies seems to be that this polish will likely go core and be widely available for the foreseeable future - but Essie hasn't actually confirmed that yet. I decided I'd better snap up a bottle and hedge my bets.

Added: A comparison with the original. Ok, so maybe the new one doesn't quite measure up to the original but considering the original can only be had for hundreds of dollars on eBay (if at all) that's not an option for most people. What is available for only slightly more money than the new Essie polish are some indie polishes deliberately created as dupes. CbL Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is one. So if you're not happy with the new SSN, there are alternatives. (I still think it's beautiful, though.)