Today I’m back with another Essie Expressie polish. This is Essie Second hand, first love, and is part of Essie’s permanent Expressie collection. Just a short recap, in case you forgot what the Expressie polishes are. Essie Expressie is designed to be used on the go. The bottles are longer than regular Essie bottles, to make it easier to hold the bottle in one hand. The brush is slightly angled, such that you don’t have to bend over your nails while painting them. The formula dries within a minute (according to Essie), and covers in two coats (also according to Essie). You don’t have to apply base and topcoat (again, that is what Essie says at least).
Essie Second hand, first love is a dusty rose pink cream. It’s a bit of a grandma color, but every now and then I love these types of colors. And spoiler alert: if you’re looking for one Second hand, first love is definitely a good option. Second hand first love seems to be one of the more popular colors of the Expressie collection, and I definitely understand why. It’s subtle, but not boring.
As promised, the polish covered in two coats. However, it definitely did not dry within a minute. To be completely honest, I didn’t really notice that this polish dried much quicker than other Essie polishes. I indeed wore Second hand first love without a basecoat, but I did use a topcoat over it because on its own it’s a bit dull. If you don’t care that much you could definitely wear it without a topcoat, but you can also do that with every other polish.
Of course, I felt the need to compare Second hand, first love to other polishes that I own. Eternal optimist is close, but contains slightly more brown. I personally definitely prefer the color of Second hand, first love. OPI Suzi calls the paparazzi is also close, but is slightly pinker. I liked the formula of Second hand, first love much better than Suzi calls the paparazzi because it was much easier to apply and only needed two coats for full opacity while Suzi needed three. Finally, OPI I’ll have a Gin & tectonic is not close at all and contains more orange.
Conclusion & Availability
Second hand, first love is definitely a nice polish. I really enjoyed wearing this shade, and it is great for everyday wear. I would mostly ignore the marketing claims that Essie makes. It is not that different from other polishes, except for the brush. I had to get a little bit used to the angles brush, but now it is OK to work with. You can find a picture of the angled brush over here.
The polish should be easily available everywhere. In both Europe and North America, this polish is part of Essie’s permanent collection. You can, for example, find it over here on Amazon (affiliate link) and over here on Beyond polish (affiliate link).
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