Hey friends! Today’s (first) blog post is for the newest collection by Bee’s Knees Lacquer. For August we have the These Hollow Vows collection which is a 10 piece release featuring a TON of gorgeous shimmers, a multichrome, holo flakies AND reflective glitters. Spoiler, I do believe this is my favorite collection they have released this year.
These Hollow Vows launches this Friday on the Bee’s Knees website as well as their international stockist pages. Along with this release, there will also be 2 polishes that are exclusive to the Girly Bits website, some respawns and last month’s mystery polishes are making a return.
As always, I will have links and sale details at the end of the post. Don’t forget to check out my live swatch video to see how these polishes apply and look moving around!
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.
A Hopeless Heart
Description: a large particle pastel multichrome, this is a bright pink with a very strong pink to gold to green shift. Because of the type of shimmer, you may see some small speckles of pigment
Price: $13
A Hopeless Heart had a fantastic formula. I LOVED the base color of this polish paired with the shimmer! The shimmer was super strong, super glowy and was as described. This will really pop in lower light situations.
The base on this polish is pretty sheer. You will have very obvious VNL with this one however, with how glowy the shimmer is, I really can’t be mad at a bit of visible nail line.
The brand does warn that due to the shimmer, you might see some speckles of pigment. I feel like my camera was able to pick up some spots but I didn’t notice them in person.
My photos show A Hopeless Heart in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here will be difficult to remove but the shimmer will be messy.
Crown of Starlight
Description: a black to red multichrome with magnetic holo shimmer
Price: $13.50
Crown of Starlight had a really great formula. The magnetic effect magnetized very easily for me using a ring magnet. For my live swatch, I used a bar magnet and had no issues.
The holographic pigment in here is very holographic out in the sun. I found that indoors, it mainly looked silver/grey with a little bit of holographic.
Unmagnetized, this polish has a very strong greyish look to it with hints of that red color shift coming in. To best see the multichrome effect, you will want to magnetize this polish.
My photos show Crown of Starlight in 3 coats. This polish was opaque in 2 coats but I added the third coat to magnetize.
Every Star In The Sky Shines For You
Description: a cross between goldenrod and mustard yellow with green to blue sibling UP and silver light reflective glitter
Price: $16 | Cap: 400
Every Star In The Sky Shines For You had a good but thicker formula. I didn’t have any problems with the application while doing my swatch photos. However, I did notice when I was doing my live swatch (about a week after I did my photos) that the formula felt significantly thicker.
I am not sure if that was due to environmental factors (it was very hot/humid today) or me not closing my bottle all the way after I did my photos. Either way it was pretty thick during the live swatch and I went back and forth trying to decide if I needed to add thinner to it.
Color wise, I feel like this one is definitely a cross between a goldenrod yellow and a mustard yellow. Out in the sun, the mustard yellow side is more obvious.
The reflective glitters do give this one some significant texture. So I did pair it with a glitter smoothing top coat before I went in with my quick dry top coat.
My photos show Every Star In The Sky Shines For You in 3 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. This polish is fairly sheer so you will still have obvious VNL with it in 3 coats. Removal will be very difficult due to the glitters.
Magic Is Life
Description: a large particle pastel multichrome, this is a jade green with a very strong pink to gold to green shift. Because of the type of shimmer, you may see some small speckles of pigment
Price: $13
Magic Is Life had a fantastic formula. As you can tell by the number of photos, I was very amazed by this polish. The shimmer is super color shifty and honestly just looks amazing in every single light source. It stopped raining while I was swatching so I made good use of the lighting.
Since the shimmer has a larger particle size, you don’t get any brush strokes. I was seeing all of the described colors in person. Most (if not all) of the opacity for this polish comes from the shimmer so you do have some VNL with this polish, even in 3 coats. I will say I do this think will make an AMAZING topper if VNL isn’t your thing.
My photos show Magic Is Life in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Removal won’t be overly difficult but it will be on the messy side, especially if you scrub this off.
Note: I didn’t notice any pigment specks in this polish while I was swatching it but my camera sure did!
Make No Bargains Or Ties With The Silver Eyes
Description: another sibling to a Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw, this is a grayed-out lavender with glowy orange to green shimmer and loaded with holo flakes. Because of the base color used, this polish may fade in strong sunlight
Price: $13.50
Make No Bargains Or Ties With The Silver Eyes had a fantastic formula. I LOVE grey bases with shimmer and this one checked that box perfectly. I will say to my eye, this is a very cool toned grey polish. I wasn’t really seeing the lavender aspect in person.
The shimmer in here is super glowy and just honestly gorgeous. The flakies were super holographic in person as well. Those flakies won’t dry down textured nor will they be difficult to remove.
My photos show Make No Bargains Or Ties With The Silver Eyes in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I think this will be a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference and nail length. Removal won’t be overly difficult but the flakies will be a little messy.
I had a comparison request over on YouTube to compare Make No Bargains Or Ties With The Silver Eyes with some of the other grey base + holo flake polishes by this brand. I Will Devour All Of You and Everyone Falls In Love With Me Eventually were both in the Resident Evil Village collection and Keep Reaching Out Your Hand was in the A Court Of Silver Flames collection.
Nothing In Faerie Is Coincidence
Description: a large particle pastel multichrome, a sky blue with a very strong pink to gold to green shift. Because of the type of shimmer, you may see some small speckles of pigment
Price: $13 *customers may ask for a comp with Beware of Winter’s Cold
Nothing In Faerie Is Coincidence had a fantastic formula. The shimmer in this polish is the same as the one in Magic Is Life and A Hopeless Heart. And it is equally stunning in this base!
The formula and application were exactly the same for this polish as the others so you will have some obvious VNL with it. But again, I can’t be mad at that!
My photos show Nothing In Faerie Is Coincidence in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Removal won’t be overly difficult but it will be on the messy side.
Note: For this polish, I did notice the pigment specks in person but I thought they were leftover flakies from a previous swatch.
Side note, at first I was kinda confused at why this polish and Magic Is Life were in the same collection as I thought they were really similar. Side by side, they aren’t really that similar so I love that they’re both in this collection
Quick comparison of Nothing In Faerie Is Coincidence and Beware of Winter’s Cold (Polish Pickup November 2021)
Pretend You Like Me
Description: a soft and sheer green with glowy blue to purple shimmer. Because of the base color used, this polish may fade in strong sunlight or have small speckles of pigment.
Price: $13
Pretend You Like Me had a wonderful formula and I had zero application issues. The shimmer in here is super strong and glowy. While I don’t love the base color on this polish, I LOVE the shimmer. It was super strong and glowy without showing brush strokes.
I do think you will want to build this one up to get the most opacity as well as to even the base color out. Alternatively, this will also work well as a topper.
My photos show Pretend You Like Me in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here will be difficult to remove and I didn’t have any issues with staining.
There’s A Cost
Description: a soft and sheer violet with glowy red to green shimmer. Because of the base color used, this polish may fade in strong sunlight or have small speckles of pigment
Price: $13
There’s A Cost also had a fantastic formula. I know, I know, I keep saying that but it is true. These shimmer formulas are all fantastic. The base color paired with the shimmer really made me happy. I love colors like this.
I will say, this one is pretty sheer so you will want to build it up for opacity. After 3 coats, there will still be some VNL but the shimmer does add to the opacity.
My photos show There’s A Cost in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here will be difficult to remove and no issues with staining.
There’s My Grumpy Shadow Prince
Description: a deep, dark violet with green to blue sibling UP and black light reflective glitter. Because of the base color, this may stain
Price: $16 | Cap: 600
There’s My Grumpy Shadow Prince had a pretty good formula. It was a little bit on the thicker side but I found application very easy. Like the previous reflective polish, for some reason when I went to do my live swatch the polish was *very* thick. Again, I don’t know if it was environmental (it was really hot and humid) or me not cleaning the neck of the bottle properly but the application was rough for the live swatch. I ended up adding thinner to this one.
The shimmer in here was a little tricky to photograph but it was very obvious in person. The reflective glitters were also very sparkly. I could easily see the silver reflects, but my eyes usually don’t pick out black reflects in black reflective glitter polishes.
To address the elephant in the room. When I swatched this, I thought it was opaque in 2 coats. It wasn’t until I went outside and saw that this was kinda patchy for me. I think this will be a solid 3 coater just to even out the base color.
Those reflective glitters will also give off quite a bit of texture so I would recommend doubling up on your top coat to completely smooth this one off. I used a glitter smoothing base coat before my quick dry top coat.
My photos show There’s My Grumpy Shadow Prince in 2 coats plus two coats of top coat. Again, I think this one is a three coater.
The Fire Girl
Description: the red sibling to a Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw, this is a fiery red with glowy orange to green shimmer and loaded with holo flakes.
Price: $13.50
The Fire Girl had a fantastic formula. I LOVE the base color paired with the shimmer for this polish! The firey base pairs perfectly with the shimmer.
The shimmer in here is very strong and while only saw a hint of green, the orange color shift has a strong golden look here. The holo flakies were really stunning out in the sunlight.
I swatched The Fire Girl in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here will dry textured but the flakies will be a little messy on removal.
Final Thoughts
This is definitely one of my favorite Bee’s Knees collections that I have swatched this year. I just really really loved all of the shimmers in this release plus of course, the Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw siblings were also a hit with me.
The fact that this collection also kinda made a rainbow also was fantastic. My top picks are The Fire Girl, Nothing In Faerie Is Coincidence, Magic Is Life and A Hopeless Heart.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Sale Information
The These Hollow Vows collection will be available on the Bee’s Knees Lacquer website starting on August 26th at 7PM Eastern time for a 1 week pre-order window. The pre-order window closes on September 1st at 11:59PM Eastern time.
Also releasing at this time is a duo that will be exclusive to the Girly Bits website. My review for that is over here or click the image below
Bee’s Knees Lacquer ships internationally from the US. They also have a few different stockist pages. This collection will also be available on their intentional stockist pages, Girly Bits Cosmetics (Canada), Hypnotic Polish (EU/UK), Femme Fatale (Australia), and Rainbow Connection (EU/UK).
There aren’t any mystery bags this round but last month’s mystery polishes (Six Crimson Cranes) will be making a return and you will be able to pick those up without the mystery option. Some overpours from last month’s Only A Monster collection will be available as well.
And finally, there will also be some capped respawns this month. I attached links to my reviews for the polishes that are respawning so just click each name to see the review for that polish.
Respawns List
- A magical leech (175)
- Toss a coin (175)
- Fairy Punchfather (100)
- Aurelian (175)
- St. Elmo’s (175)
- Book & Snake (175)
- Scroll & Key (175)
- Wheelwalker (175)
