Bee’s Knees Lacquer Once Upon A Broken Heart Indie Nail Polish Collection Swatches & Review

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Hi friends! I have two blog posts for you all today and both feature some new releases from Bee’s Knees Lacquer. For February we have the Once Upon A Broken Heart collection and mystery bags! Both of these releases were inspired by the book series by Stephanie Garber.

The Once Upon A Broken Heart collection features 9 polishes featuring a variety of finishes and launches this Friday, February 16th on the Bee’s Knees Lacquer website. I will have all of the sale details at the end of this post.

I was also sent over some mystery polishes that are also launching at the time of this release. If you would like to see spoilers for the mystery bags, check out this blog post over here.

Live Swatch Video

https://youtu.be/RDzslk8zfdY

Bee’s Knees Lacquer is a US based indie brand. Their polishes are in 15ml bottles, 5 free, cruelty free and vegan friendly.

Heartbreak

Description: a periwinkle pastel multichrome that shifts from emerald to aqua with sparkles of pink and silver light reflective glitter

Heartbreak is very similar to Same Lie Lilac from last month’s Throne Of The Fallen collection, the biggest difference is this polish has a pink shimmer added. Much like that polish, I don’t really see the multichrome aspect of this polish. I would have called it a shimmery pearl/metallic more than anything.

The formula was pretty great, it didn’t have that thick wet sand feeling of application that some reflective glitter polishes have. It is on the sheerer side so to wear it alone, you do need to build it up to gain some opacity.

My photos show Heartbreak in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Due to the reflective glitter, this does dry down with some texture. This doesn’t dry down as textured as some of the brand’s previous reflective glitters so 1-2 coats of top coat will be needed to smooth everything out.

Hope Is A Difficult Thing To Kill

Description: a soft gray base with strong purple to pink shimmer

Hope Is A Difficult Thing To Kill has a sheer almost milky-like base so you will need to build it up however even when built up in three coats it will still be very sheer.

I found on the first coat the base looked a little uneven but it should still be sheer enough to be used as a topper over darker colors. The shimmer is super strong and glowy in this one! You don’t get any brush strokes through the shimmer.

If you’re like me and have any kind of blemishes or discoloration on the nail, you will be able to see them through this one. I love the shimmer but do wish it was a tiny bit more opaque.

My photos show Hope Is A Difficult Thing To Kill in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.

I Forgot To Breathe

Description: an orchid purple with strong gold to green to blue shimmer

I Forgot To Breathe this polish is very aptly named, just wow! Everything about this polish is pure perfection, formula, application, A+ color shifty goodness.

This is another fairly sheer polish so if you want to wear it on its own, you will have some visible nail line with it. A good way for me not be annoyed at seeing my nai line in a polish is to throw in a whole lot of color shifts and I won’t complain! The shimmer is a little bit on the sparkly side.

I used 3 coats for my photos but I honestly didn’t see a drastic difference between my second and third coats. Folks with more obvious nail lines will see a bigger jump than I did.

Little Fox

Description: a rose gold base with strong gold to green shimmer

Little Fox had a fantastic formula and that shimmer is STRONG and glowy!

This is a very difficult polish to describe. I wouldn’t necessarily call the base a rose gold, it is somewhere between a pink and orange. I’m currently calling it a coral but it’s just a really hard color to pin down.

I had originally thought based on the bottle, that this was going to be similar to one of my favorite BKL polishes called Rainbow Girl. The base colors on them are different and the shimmers are nothing alike.

My photos show Little Fox in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.

Here is a quick little side by side of Little Fox and Rainbow Girl.

One True Love

Description: a mid-toned greige base with glowy red to orange shimmer

One True Love where the previous grey in this release was super sheer, One True Love has a more opaque base. I love how muted this one looks!

The formula was also great, maybe slightly on the thicker side but not at all difficult to work with. The shimmer is very glowy and doesn’t show any brush strokes.

My photos show One True Love in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. I will call this a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference but I liked coverage on me in two.

Poisoned Fairy Fruit

Description: a sibling to Lemon, this is a clear base with strong blue shimmer and a scattering of silver light reflective glitter

Poisoned Fairy Fruit Lemon was one of my favorite BKL polishes last year so I judged this one VERY harshly due to my love of Lemon. While I don’t think this one is for me personally, I do think it is worthy of the Lemon sibling title.

I don’t know if the BKL team reads these blog posts but if they do, PLEASE release some Lemon siblings with the same bright yellow shimmer BUT with different colored reflective glitters!

Much like Lemon, Poisoned Fairy Fruit is a very sheer polish so it can be used as a topper or built up on its own. When built up on its own, you will still have VNL after three coats.

This polish had a fantastic formula, not too thick or too thin. The reflective glitter dries down with some texture but doesn’t make application difficult.

My photos show Poisoned Fairy Fruit in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I wouldn’t suggest scrubbing this polish off due to those glitters, use the soak off method or a peel off base coat.

And here is a side by side to the infamous Lemon from The Fall of the House of Usher collection.

Prince of Hearts

Description: a blackened mutichrome that shifts from deep indigo to red to gold at the extremes

Prince of Hearts had a fantastic formula, it was slightly on the thicker side but applied very easily.

This is a fairly dark based multichrome so on the nail it almost looks like a black base with a color shifty shimmer. You don’t get any brush strokes through the shimmer/multichrome pigment.

My photos show Price of Hearts in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. I think this will be a 2-3 coater depending on your application. I used a slightly thicker second coat for my swatches.

This polish is reminiscent of the BKL polish from the February Polish Pickup. They aren’t dupes but are similar, this is more color shifty.

And here is a side by side of Hot Dog which was in this month’s Polish Pickup compared to Prince of Hearts. They have similar vibes but not dupes.

The Archer’s Curse

Description: a sky blue pastel multichrome with pink to gold to green shimmer and silver light reflective glitter

The Archer’s Curse oh man this polish is SO beautiful! This polish is more of what I think of when I hear a pastel multichrome, it’s pale and so color shifty!

The formula was fantastic, not too thick or too thin and it applied beautifully. For whatever reason, the shimmer photographs a lot paler than it looks to the naked eye. I don’t know why that is but I have noticed that happens sometimes with shimmers. The color shifts are a lot more vibrant than they look in my photos.

This is a fairly sheer polish so you will be able to use it as a topper or built up. I opted to build it for my photos but I did still have some VNL with it.

My photos show The Archer’s Curse in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. The reflective glitter does give off some texture so 1-2 coats of top coat will be needed. Do NOT scrub this one off!

Welcome To The Best Day of Your Life

Description: a purple Lion sibling, this is an amethyst base with red to orange to green shimmer and lots of holo flakes. $14.50 *Similar to In Good Spirits but a touch darker*

Welcome To The Best Day of Your Life I cannot stress how much I am in love with this nail polish! The base is a soft medium purple and paired with the shimmer it just looks so delicate and springy!

It does start a little bit sheer so it does need to be built up. Depending on personal preference, it will be a 2-3 coater. The holographic flakies do not dry down texture but will make removal a bit messy.

My photos show Welcome To The Best Day of Your Life in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.

This polish is similar enough to In Good Spirits (All The Polishes Group Custom September 2022) that I would say if you have IGS you don’t *need* this one. They’re not exact dupes but they are very very similar.

Final Thoughts

While the brand doesn’t say this is a Valentine’s Day (or anti Valentine’s Day) release, it feels Valentine’s Day ajacent to me. I LOVED that we had a variety of finishes as well as colors.

I am really loving this new reflective glitter pigment the brand has been using recently. You get so much sparkle but without the aggressive texture or thickness.

My top picks from this release are I Forgot To Breathe, The Archer’s Curse and Welcome To The Best Day of Your Life.

Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Sale Information

The Once Upon A Broken Heart collection launches this Friday, February 16th at 7PM Eastern time for a week long sale period on the Bee’s Knees Lacquer website. The sale period closes on the 23rd at 11:59PM Eastern time.

All of the polishes are priced between $14 – $14.50 each for 15ml bottles. If you add all 15 polishes to your cart, an automatic 15% off discount will be applied. There is a 1,000 bottle cap on each polish if anything sells out there will be a new pre-order window listed.

There will also be some mystery bags available at this time. The mystery bags share the same inspiration as the main collection and will be priced at $25 for 2 15ml polishes. For spoilers on the mystery bags, check out this blog post.

Bee’s Knees Lacquer ships internationally from the US. They also have a few different stockist pages. This collection will also be available for pre-order as well as their intentional stockist pages, Gracie Jay and Co (Canada), Hypnotic Polish (EU),  Femme Fatale (Australia), and Rainbow Connection (EU)