Essie Advent Calendar 2021 (SPOILERS!)

Somewhere on the blog, I already quickly mentioned it: there is going to be a new Essie Advent Calendar for 2021. So far, I’ve only heard that this Advent Calendar is going to be available in Europe (I’m sorry US+Canadian readers!). But, I thought it would still be fun and helpful to make a post about it.

If you don’t want to know what will be inside this Advent Calendar, I would advise you to skip this post. I also won’t post anything on Social media that will ruin the content of this calendar. This post is just meant for people who want to know what is going to be inside.

The calendar is available in two editions: A German version and an English version. The content is the same, the box looks very different. Above you can see my purchased “Adventskalender” which is obviously in German. It contains 24 little boxes that you can take out.

Below you can see the English version of the box. It appears that this calendar has little doors that you have to open.

What’s inside the Essie Advent Calendar 2021? (SPOILERS!)

The Essie advent calendar 2021 will contain:

• 6 full size polishes from Essie’s normal range that are normally only available in the US (at least that’s what Essie claims).
• 10 mini shades from Essie’s regular line
• 1 mini basecoat (Strong start)
• 1 mini bottle of nail polish remover
• 1 regular bottle of a Gel Couture shade
• 1 regular bottle of Gel Couture topcoat
• 1 regular bottle of an Expressie shade
• A mini bottle of cuticle oil (Apricot oil)
• 2 mini bottles of topcoat (No chips ahead & Good to go)

This year, each calendar contains the same colors. No colors from the new Winter 2021 collection are in the calendar. If you don’t want to know what the specific colors will look like, I would advise you to stop reading here. But if you are like me, and you also want to know which colors are in this box exactly (because you want to know whether there are shades that you already have, right?) then keep on reading!

Full size colors (MORE SPOILERS)

The six colors from Essie’s regular line (that are US only shades according to Essie) will be:

• 796 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)
• 800 Find me an oasis (An ice blue creme, was already released before in Europe in the Resort 2014 collection, original number 315)
• 797 Skinny dip (A sheer light peach pink, originally released in the Wild nudes 2017 collection but indeed only in the US)
• 798 Mod square (an electric pink creme, was originally named Mod squad, originally released in the Spring 2006 collection, but still available in the US)
• 441 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)
• 799 After school boy blazer (a blue-black creme, was released for Fall 2013, also in Europe, original number was 271)

Bonus: If you follow my Instagram a little bit longer, you might know that I was on the hunt for the Essie shades numbered 796-800 (in Europe). This means that I finally found them! I’m a bit confused though, some of these shades were already released in Europe, and already got assigned an EU number. In the case of Getting groovy, they decided to keep the old number, but in the case of the other shades, they decided to assign them a new number.

There will also be three more full size items in the box. From Essie’s Gel couture line and Expressie line, the following products will be in the calendar:

• Expressie Air dry
• Essie Gel couture topcoat
• Essie Fairy tailor gel couture

Mini’s

Usually, the calendars are always stuffed with mini’s. I actually quite enjoy them. I see them as “samples” and they allow me to test a shade before purchasing. If I like a mini a lot, I usually buy the full-size version later. The mini shades in this calendar are going to be:

• Ballet slippers (A pale pink with a sheer finish, I actually own a full size and love it a lot)
• Mrs always-right (A terracotta rose creme)
• Fifth avenue (creamy red orange, also already own a mini bottle of this one, but never worn it)
• Wire-less is more (A dusty pink pearl, I own a large bottle and love this one a lot)
• Lady like (soft mauve creme, this color always get requested often during comparisons, very popular)
• Sugar daddy (a sheer pink, one of my favorite sheers ever!)
• Chinchilly (a sleek granite creme, also own a large bottle of this one, perfect for cold weather)
• Lieblingsmensch (A classic red)
• Apricot cuticle oil
• Licorice (a jet black creme)
• Good as gone remover
• Forever yummy (hot red creme)
• Good to go topcoat
• No chips ahead topcoat
• Strong start basecoat

Thoughts & Availability

Looking at all the shades, there are lots of reds and sheer pinks in this Advent Calendar. I’m personally very excited about the shades that Essie calls “US-only”. Even though, I kind of debunked the statement that these colors are truly “US-only”, I’m very happy that I got a second chance to pick these shades up. For me as a collector, that was reason enough to buy this collection!

I purchased the Advent Calendar at Parfum dreams. It is listed for 50 euro on their website, but if you sign up for their newsletter you get a discount of 20%. I also spotted the calendar at DM. Some years the calendars sell out quite fast, and other years they seem to be available forever. But if you want one, you should definitely grab it!

Update: The calendars are now also available on Zalando for 50 euro. I’ve also seen a couple of sellers in Europe that sold the calendars for 90 euros. It’s probably not worth it to be honest (but that’s just my opinion). For my US readers: I didn’t find the calendar yet in the US. But Amazon has two mini sets available over here (affiliate link). Both minisets have the exact same artwork as the Calendar, so maybe this is a hint that the calendar will be released in the US after all?

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