Essie Bouncer, It's Me and Shake Your $$ Maker

I've had these two Essies for months.  I knew they'd gotten fairly bad reviews, but I was in one of those bad moods where I wanted new polish and they'd just come out and with my weakness for blues and greens...they came home from CVS with me.  Then they sat in my swatching bin barely touched (aside from this disaster) because I knew they'd probably be tough to work with.  They were.  And worse, my camera just doesn't understand either color at all...but that's normal too.  I don't think I've ever seen a swatch of Shake Your $$ Maker that's quite true-to-color.  Almost all of mine are way off.  The result is a mixed review of neon formula polishes that aren't neon colors...with inaccurate photos.  Yay?  It's also months after everyone else posted them.  At least there's that much more room in my swatch bins now!  Plus I found a way to really like them....eventually.


Bouncer, It's Me is a cobalt blue with a neon finish.

over white

I wore three coats of Bouncer, It's Me over white first.  Layering neons over white boosts their brightness and the display for this collection included Blanc.  I don't own it, so I used SinfulShine Wisp instead.  Layering Bouncer, It's Me like this just emphasizes the streaks it's prone to.  They're not that obvious here, but they're enough to bother a close-up polish starer like me.  The color in my photos is pretty far from right.  It's deeper, almost "electric cobalt" in person...if that makes any sense.  I like the color, but everything else about this was just not good.  I don't like wearing this many total coats.  I feel like I have hooves.

over white

I was feeling seriously meh about this polish and considering purging it...until I tried three coats of it on its own.  It loses what little brightness it has, but the streaks are almost invisible this way.  Neons dry semi-matte and I like how it looks that way.  Reminds me of sea glass.

I got one single bubble that I couldn't even see in person.  The formula is really not bad at all if you skip the white base.  With top coat it's a very smooth and even blue jelly.

I'm trying to get used to VNL when my nails are longish...I'm still not at that point yet, but I do love the color.  I'm not purging it now.

It's sheer enough for sandwiching too!


Shake Your $$ Maker is a bright, but saturated green neon.

over white

In some ways Shake Your $$ Maker is better than Bouncer, It's Me.  It's not as streaky, which is nice.  It is sheerer though.  I wound up using four coats over white.  The color doesn't thrill me as much either.  It's deeper and a bit darker than it looks here, but also more vivid.  My camera failed completely.

over white

Three coats on its own looks better to me here too.  It doesn't dry quite as "rubbery" as Bouncer, It's Me.  Both shades bring back childhood memories of collecting bits of smooth glass on the shore of Lake Erie.  In person the color is a lot like green Jolly Rancher candies.  Camera failed completely here too.  No surprise.

Even better with top coat.  Very summery!

 Since it's the sheerer of the two, it's even better for jelly sandwiches.

Bottom line: Essie wants you to wear them over white.  Don't!  The streaks and combined total number of layers are just inviting failure and sadness.  They're both really cool on their own though and work better as jellies than as neons.


I'm finally almost caught up with my summer swatching.  Good timing too.  Fall stuff seems to be turning up everywhere this week.  I'm so excited to see what the next few months will bring!  My favorite polish seasons are right around the corner!