essie angora cardi Nail Polish Swatches

Nail Polish

Oct 19

Updated 2025.10.11. This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase — at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Note: as of the recent update, this shade has been discontinued. You can still find it via the third party retailers linked in this post, but not for long.

In the fall of 2016, essie angora cardi #700 was the most pinned nail polish on Pinterest.

According to The Zoe Report, it was saved over 400,000 times.

angora cardi is a “deep dusty rose,” however, you could also call it a dark mauve nail polish.

Mauve is an enigma to think about. No one can seem to decide on what exactly is mauve, yet everyone knows mauve when they see it.

Merriam Webster defines mauve as a moderate purple, violet or lilac.

Canva calls it a pale bluish purple that sits between violet and pink. Stitch Palettes shows mauve in color swatches as more of a dusty pink to brown.

Mauve seems to be a color that exists in the gradient between red-pink and purple-violet.

essie’s angora cardi fits somewhere in this gradient. It is a rich warm red-purple nail polish, offering an opaque cream finish in two easy coats, perfect for fall and winter nails.

Let’s look at a few essie angora cardi swatches below:

So what do you think?

Is angora cardi a deep, dusty rose or is it a dark mauve? Would you call it something else? Will you pick up a bottle before it's gone for good?

Whatever we call it, in our book of history, essie angora cardi is a quintessential color of cooler weather. It has a cozy feel, like “sweater weather” is happening on your nails.

If you’re in the United States, you can find out exactly when “sweater weather” is, courtesy of this sweater weather map by The Weather Channel. “Sweater weather,” is another enigma of a concept, just like mauve.

Get essie angora cardi at Ulta or on Amazon
For best results pair it with a matching essie base and top coat!