[Press Samples/Sponsored – Post Disclosure Page]
Hi friends! Today I have a new Valentine’s day collection from Fair Maiden Polish to share. I *think* this might be the last Valentine’s Day post for the year? Or maybe not, Mooncat just released a Valentine’s day collection and I’m thinking about picking it up. Thoughts? I also believe this is the first non-Polish Pickup review I have done for this brand. Which is a surprise for me since Fair Maiden is one of my favorite indie brands.
This trio was sent to me by the folks at Fair Maiden Polish, while I was not paid to post about the trio I was paid for them to use my photos. ANYWAY, as I was saying this is a Valentine’s day trio that is probably more accurately described as an anti-Valentine’s day trio. All of the polish names were inspired by some awesome songs.
This collection will be available for pre-order starting on February 1st on the Fair Maiden Polish website. As always, links and sale details can be found at the end of the post.
Live Swatch Video
Fair Maiden Polish is a US based indie brand. Their polishes are in 15ml bottles, 5 free, cruelty free and vegan friendly.
Every Rose Has It’s Thorn
Description: a deep red jelly loaded with black holo glitter flake
Every Rose Has it’s Thorn had great formula but it was on the thicker side. I found the application very easy and this didn’t have the “wet sand” like application that some glitter polishes have.
The glitters do give this polish a decent amount of texture so I did pair mine with a glitter smoothing top coat before my quick dry top coat. As an admitted, not dark red polish lover, the glitters totally got me digging this polish! I originally thought there was a mix of red and black glitters in here.
My photos show Every Rose Has It’s Thorn in 3 coats plus 2 coats of glossy top coat. Coverage was even in 2 coats but to get the depth of color that you see in the bottle, you will want to go in for 3 coats. FYI, I cut my nails recently and found I liked the polish best in 3 coats on my short nails as well.
Removal will of course be on the difficult side from all of the glitters. I used a peel off base coat but the soak off method would also work for easy removal! This polish is also VERY pigmented, while I didn’t experience any staining with it. There were a few seconds where I thought I was stained but I was able to get all of the red off with pure acetone.
So in my mind, this polish was a lot more similar to Fair Maiden’s <3 x’s 3. In reality, they were nothing alike! <3 x’s 3 is on my pointer and ring fingers. Btw, if you haven’t tried that polish yet, you really should. I liked it enough to buy a red polish.
Love Bites
Description: a light lavender cream with strong blue/green shimmer
Love Bites had a good formula. It was a little bit streaky but not unusually so for such a lighter color. This had a similar formula to Fair Maiden’s February 2023 PPU polish Even Miracles Take A Little Time. So surprisingly opaque but still needs to be built up for even coverage.
This is a super soft delicate lavender shade and I was surprised that I was digging it! Although I am sure we all know that it was the shimmer effect that got me. You don’t get any brush strokes through it and it is gorgeous. It kind of reminds me of some of the blue to green shimmers that Bee’s Knees Lacquer uses.
I did find that I needed 3 coats to get even coverage. I had a few light spots on my nails but that likely boils down to application. I didn’t have the light spots on my nails when I recorded my live swatches. However, my nails were also significantly shorter for the live swatch so take that as you will.
My photos show Love Bites in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
A little comparison of this polish to their February Polish Pickup polish.
Wicked Game
Description: an orchid pink base with red/ orange shimmer and iridescent color shifting flakes
Wicked Game had a fantastic formula. This polish does start off pretty sheer so it will need to be built up to gain opacity. I found that in 3 coats, there was still some significant VNL, both on the clear part of my nail and my natural nail.
The strength of the shimmer paired with the flakies totally made up for the lack of full opacity. This is a very glowy shimmer and the flakies will really pop in lower light situations.
I cannot stress enough how much I love this polish. Like it is next level pretty. The only thing that would make it better was if it had more color shifts but the shimmer is so glowly, I am not mad at all.
My photos show Wicked Game in 3 coats plus both glossy and matte top coats. Removal won’t be overly difficult at all.
Final Thoughts
I have gone on record to say that Anti-Valentine’s day collections aren’t really my thing. This might be the exception. And that is likely because of two factors. The first is, I love all of the songs these polishes are named after. The second is, I feel like the color story fits both the Valentine’s Day loving crowd (me) and the Anti-Valentine’s Day crowd.
My stand out top pick is without a doubt Wicked Game.The color? The shimmer? The flakies? Literally everything was perfect and I loved it.
Fair Maiden Polish
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty Free
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Sale Information
The Love Bites Trio will be available for pe-order starting on February 1st on Fair Maiden’s website. Each polish is priced at $12 for 15ml bottles. The full trio is also available at a discount of $32.
The pre-order will run through February 10th. Once the the window closes, these polishes will not longer be available.
