Manicures and Coffee with Essie Weingarten and Glamour

Last week, Glamour magazine invited me to a very special event: breakfast and manicures with Essie nail polish creator, Essie Weingarten! It goes without saying, Essie is a leader in the nail polish industry — it’s practically impossible to walk into any salon without her polishes lining the shelves. And Hello, Allure was Kate Middleton‘s polish of choice for the Royal Wedding! I myself have found some of my favorites in her collection — Tart Deco and Fiji for summer, Wicked for winter, and the French Affair collection?! J’adore…

So I went downtown to TenOverTen salon (another place I’ve been meaning to check out FOREVER!), and met the lovely girls at Glamour who introduced me first to Essie’s new Winter/Holiday 2011 line: Bling it On!

The colors are so rich and beautiful. The line up includes:
Size Matters – blazing hot ruby red
Brooch the Subject – creamy cashmere cameo
Bobbing for Baubles – deepest darkest sapphire
School of Hard Rocks – midnight malachite
Cocktail Bling – precious pale gray jewel
Bangle Jangle – lavender amethyst

I was smitten, and it was hard to decide which one to go with, but I finally settled on School of Hard Rocks!

While we were getting our manicures done, Essie was game for any and all of our questions. Of course we had to ask, Does she have a favorite color? She smiled and quipped, “Do you have a favorite finger?? I love them all!”

She finally let up and gave us this: “There’s one color that has a special place in my heart…and that’s Ballet Slippers.” It’s easy to see why: in 1989, Queen Elizabeth’s hairdresser sent Essie a letter requesting the color — “the only color her Majesty could wear.”

For me personally, I found Essie such a breath of fresh air. She’s gracious, friendly, incredibly passionate about her work, and amazingly sweet. Even more — she’s a tremendous foodie!! She absolutely adores eating and cooking. “My theory is if someone really enjoys their food, they enjoy their life.” Here, here!

When I asked her about her favorite restaurants, she gamely replied, “Okay, let’s start by cuisine…” and starts rattling off a dizzying list of all her favorite places in the UES (where she resides). It was wayyy too much to remember so I asked it’d be a bother to contact her again about it… “Give me your email and I’ll send it to you, I promise!” And she did! I copied that list of all her favorite places at the end here :).

I also played with the polishes and changed my color to the nude Brooch the Subject yesterday…what do you guys think?

The thing about this collection specifically that I love is it fits so many moods and seasons. Can’t wait to try them all. Thanks so much once again to Glamour, Tenoverten, and Essie for such a wonderful, intimate event!

Salon Info:
Tenoverten
112 Reade St
2nd Fl
(between Church St & W Broadway)
New York, NY 10013
212-406-1010
TriBeCa

ESSIE WEINGARTEN’S FAVORITE NYC RESTAURANTS

1. ABC Kitchen – 35 E. 18th Street

2. Amaranth – 21 E. 62nd St

3. Fred’s at Barney’s (lunch only) – 660 Madison Ave, 9th Floor

4. Milo’s – 125 West 55 Street

5. Pastis – 9 9th Avenue

6. Peter Luger’s Steakhouse – 178 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

7. Roc – 190A Duane Street

8. Sant Ambroeus – 1000 Madison Avenue

9. Via Quadronno – 25 East 73 Street

BARS

10. The Dutch – 131 Sullivan Street

11. Surrey Hotel Bar Pleiades – 20 East 76th Street

12. The Jimmy – 15 Thompson Street

ESSIE’S FAVORITE SALONS & SPAS

13. Bliss Spa – 568 Broadway, 877-862-5477

14. John Barret Salon at Bergdorf Goodman – 754 Fifth Avenue, 212-872-2700

15. Samuel Shirqui Salon – 37 East 65th Street *Ask for Josephine, Essie’s personal manicurist!

16. Senses – 20th Street and Fifth Avenue *Ask for Essie’s hairdresser, Myrna!

17. Warren-Tricomi at the Plaza – 1 West 58th Street. 212-262-8899 [Editor’s note: I love Pich and Nyoku there!]

x
Shy
“Like” Beauty and the Feast on Facebook
Follow Beauty and the Feast on Twitter