There seems to be a red nail color for any season, occasion or mood and since every brand has a signature red, often a suite of them, there are a lot to choose from. Essie Geranium is clearly the most orange from all of these shades. Lacquered up is a red with a bit of orange. While Russian roulette also contains a tiny bit of orange, it is slightly cooler toned and darker than Lacquered up, but the difference is really subtle. Essie Not Red-y for Bed is very cool-toned and contains the most pink. Comparison of Essie Russian roulette vs Essie Really red vs Essie Aperitif vs Essie Forever yummy

Essie’s official description of Fifth avenue is: ‘ a creamy red orange blend lacquer’. If I keep Handmade with love and Fifth avenue next to each other, Handmade with love is definitely much more orange. Compared to Geranium, I would say it is almost the same shade. Maybe Fifth avenue is a bit more red than orange, but that’s about the difference. The formula of Fifth avenue is amazing. It has a very nice creamy formula and is pretty much opaque in one coat on shorter nails (although I’m wearing two). It’s definitely time that I buy a larger bottle of this! The shade is actually already an oldie, because it was first released as part of Essie’s Spring 2003 ‘Central park’ collection (you can find my swatches of that collection over here). Essie Fifth avenue is described in Essie’s description as a ‘red-orange’. In the bottle, I definitely agreed. But on my nails, it is a lot redder. It’s definitely a warmer shade of red, but it is not super orange. I’m super impressed by its formula. At one super easy coat Fifth avenue is almost opaque, but I did two in the pictures. Comparisons Lady like (soft mauve creme, this color always get requested often during comparisons, very popular)Essie calls ‘Forever yummy’ a creamy tango red lacquer. I must admit that before I was researching Essie’s red shades for this review, I was never really paying attention to Forever yummy. I never really noticed this shade to be honest. Forever yummy is indeed a creme polish, and it is darker and cooler-toned than Aperitif and Russian roulette. Where Aperitif and Russian roulette had a more jelly formula, Forever yummy is definitely a creme. I know that Essie often includes it in Essie Christmas mini sets, and to be honest, Forever yummy is indeed a great Christmas red but I would be able to wear it any time of year. It is opaque in two coats on my nails and probably also for longer nails. Just a fun fact: Essie Forever yummy was originally released as ‘Forever young’ for fall 2008, this might explain the fact why I had never heard of Forever yummy! The mini shades in the Advent calendar 2021. I could only find the pictures of the full bottles, but the mini bottles will be smaller! Essie takes you on a spring time tour of one of the world’s most famous parks, with the spring 2003 Central park collection. Explore the unique landscapes as you enter her enchanted turf… and share her adventure in spring colors.” -Essie 2 Feb. 2003 [ https://web.archive.org/web/20030202120628/http://www.essie.com:80/whatsnew/index.php?sub=collections] (retrieved on 23 Oct. 2021) Mod square (an electric pink creme, was originally named Mod squad, originally released in the Spring 2006 collection, but still available in the US)

Essie calls Geranium an orange-red. In terms of orangeness, it sits between Fifth avenue and Handmade with love, but it leans more towards Fifth avenue. I would argue that if you own either Fifth avenue or Geranium, you probably won’t need the other, unless you’re really into red-oranges. Geranium’s formula is truly amazing. It’s already opaque in one coat if you’re painting carefully (but of course I did two for the pictures). style>

essie® first base® smoothes and protects nails while adhesion-promoting ingredients help bond polish to the nail surface to resist chipping.

essie forever yummy eternally gorgeous, positively delicious creamy tango red lacquer is always ready for action. appetites will run wild in this hot red polish. This shade is probably very difficult to find in the US, however, in Europe, it should be easy. Essie Nailed it Essie Nailed it Also, just because essie stopped making it doesn’t mean we have to stop wearing it or loving it - long live nail polish!essie is no exception to this and they offer a wide variety of red shades to choose from, some still in production and others that went out of print years ago. You can clearly see in this picture that Handmade with love contains a lot more orange than Fifth avenue, Geranium, and Lacquered up. Geranium and Fifth avenue are both described as orange-reds by Essie, but Geranium is slightly more orange. Although I love both Geranium and Fifth avenue, you definitely won’t need them both unless you’re really into orange reds. Lacquered up is a warm-toned red, but compared to Geranium and Fifth avenue, it’s more of a classic red. Comparison of Essie Fifth avenue, Essie Too too hot, Essie Russian Roulette and Essie Really red I pulled out the shades that I thought would be close to fifth avenue. OPI ‘Emmy have you seen oscar?’ is the closest, but has a jelly formula. OPI Art walk in Suzi’s shoes is a bit darker and Essie Forever Yummy is a lot darker. Essie Toy to the world vs Essie Fifth avenue vs Essie Color binge vs OPI Short-stop Finally, the comparison of the darker reds. Essie Forever yummy is the lightest of these shades. It’s clearly lighter than Maki me happy and A list in real life. Essie Maki me happy and A list are super difficult to tell apart. Maki me happy contains a little bit more pink, but that’s the only difference. In terms of opacity, Maki me happy is a bit more opaque, while A list has more of a jelly formula. Essie Bordeaux is clearly the darkest of the shades, darker than A list and Maki me happy. Conclusion I started wondering where Fifth avenue came from, so I started to dig through the internet! Fifth avenue was released for Spring 2003 in Essie’s Central park collection. I couldn’t find pictures of this collection, but I was able to find the original colors and Essie’s official description:

Essie Geranium belonged to the first 130 Essie colors ever produced, and is still part of the permanent collection in the US. To me, that says everything you need to know about this shade! It’s a true classic that will look great on (almost everyone). Sadly, it got discontinued in Europe, but it was shortly available as part of Essie’s Advent calendar for 2022. I was able to find out that the following red cremes are part of Essie’s core collection (without counting the Gel couture and Expressie shades): Looking for the best essie red nail polish? Below are swatches of classic essie reds, like forever yummy and more. Skinny dip (A sheer light peach pink, originally released in the Wild nudes 2017 collection but indeed only in the US)With the holiday season around the corner, I always feel attracted to red nail polish. There were 11 Essie red cremes in my drugstore’s Essie display, and then I’m not even counting the reds in the Gel couture and Expressie displays! I decided that it was time to do the ultimate Essie red creme comparison. At home, I was able to find out that there are even more red cremes in Essie’s core collection! The core collection differs a bit between North America and Europe, but they are mostly the same. It also differs a bit between stores. While researching this shade, I found out that Essie discontinued Fifth Avenue in the US! If you really want to own this shade, it might be time to plan a trip to Europe! I posted a complete review post of Fifth Avenue over here. Essie Lacquered up Getting groovy (metallic palladium gold, used to be part of the Christmas 2016 limited edition in Europe but was discontinued, I have swatches over here. Apparently in the US, this is part of Essie’s permanent line) Hi maintenance (A sheer pale pink, originally from the Spring 2008 collection, stayed around in the US, but was never released in the drugstore line of Essie in Europe) Find me an oasis (An ice blue creme, was already released before in Europe in the Resort 2014 collection, original number 315)