Today’s blog post is for the newest Bee’s Knees Lacquer collection inspired by and called Haunting of Bly Manor! This is an 9 piece collection mainly consisting of shimmer finishes with one multichrome and a flakie topper. This collection launches on February 26th on a pre-order. These all had fantastic formulas so I will discuss formulas at the end so as not to be too repetitive. As always, sale details will be at the end of the post.
Bees Knees Lacquer is an indie nail polish brand based in the US. Their polishes are in 15ml bottles, handmade, vegan, cruelty free and 5 free.
Live Swatch Video
Disclaimer: I was sent these products as PR in exchange for photographs and an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. My photos were taken indoors with daylight/LED bulbs. I used the KB Shimmer Clearly On Top glossy top coat, Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber (for glitter polishes) and the Glisten & Glow Matte top coat for my photos.
Burn Away the Shadows
Description: a peachy pink with glowy orange to gold shimmer
Price: $11
Burn Away the Shadows felt just slightly thicker than the other polishes in the collection. It applied evenly and was very opaque. The shimmer pairs really well with the base color. I used 2 coats for my photos.
Dead Doesn’t Mean Gone
Description: a deep, purple tinted gray full of OG (red to green) UP
Price: $14
Dead Doesn’t Mean Gone has a good amount of OG UP aka original unicorn pee shimmer in it. Sarah did not skimp on the pigment! It’s very color shifty on the nail. This has a more jelly/crelly like formula so it does need to be built up more so than other polishes in the collection. It has good coverage in 2 coats but I found the UP pops more against the base in 3 coats. My photos show it in 3 coats.
Faded Away
Description: a burgundy with brilliant emerald to blue shimmer
Price: $11
Faded Away felt slightly more jelly like than some of the other shimmers in the collection. You do get some brush strokes in the shimmer but they for the most part smooth out as they dry. I was seeing both colors in the shimmer on the nail.
This polish reminded me of Bat! from last month’s What We Do In The Shadows release. They’re not actually similar in color or shimmer.
Gravity Well
Description: a black to red multichrome with a scattering of gold flakes
Price: $13
Gravity Well had a great formula. It wasn’t too thick or too thin. It applies really smoothly and nicely. The gold flakies pair well with the multichrome pigment without obscuring the color shift. I found this had an almost metallic look on the nail. This is pretty opaque I used 2 coats for my photos. No issue on removal.
It’s You, It’s Me, It’s Us
Description: a dove gray polish with glowy green to blue shimmer
Price: $11
It’s You, It’s Me, It’s Us has such a strong shimmer that you barely even see the gray base color. I feel like this has an almost seafoam green vibe to it. This will be a 2-3 coater depending on thickness of coats. I had some nails that were good in 2 coats. I didn’t see a difference in shimmer payoff between 2 thicker coats and 3 thin coats.
Perfectly Splendid
Description: a greige with glowy pink to orange shimmer
Price: $11
Perfectly Splendid The shimmer in this is very strong. It’s one of the smoother shimmers in the collection. The orange to pink color shift is very strong and I don’t know if my swatch photos completely got just how vibrant it is in person. This will be a 2-3 coater depending on nail length and how thick of a coat you use.
Story Time
Description: a pale mustard with glowy aqua to purple shimmer
Price: $11
Story Time had a very strong shimmer effect. The colors I was seeing in person were a cyan to blue with a hint of purple at extreme angles. This polish was the most sheer out of the whole collection. I had some vnl after 3 coats.
The Lady in the Lake
Description: a grungy gray green with glowy pink to orange shimmer
Price: $11
The Lady in the Lake The shimmer is smooth in this one without being brush strokey. The greenish gray base gives this a unique look that I really liked. The shimmer was very strong but not so strong that you couldn’t see the base color. I used 2 coats for my photos.
The Right Key
Description: a green to blue ghost flake topper
Price: $14
The Right Key has great coverage in 1 coat. You don’t need to do anything special to get the flakies spread out on the nail. This is sparse enough that I don’t think it would completely obscure nail art but it would depend on the type of design. The flakes are thin so they don’t give off any noticeable texture.
I personally like this best over darker colors plus blues and purples but that is just my personal preference. I found that over lighter colors, the flakies were harder to see. In 3 coats this gives you a good amount of flakies but on the naked nail there will be visible nail line. For photos with my naked nail, I used 3 coats on my pointer finger and 1 coat over the other fingers. I used Heather’s Hues Shadow (middle), Heather’s Hues Illuminate (ring) and Orly Feeling Foxy (pinky) to swatch this.
For the swatch ring I used the following colors in ROYGBIV order: OPI 5 Apples Tall, Heather’s Hues Kouyou & Aurate , Cirque Colors Cyber & Rhapsody in Blue, Maniology Littlefoot. For the dark colors I used Orly Gotta Bounce (dark blue), Olive Ave Polish Scintillate (plum) & KB Shimmer What The Fudge (brown).
Final Thoughts
With the exception of Gravity Well and The Right Key, these all had the exact same high shimmer formula. None of the polishes were overly thick or thin and they all applied buttery smooth. Fantastic formulas on all of these. I was a little surprised that these all dry down fairly glossy on their own but my photos include top coat anyway. None of these were difficult to remove or left staining.
My top picks from this collection are Gravity Wells (how many times can I say that I am obsessed with this multichrome pigment?!), Dead Doesn’t Mean Gone (cause unicorn pee) and The Lady In The Lake (I just liked the base color paired with the shimmer). Story Time will get a special mention because it is just very unique and I was really surprised at how much I liked it. Don’t forget to check out my live swatch video to see how these look in different types of lighting.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Sale Info
The Haunting of Bly Manor collection will be available on beeskneeslacquer.com starting on February 26th at 12PM until March 1st at 3AM Eastern time on a pre-order. Bee’s Knees polishes are also available to UK residents on the website Rainbow Connection The Right Key and Dead Doesn’t Mean Gone will be capped to I believe 200 bottles each. There will be a listing up to purchase the whole collection (with the exception of The Right Key and Dead Doesn’t Mean Gone) at a discounted rate.
Comparisons
Bat vs Faded Away
