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Hey friends. This is the third and final blog post I have today for Bee’s Knees Lacquer. I told y’all Bee’s Knees is dropping a lot of things this week haha. Along with Rainbow Connection exclusives and the Six Crimson Cranes mysteries, BKL is also dropping a 12 piece collection. The collection this month is inspired by the book by Vanessa Len.
This collection is particularly exciting because it has several polishes that are sisters to one of my favorite BKL polishes, A Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw. The Only A Monster collection drops this Friday on the Bee’s Knees Lacquer website as well as on their international stockist pages. There will also one a 15% off sitewide sale happening!
As always, links and sale details can be found at the end of this blog post.
Live Swatch Video
Bee’s Knees Lacquer is a US based indie brand. Their polishes are in 15ml bottles, 5 free, cruelty free and vegan friendly.
Always Free
Description: an updated sister to A Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw, this is a dark green base with glowy red to green shimmer and loaded with holo flakes
Price: $13.50
Always Free had a really great formula. It starts off a little sheer so you will want to build it to reach full opacity. The shimmer and flakies look BEAUTIFUL paired with this base color.
The flakies all spread out evenly without giving off any texture. They were super holographic.
My photos show Always Free in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coat. I did have some very slight VNL on the clear part of my nail but I don’t think it will be noticeable for natural nails. I think this one will be a 2-3 coater depending on nail length and personal preference.
Dragons Need Not Fear Other Dragons
Description: a deep unassuming turquoise jelly that shifts to a dramatic pink shimmer
Price: $12
Dragons Need Not Fear Other Dragons had a great formula. It was very sheer so you will want to build it up for the most opacity. I really liked how the base color looks paired with the shimmer.
The shimmer effect in here is a little underwhelming in comparisons to the shifty shimmers (at least in my opinion) but it does still look really great.
Since this polish is so sheer, it will work really well as a topper. I opted to show it in 1 coat over black (Heather’s Hues Shadow).
My photos show Dragons Need Not Fear Other Dragons in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here will be difficult to remove and I didn’t have any issues with staining.
Every Monster Goes Up Against The Timeline
Description: a lime green with gold to green to blue shimmer
Price: $13
Every Monster Goes Up Against The Timeline had a fantastic formula. This polish is pretty sheer so you will really want to build it up to get the most opacity or use it as a topper.
I found the shimmer to be very strong and glowy. I really liked how it looked in the base color! I could see all of the described colors without any brush strokes.
My photos show Every Monster Goes Up Against The Timeline in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I had very obvious VNL so I opted to also show it in 1 coat over Holo Taco’s Green Screen.
I Won’t Remember What You Mean To Me
Description: a pale indigo that shifts an entire rainbow of colors
Price: $13
I Won’t Remember What You Mean To Me had a fantastic formula. The base didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. This polish does start off very sheer and even in 3 coats you will still have some VNL with it.
The shimmer effect in here is ridiculously gorgeous! In person, I was seeing orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I think I could also see a hint of pink? It is definitely a rainbow of colors on the nail! The shimmer didn’t show any brush strokes.
My photos show I Won’t Remember What You Mean To Me in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I also swatched it in 1 coat over black because I couldn’t decide what color to use.
If You Believe In Fairytales
Description: a pale, almost pinky purple that shifts an entire rainbow of colors
Price: $13
If You Believe In Fairytales also had a fantastic formula. Formula or application wise, it was exactly the same as I Won’t Remember What You Mean To Me. The base colors between the two are different but they look really similar.
At first I was a little annoyed at how similar they were (I was convinced I was going to confuse them during editing) but honestly they look so nice I can’t be mad at the similarities.
The shimmer is really gorgeous in this base color. The two polishes with this shimmer give me all of the unicorn princess-y vibes and I love them for it.
I also swatched this one in 1 coat over a blue creme. I remember it being a Night Owl Lacquer polish but I forgot to write down which one. Also ignore that I wrote green creme on this image, I also forgot why I did that.
My photos show If You Believe In Fairytales in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here will be difficult to remove and I didn’t have any issues with staining.
Loyal Unto Death
Description: an updated sister to A Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw, this is a mid-toned blue base with glowy red to green shimmer and loaded with holo flakes
Price: $13.50
Loyal Unto Death had a really great formula. It applied really beautifully and I didn’t have any application issues. The shimmer in here looks amazing in this base color.
The holo flakies in here all spread out very evenly and easily without giving off any texture. They are also VERY holographic.
My photos show Loyal Unto Death in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coats. Nothing in here will be difficult to remove but the flakies likely will be a little messy if you scrub them off.
Out of all of the sister polishes, this is the most similar to A Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw. Side by side, they look really close but the shimmer effect does seem to be slightly different. I found the shimmer effect in Loyal Unto Death to be more of a greenish yellow than the green in ALWATIIP.
Only You Can Stop The Hero
Description: sister to An Act Of Wrath, this is an orange leaning coral with strong green to blue to purple shimmer
Price: $13
(because of the neon base, this one may fade and you may notice some small pigment specks in the bottle)
Only You Can Stop The Hero have a really great jelly formula. It starts off a little bit she able to build up very nicely. The shimmer is extremely strong and glowy.
I was seeing the colors as described with purple coming in at extreme angles. I didn’t see any brush strokes through the shimmer.
The neon base is a gorgeous neon coral. I found it was a pink leaning salmon-y coral to an orange, depending on angles/lighting.
My photos show the spot in three coats plus top coat. It does seem to dry down just a little bit more here than it applies I think this will likely be a solid three co
I don’t think I would have placed this as a sister polish to An Act Of Wrath (Lore Olympus collection) if the brand hadn’t mentioned it. The above comparison has An Act Of Wrath on the right side.
Real Monsters Look Like You And Me
Description: a rich cobalt jelly that shifts to a dramatic pink shimmer
Price: $12
Real Monsters Look Like You And Me had a really great formula. The base color paired beautifully with the shimmer. This is another polish that I kind of felt was underwhelming in comparison to the other shimmers in the release. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful but I just felt like it didn’t really pop in comparison to the other shimmers.
The shimmer in here was strong and glowy. It had an almost purple look to it due to the base color. I didn’t see any brush strokes through it. This polish is on the more sheer side so you will really want to build it up for the most opacity.
My photos show Real Monsters Look Like You And Me in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I thought this one was going to be a stainer but I didn’t experience any staining with it.
The Hunt Family Power
Description: a grass green jelly that shifts to a dramatic pink shimmer.
Price: $12
The Hunt Family Power also had a really great formula. The base is on the more sheer side so you will really want to build this one up for the most opacity.
Like Real Monsters Look Like You And Me, it feels a little underwhelming however out of the 3 polishes that were underwhelming to me, I think this one looked the nicest.
The shimmer appeared to have a pink to orange color shift. The orange came in at extreme angles.
My photos show The Hunt Family Power in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here will be difficult to remove and I didn’t experience any staining.
SInce this one is also so sheer, I opted to swatch this in 1 coat over Holo Taco’s Green Screen, a green creme.
The Lius Remember
Description: an updated sister to A Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw, this is a grape purple base with glowy red to green shimmer and loaded with holo flakes
Price: $13.50
The Lius Remember had a really nice formula. The base didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues.
The shimmer in here was super glowy and all around gorgeous. In person, the red to gold color shift was the most apparent. I could see hints of green at very extreme angles. As you can tell from my photos, I had some fun playing around with photographing the shimmer.
The holographic flakies were really gorgeous out in the sunlight. This had had great coverage so I can see most people being. good in 2 coats. For personal wear, I would likely weaqr this one in just 2 coats.
However, I did opt to swatch this one in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coats. Removal won’t be overly difficult but it will be messy if you opt to scrub this polish off.
Unmade
Description: sister to An Act Of Wrath, this is a dusty pink with strong green to blue to purple shimmer
Price: $13
(because of the neon base, this one may fade and you may notice some small pigment specks in the bottle)
Unmade had a wonderful formula. It starts off fairly sheer but builds up nicely. However, you will still have obvious VNL with it in 3 coats.
The shimmer was VERY strong and super glowy. In lower light situations, the shimmer is so strong that it will hide your VNL. In brighter lighting, VNL will be super obvious. I didn’t see any brush strokes through the shimmer.
My photos show Unmade in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
We Love A Tragic Romance
Description: a grungy rose with gold to green ghost flakes and a scattering of ruby light reflective glitter
Price: $14
We Love A Tragic Romance had a good formula. It was slightly on the thicker side of normal but I found it easy to work with. The ghost flakies and reflective glitters all spread out very evenly. The reflective glitters do give this polish some texture so you will want to double up on top coat to smooth them out.
In direct lighting, I mainly saw just silver reflects. However, I could see that there were red glitters in the polish in other lighting. I think this polish will likely be a solid 3 coater to even out the base.
My photos show We Love A Tragic Romance in 3 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. I did opt to pair this polish with a glitter smoothing top coat before going in with my quick dry top coat. That combination smoothed this out completely.
Removal will be on the more difficult side if you opt to scrub this polish off. I used a peel off base coat but you can also soak this polish off with minimal issue.
Final Thoughts
I am sure it will be no surprise to anyone that I loved this collection. It has been a hot minute since Bee’s Knees came out wit such a shimmer heavy collection and I really appreciate that they did. I was honestly getting a little tired of the reflective glitter heavy collections so this was a nice change.
My top picks from this release are going to be If You Believe In Fairytales, I Won’t Remember What You Mean To Me and The Lius Remember.
Sale Information
The Only A Monster collection will be available starting on July 29th at 7PM Eastern time for a 1 week pre-order window. The pre-order window closes on August 3rd at 11:59PM Eastern time.
There will also be a 15% off sitewide sale happening at the time of the release. The sale will include everything on the website except for the unicorn pee polishes.
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, Girly Bits Cosmetics (Canada), Hypnotic Polish (EU/UK), Femme Fatale (Australia), and Rainbow Connection (EU/UK).
And don’t forget that along with this release, there will also be mystery bags and 2 polishes exclusive to the Rainbow Connection website.
