Essie Weingarten, president and founder of Essie Cosmetics, Ltd., is a beauty industry icon. In 1981, Essie combined her passion for nails and fashion, found a chemist, made 12 nail polish shades and began Essie Cosmetics.

She took the shades to Las Vegas and dropped samples off at all the hotels and salons – when she returned home to New York, the calls began to filter in. Nail techs praised the flawless coverage along with essie’s outstanding durability, chip-resistant formula and whimsical names. These qualities appealed not only to nail professionals but also to consumers.

When nail salons first burst on to the scene circa 1983, Essie found its niche. Essie was among the first to understand the great market opportunity of providing beauty professionals with the highest quality nail polish, along with an impressive range and selection of up-to-the-minute colors.

Several colors, including world-famous Ballet Slippers and Wicked, have become cult classics. A true businesswoman at heart, Essie keeps a pulse on her clients needs visiting salons worldwide on a regular basis. With her busy travel schedule, Essie makes time to speak with her customers, often developing innovative new products to satisfy their ever- changing need. Essie products can be found on women, men, in magazines, newspapers, on TV and especially the hottest celebrities!

Essie’s first celebrity clients included Barbara Streisand and Joan Rivers but since then, the list of celebrity fans has grown to include: Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Carolina Herrera, Eva Longoria, Julia Roberts, Salma Hayek, Heidi Klum, Sharon Stone, Julianne Moore, Mariah Carey, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger and Naomi Campbell among others.

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