It is my desire to collect as many of the original pre-2001 smooth bottle, old label essie polishes as possible in order to piece together forgotten collections, discovering the names and numbers of old bottles, finding their original advertisements and stock sheets, and finding other supporting evidence along the way.
It is so difficult to find a lot of the old collection info because by 2001 when they shifted to the embossed bottle (The Main Event in Winter 2000 being their final smooth collection), much of these collections did not make it into the internet age. Of course the internet existed, but essie was slow to put their website online, and many collections were already discontinued. Also, many cosmetics communities online were not yet created, and therefore there wasn’t a place to cache all of this information. Whatever collection info that might have been released online was likely purged by a growing and changing internet that just did not survive to the present.
All of the collection images you find here are from industry magazines that I have purchased and photographed for the purpose of sharing with others who are interested. Some other images may come from newspapers archives I have combed through. For collections I do not have an advertisement for, I have to estimate releases based on famous bottles and collections we do have dates for, like the 1996 Caribbean Collection, or knowing that 249 Wicked was released directly after Chanel Vamp, for which we have a timestamp for – my estimations have been quite accurate, following average collection size and release frequencies, historic brand events, etc., but may vary by a year or so, especially for collections in the misty and distant past. As I discover the definites, I will update them accordingly, so check back from time to time to see new collection info and also new bottles in my collection.
