Clionadh Cosmetics Retro Essentials

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Hey friends! Today I am sharing a collection by Clionadh Cosmetics. If you haven’t heard of them before, they are a Canadian indie makeup brand and this is the first nail polish collection (it actually came out last year). They are well known in the indie makeup space for super color shifty multichromatic eyeshadows and highlighters.

The brand sent me this collection in PR last summer. I opened the box during it up during one of my livestreams over the summer (this one if you want to watch) and set it aside to review. Well, it took a hot minute but the review is finally here! I have a few more collections from this brand that will be popping up over the next few weeks/months.

All of that was to say, this collection is currently available and I will have links at the end of the post. I also have an affiliate code with this brand so use code NicoleLovesNails to save on your order.

Live Swatch Video

Clionadh Cosmetics is a Canadian based indie makeup brand. Their polishes are 10 Free, cruelty free, vegan and in 11.5ml bottles.

Butterfly Clip

Description: Clip your bangs back while painting your nails with this magenta crème polish

Butterfly Clip had a great formula. It was a tiny bit sheerer than other polishes from this collection but it built up nicely for me in 2 coats.

I love this shade! It’s bright, it’s fun, it’s a very Nicole color. In case you can see some light spots in my photo, that was from my top coat brush.

My photos show Butterfly Clip in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

Gum Ball

Description: a candy machine red crème polish

Gum Ball had a fantastuc formula. The coverage was really great. I can see most people being good with just 1 coat.

The red base really did remind me of the shade of red for candy machines. It’s on the darker side of medium red.

My photos show Gum Ball in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

Lava Lamp

Description: a magma orange crème polish

Lava Lamp had a more chalky formula. I was really surprised at just how streaky and chalky this polish felt.

The base color is a darker orange shade with a lot of red undertones. It is a lot darker on the nail than it appears in the bottle. If you are like me and have warmer/golden undertones, this one will likely pull.

My photos show Lava Lamp in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Maybe if you have very short nails this iwll be opaque in 2 coats but I had so many light spots I really needed that third coat.

Lemonade Stand

Description: Brighten your day with this sunshine yellow crème polish

Lemonade Stand had an ok formula. It wasn’t bad but it was very chalky and streaky. On the positive side, it did self level, albeit a little slower than the other polishes. This shade of yellow is SO bright and SO fun. It’s like happiness in a bottle.

This is the only polish in the collection that I think will likely be a solid 3 coater. Maybe if you have shorter nails than me, this might be a 2 coater with careful application but also maybe not. I will say, yellow is the only color that I am really not mad at all for needing 3 coats.

My photos show Lemonade Stand in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Lemonade Stand dried down pretty dull so you will really need top coat for a glossy finish.

Solitaire

Description: A card table green crème polish like the ’98 computer game

Solitaire had a really great formula. The base color on this one is as described. It reminded me of a cartoon grass green color.

If you have shorter nails, with careful application I can see this being a 1 coater. I didn’t think that I would like this one but it did look pretty nice in person.

My photos show Solitaire in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

Game Console

Description: An epic teal crème polish

Game Console had a great formula. Dry time seemed a little fast but I didn’t have any issues with applicaiton. Since this one dries so quickly, I could see someone having issues by overworking the polish.

This color in my opinion is a true cool toned teal. It is one of the those teals that photographs as blue instead of teal. I did do some color correcting to try to show the color that I was seeing in person.

My photos show Game Console in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. Like I mentioned earlier, if you overwork this polish you might need a third coat.

Bell Bottom

Description: a jean blue crème polish.

Bell Bottom had a great formula. Opacity is pretty good, if you go in for very thin coats it can apply a little streaky. It self leveled wonderfully.

The base color is as described. I found it to be a medium toned blue with a hint of grey. I do feel like it photographs just a hair more vibrant than it looks but I would still say color wise, the photo is accurate.

My photos show Bell Bottom in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. If blues tend to stain you, I HIGHLY recommend doubling up on your base coat with this polish. I didn’t experience staining, but the blue pigment really wanted to stick to me.

Pinball

Description: An indigo crème polish is inspired by the ‘90s Space Cadet computer game.

Pinball had a fantastic formula. I love love love colors like this! This is the type of indigo that if you put it next to a blue, it looks purple and next to purple, it looks blue.

With careful application, or shorter nails, this will likely be a 1 coater.

My photos show Pinball in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

Scrunchie

Description: A silky violet crème polish to match your velvet hair tie

Scrunchie was a tiny bit sheerer and uneven on the first coat than most of the other polishes in this release but overall had a good formula.

Generally, I prefer cool toned purples, and this one is a warm toned medium purple. It’s not a bad color, but it’s just not a Nicole friendly purple.

My photos show Scrunchie in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

Note: My camera was able to pick up some light spots toward the tips of my nails that my eyes didn’t see in person. My eyes picked it up as completely opaque in 2 coats.

VHS

Description: a jet black crème polish

VHS had a great formula. When I was taking my photos, I needed a second coat to reach full opacity. However, when I recorded my live swatches I was good in just 1 coat.

I think this polish will be a 1-2 coater depending on application style and maybe nail length. So my opinion on black cremes is that if it’s not opaque in 1 coat, I probably won’t reach for it. I do not think a 2 coat black creme is bad but I don’t generally wear black polish on its own so being opaque in 1 coat is kinda needed for how I wear black cremes.

My photos show VHS in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

Liquid Paper

 Description: Not to be used with your homework, you’ll enjoy using this stark white crème polish

Liquid Paper had an ok formula. It was very streaky but it self leveled nicely.

This is a stark ‘white out’ manicure shade of white. It reminded me of using white out on my nails in middle school.

This is going to be one of those whites that you might need some tricks to apply evenly in 2 coats. Float the polish on as much as you can otherwise it will be a 3 coater. None of this is really unusual for a white creme in my opinion.

My photos show Liquid Paper in 3 coats pluss glossy top coat.

Gel Pen

 Description: a silver holographic micro-glitter topper

Gel Pen had a really great formula. Just wow, the sparkle level of these glitters is really something. The glitters in here are very small so they do not dry down with very much texture. You still will want top coat as the polish dries down dull.

This is not going to be one of those holo toppers that completely greys out your base color. Finely detailed nail art should still be visible if you put this on top of it. You also will not be able to build this one up for opacity.

At first glance, I thought that there were either iridescent or silver glitters mixed in but the more I look at it, I think it really is just a silver holographic glitter with nothing else mixed in.

Sadly it was raining when I was swatching this one so I tweaked my lighting in photo #4 to show the vavavoom factor of the holo.

My photos show Gel Pen in 1 coat over VHS. Removal will be very messy if you don’t soak this one off.

Final Thoughts

My first thought on this collection when I saw them was confusion. Clionadh Cosmetics is very well known in the makeup world for super color shifty multichromatic finishes. So I thought a 12 piece collection with 11 cremes was an odd choice.

However, I do believe these are meant to be staples and the ‘if you don’t already have one, this is for you’ kind of polishes. Since this release, they have released plenty of color shifty goodness!

The color story gets 10/10 because you know, rainbows. Formulation wise, I wouldn’t say any of these were bad. The colors that I thought would be tricky applications were, but that is the norm for those types of colors. Overall I would say this was a fantastic collection.

I would definitely recommend these polishes if you don’t already have colors like them in your polish collection. My top picks (based solely on my own color preferences) are Butterfly Clip, Pinball, Blue Jeans with Lemonade Stand and Game Console as my honorable mentions.

Clionadh Cosmetics
11.5ml, 10 Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Use my affiliate code NicoleLovesNails to save extra!
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Sale Information

The Retro Essentials collection is available right now on the Clionadh Cosmetics website. Each polish is priced at $12.99 Canadian dollars, Gel Pen is priced at $13.99 Canadian. For those of you in the USA, that works out to around $10 a bottle depending on exchange rates.

I do have an affiliate code with this company so if you would like to save some coins as well as support my blog, use code NicoleLovesNails. As far as I am aware, that code won’t work for this collection but it will work for all of the other nail polish and makeup related items on the website.

At the time of posting, 100% of the profits of this collection will be split and donated to Rainbow Railroad and The Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto (NWRCT). I am not sure how much longer the collection will be available.

Clionadh from Canada to all over the world. To see if they ship to your country, check out this page on their website.