I recently posted this blog entry about a great summertime polish, Bermuda Shorts, and mentioned how I had a different bottle of Bermuda Shorts than seen in swatches and real life. So, out of curiosity, I recently borrowed my best friend’s bottle of BS to see the difference between colors. And after that, I think there’s more than two different versions out there.
More purple than my bottle of BS
As visible in the bottle side by side photo, this bottle of Bermuda Shorts is more purple than mine. It’s a pretty balance of pink and purple that is reminiscent of a tropical flower or something pretty like that. It has a mix of pink and purple, but is deeper in color from having more purple. I like how it’s saturated and noticeable, but isn’t screaming loud since it’s not overly bright. It has a deeper tone to it. This polish also dried matte.
Smooth finish, easy to apply
Similar to my bottle of BS, this one was easily applied. Sometimes with neon’s there’s a big issue with unevenness, pigmentation, or being too chalky, but this is the opposite of that. It has a really nice formula and application. It dries quickly (which is nice) and I only needed two coats for a pretty finish.
Now, I still think there is another version of this polish out there. When I look up swatches (like this one), I can see a clear difference in color from this version of BS; it seems to be much more vibrant and more purple. I mean, I guess lighting or editing could have something to do with the difference in that photo, but I’m not sure. It looks much more purple and creamier (if that makes sense). Where ever a bottle of that Bermuda Shorts is, it looks really awesome.
– Liz
DEATH BY POLISH pick your poison 
Wow! Wonder if more purple BS came as part of it’s original collection release way back when – and then when it was added to the classic, the formula got tweaked and no one in QC really caught it. These are certainly different and too different in app with the matte dry finish to be changes that come from exposure of some shades in the bottle to sunlight. I have seen some major color changes when folks leave their bottles out on a night table that catches sunlight big time for weeks. It happens more now with the change in formula with the 3(4-5) free vs. the older formulas that I found were more stable color wise over time. I have never seen the purple version of this one. All I ever have seen is the hotter pink. I also, being that big fuchsia lover I am, would prefer the more purple bottle of BS except for it coming out matte…matte does not last very long on, it tends to chip. I don’t like matte finishes and that look at all and stay away from them. I really am suspicious of older stock here as well as exposure to sunlight.
Just looked at the link you gave us to the Scraggie photo that certainly is more purple…but I am pretty sure that was the original release when it was a neon. When it went to the classic collection, neons were not selling well and Essie had no neons in their classic collection. My guess is as I first suspected – the more purple one is the original release when it was in a collection. Because mattes did not hold over into the classic Essie collection, nor did any of the neons because of complaints to the chipping, my guess is they tweaked it to fit into the more traditional Essie formula.I really trust the colors I see on Scraggie but for the fact that with her black background (that I like) color wise it does change colors you are looking at that are framed with black. Brights will look more vivid usually. Darks will not pick up the suitabilities such as an undertow of green or red in a black. Art classes will tell you not to use black background unless you want certain effects to your subject matter. It’s really well known. I noticed with Scraggie just recently I had a lot of trouble seeing the shades in I think it was the fall OPI shades coming out soon and maybe also she posted the new fall Essies – those have been super hard to see on the nail I have found in swatches. The 2 darkest ones are really hard to capture. They seem to show up best on the Essie provided nail swatch tags because those are on clear and the photos released by Essie put some off white back under the plastic swatch spoons. It really helped show those shades in that collection a lot better than have blog actual swatches have done for the most part on most of the shades. Love Scraggie but wish she would change her traditional well known black background.
That would totally bother me having a different version of the polish! Boo to different versions floating around!
Wow, this is just insane… my bottle is sort of in between both you have posted… it’s a bit darker than the first one, but doesn’t have the purple in the second one
Found this blog post of someone having the same problem… http://clubedasesmaltadas.com.br/2011/11/bermuda-shorts-rosa-e-roxo/
would you mind posting the batch codes for both? so we could create like a database or something to try to track them… don’t know if it’d be useful, but maybe next time we check on the code before buying, lol! anyway, mine is 1240F
TIA!
x,