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Hi friends! This is the first of two blog posts coming this weekend from Bee’s Knees Lacquer. BKL will be launching a new collection this month as well as having a big ‘ol Black Friday sale!
For November, we have the The Fall of the House of Usher inspired collection. I am so happy to report that this collection has a variety of finishes, I know I am not alone in wanting BKL to go back to having multiple finishes in their collections. We also have some new mystery bags, overpours and the previously mentioned big ol’ Black Friday sale.
The Fall of the House of Usher collection launches on November 24th on the Bee’s Knees Lacquer website. As always, more sale details can be found at the end of the post and to see these polishes in more light sources, check out my live swatch video!
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.
Clarity
Description: a dark plum base with strong green to purple shimmer and a scattering of silver light reflective glitter
Clarity before I read the description of this polish I was thinking it was a blue toned black base. This is a very very dark color and it’s going to look black in more light sources.
The shimmer in here is so damn beautiful paired with the reflective glitter. I found the shimmer mainly had a green to blue color shift. I could see a hint of purple at very extreme angles but mainly it looked green to blue.
The reflective glitter in here gives the polish some texture. You will want to at least double up on your top coat to get the smoothest finish possible.
My photos show Clarity in 2 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. I will call this a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference and nail length. Do NOT scrub this polish off, use the soak off method or a peel off base coat.
Daydreams
Description: a dark burgundy with strong blue to purple shimmer and a scattering of silver light reflective glitter
Daydreams as someone who doesn’t usually care for dark vampy shades, I loved how this polish looked on me! On the first coat, it was a little bit uneven but it built up really nicely.
The reflective glitter gives this polish a ton of sparkle! I swatched this around 4PM here so the sun wasn’t really cooperating with my to showcase how sparkly it is but it is. In typical reflective glitter fashion, the glitters do dry down textured so you will want to double up on your top coat to keep everything smooth.
The shimmer was just as described and didn’t show any brush strokes. Despite this polish having a ton of reflective glitter, the base didn’t feel overly thick at all.
My photos show Daydreams in 2 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. I’ll also call this one a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference. Do NOT scrub this polish off.
Denial
Description: a sage green with silver to gold to green shimmer
Denial the base color combination paired with the flakies give this a very murky borderline prugly look on the nail. It is of course another sheer polish that needs to be built up to really appreciate the shimmer.
On the first coat I wasn’t completely sold on this one. I thought it was more ugly than prugly, once I started building it up I was better able to appreciate it. Coverage is even in two coats but still a little bit too sheer for me personally.
The silver is the main color that you see on the nail with this shimmer. Which was a little underwhelming for me but once I moved my hands around and could see the color shifty goodness, hot damn this knocked my socks off!
Formula and application were both fantastic. The shimmer looks kind of flakie-like but it doesn’t give off any texture.
My photos show Denial in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Happy Hunting
Description: a rich red with jewel-toned shimmer and holo flakes
Happy Hunting this is the juciy jewel toned red that I have recently been in love with! The base seems to leans slightly towards being a pinky red but the shimmer brings out the reddish orange coloring.
The shimmer has a red to gold color shift. Happy Hunting had a fantastic formula, it applied wonderfully and had great coverage. It will likely be a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference.
The holo flakies are super tiny so they do not give off any texture. They give the polish a pretty sparkle.
I thought this was going to be a Lion sibling polish but seeing it next to Still No F*cking Excuse the shimmer is different.
My photos show Happy Hunting in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Immortality
Description: a smoky black with strong blue to indigo shimmer
Immortality was the color from the collection that in the bottle, I was least wowed by. It felt like we have seen this polish from BKL many many many times. Evem though it isn’t terrible unique, it sure is pretty.
Coverage was pretty even and more opaque that I expected on the first coat but it does still need to be built up. I initially really liked coverage in two coats but when I went to add top coat I saw some dark spots so I went in for a third coat.
The shimmer in here is really beautiful. It’s not the most color shifty but it is very strong and glowy.
My photos show Immortality in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. This will be a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference.
Lemon
Description: a clear base with strong lemon yellow shimmer and a scattering of silver light reflective glitter
Lemon I don’t know if my love for all things lemons is the reason why I love this polish so much or if the polish is just that mindblowingly beautiful, either way I am in love with this polish.
SInce it is in a clear base, this can be used as a topper or wear it in 2-3 coats depending on how much opacity you want to go for. Originally I thought I was going to tap out in 2 coats but I decided to add a third coat for my photos.
The shimmer has a yellow/gold/orange color shift to it and it is STRONG. And of course the reflective glitter give a whole lot of sparkle as well as texture. I think as a topper you might be able to get away with one coat of top coat but building this up will add a lot of glitter so you’ll need a few coats of top coat to smooth it out.
My photos show Lemon in 3 coats plus glossy 2 coats of top coat. coat. Do NOT scrub this polish off.
Nevermore
Description: a blackened purple with silver to pink to green shimmer to like raven feathers in the light
Nevermore has a similar shimmer to Denial, however it was a bit more opaque. I feel like on me the base leans towards being a dusty mauvey kinda of purple which I wasn’t really a fan of.
This is a dusty mauvey purple base. Which I think the mauvey-ness is coming from the pink color shift in the shimmer. The color shifts aren’t super obvious in your face, I could see the silver and pink but not the green.
My photos show Nevermore in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here will dry down textured but you will want top coat for a glossy finish.
Just in case anyone also wondered how similar this was to His Gentle Ruler (Hell Bent).
Still No F*cking Excuse
Description: a midnight blue Lion sibling with the same red to green shimmer and holo flakes
Price: $14.50
Still No F*cking Excuse the shade of blue of this base makes me so incredibly happy! It is STUNNING!
No surprise to anyone but this had a fantastic formula and application was a breeze. It was slightly on the thicker side but again application was very easy. Coverage was also much more even than I expected but this will be a 2-3 coater depending on application and personal preference.
The shimmer had a red, gold to green color shift and paired with the holographic, this was by far the stand out in the collection for me. The flakies do not dry down textured but you will still want top coat for a glossy finish.
My photos show Still No F*cking Excuse in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. I have a strong feeling that this is a potential stainer so make sure to wear base coat.
I thought this polish might have that bleeding issue once you add top coat. I didn’t notice any issues with bleeding, I used the BKL quick dry top coat for my photos.
Comparison to My Sweet Cheese (What We Do In The Shadows 3). My Sweet Cheese has the top coat bleeding issue that I mentioned earlier.
There’s Always Consequences
Description: a dark turquoise with strong pink to gold to green shimmer
There’s Always Consequences had a fantastic formula. I feel like this looks a lot lighter on the nail than I would have guessed for a polish with a dark turquoise base. It’s not so dark that it’s vampy, it feels more jewel toned.
This is one of the sheerer polishes in this release. Evem with three coats, you will still have VNL. The shimmer is really gorgeous.
My photos show There’s Always Consequences in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. This is sheer enough that I am pretty sure you could use it as a topper if that’s what floats your boat.
I originally thought this would be a lot more similar to Pakistan (Charity Polishes September 2022). The shimmer and base colors are different.
Mystery Polishes
On top this collection, we will also have some mystery bags inspired by One Dark Window. If you would like to be spoiled on those mystery bags, check out my blog post for that release over here!
Final Thoughts
My biggest ask from BKL for the past few months has been to release more polishes that weren’t just shimmers. I was really happy to see that this collection had some components added besides just shimmers. Yes it is still shimmer heavy but there are a few other things added too!
I surprised myself and really loved the polishes with light reflective glitter added. Lemon and Clarity in particular are stand outs. However, my top top pick is going to be Still No F*cking Excuse.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Sale Information
The Fall of the House of Usher will be available starting on November 24th at 7PM Eastern time on BeesKneesLacquer.com. The pre-order will close on November 27th at 11:59PM Eastern time.
There won’t be any purchase limits on polishes from this collection however there will be a limit on mystery bags. There is a soft cap of 1000 bottles for each polish however if those polishes sell out, inventory will be added.
Overpours from last month’s Hell Bent collection will be available as well as overpours from the Leon and Fourth Wing mystery bags. The Level Up lotions will also be available.
On top of all of that, there will be a sitewide 20% off sale happening! No code needed. If you sign up for the BKL email list, you can also recieve a 10% off code. I don’t know if the code will stack with this sale but it wouldn’t hurt to sign up just in case it does!
