Good day everyone! Today’s post is the much anticipated (I teased these quite a bit on my Instagram) review of the Love At Frost Sight collection by KB Shimmer for Holiday/Winter 2020! I was so excited when Christy reached out to me to join the KB Shimmer team as I have been a fan of this brand for quite a while! This collection will be available on November 25th at 10AM Eastern time. As always, links and sale details will be at the end of this post. I also have the Black Friday and Cyber Monday info to share! I will have a second KB Shimmer post coming up soon! Believe me, when I say you won’t want to miss that post.
In case you haven’t heard of this brand before, KB Shimmer is one of the OG indie polish brands. On top of nail polish, they also have a selection of skin care products including one of my favorite sugar scrubs ever. Their products are vegan, cruelty free and the polishes are 5 free.
Disclaimer: I was sent these products as a paid PR. All thoughts and opinions are my own. My photos were taken indoors with daylight LED bulbs and outdoors in natural light. I used the KB Shimmer Clearly On Top glossy top coat and the Glisten & Glow matte top coat for my photos.
Baking Spirits Bright
Description: a frosting-white crelly nail polish loaded with nonpareil-like glitters in red and green. Two to three coats of Baking Spirits Bright will add a festive twist to your holiday manicure.
Inspiration: Holiday desert table goodies!
Baking Spirits Bright had a surpringly smooth formula for a glitter crelly. The glitters don’t give off very much texture and with top coat smoothed it out nicely. I found it dried a touch sheerer than it applied. I used 3 coats for my photos. I think shorter nails would be opaque in 2 coats. I didn’t have any problems removing this with the soak off method and acetone.
Bearly Awake
Description: a blackened cerise thermal polish. When cold, a black cherry color sets off color-shifting flakes in shades of pink, orange and indigo. When warm, a bold, pink-leaning ruby hue glitters like jewels, with the flakes giving it a jelly-like appearance
Inspiration: Daylight Savings Time
Bearly Awake On the first coat, while applying it, it felt like it was going to dry down with texture. However, the flakies dried down relatively smoothly. I found the color changing aspect started right away. I really liked the flakies paired with this thermal base. I used 3 coats for my photos but I don’t recall seeing a huge difference in color between the second and third coat.
Celebrate Good Shine
Description: a pale champagne-colored holographic polish. A mix of micro and small glitters in a copper and gold holographic finish combine for a nail polish with mega sparkle!
Inspiration: All of the glittery things from New Years
Celebrate Good Shine applied very smoothly for a polish made up of glitter. It’s EXTREMELY holographic and sparkly! When I was taking these photos, my eyes felt a little crazy because it’s just so sparkly. This is a full coverage glitter polish but a thin coat could be used as a topper. The thought of putting a matte top coat on this really hurt me inside but the effect matte looks like sparkly sand! This was opaque in 2 coats on me. I soaked this off with acetone with no issues.
Note: I originally only used 1 coat of top coat for this polish. I noticed about an hour after applying it that it started to feel textured. So I would reccomend either 2 layers of top coat or 1 coat paired with a glitter eating top coat.
How’s It Growing?
Description: an emerald green jelly base is accented by holographic micro flakes that sparkle in bright light. In lower lighting, color-shifting flakes show off hues of orange, gold, lime and Kelly green.
Inspiration: Indoor plant lovers
How’s It Growing had a really smooth and great formula. I noticed that it can lean a little teal in cool toned lighting but it’s a true emerald green. There is a linear holographic element to it that is very strong. I found this came to life with top coat. This will be opaque in 2-3 coats but I found the third coat does deepen the color. I used 3 coats for my photos. This is probably going to sound weird but this polish matte made me think of alligators. Easy removal with acetone.
Knit Happens
Description: a bold red polish with a jelly finish. Color-shifting flakes show off hues of crimson, orange and gold, and in low lighting you might catch a glimpse of lime and green. In bright lighting, micro holographic flakes sparkle and shine.
Inspiration: Christy’s love of knitted clothing
Knit Happens has an identical formula and application to How’s It Growing. It’s a fiery red, especially paired with the color shifting flakies. This shade of red would be a good red for any time of year, it doesn’t scream ‘Christmas or Winter red’. I find reds tend to temporarily stain my skin more times than not but I didn’t have that issue with this polish. My photos show it in 2 coats. No issues on removal.
Love At Frost Sight
Description: a sparkling silver magnetic polish
Inspiration: People who love frosty winters
Love At Frost Sight had a great formula, no application issues. I found the magnetic effect to be strong. This can be used as a regular polish, my ring fingernail is unmagnetized. To get the magnetic effect, I used a bar magnet for 30-60 seconds on my final coat of color and then again after top coating. I did this 1 nail at a time. Mattified, this has a brushed metal look to it. I used 3 coats for my photos. I do want to note that after magnetizing, it’s just a touch less opaque. No issues on removal.
Note #2: I originally planned on using this as a topper over a creme but found that I loved the way it looked by itself! This can be used as a topper over pretty much any color.
Shamash Hit
Description: A pale golden base quickly shows off hues of peach, orange, and copper as this shimmering multichrome shade flickers through flame-like hues. Linear holographic sparkle adds a pop of rainbow that shines in bright light.
Inspiration: Candles of the menorah
Shamash Hit I took SO many photos of this polish that I had a hard time deciding on which ones to post! The colors I was seeing the most were the peachy and orange colors with an almost greenish yellow color shift. The linear holographic is also very strong in daylight and direct lighting. This will be opaque in 2-3 coats depending on your application. I used 3 coats for my photos but only 1 nail actually needed a third coat. I want to add to this that I LOVE that there is a polish in this collection that is inspired by Hanukkah. No issues on removal.
Sip Back & Relax
Description: a deep red, wine-colored linear holographic polish
Inspiration: Enjoying a bottle of wine
Sip Back & Relax Perfect formula, not too thick or too thin. This had really great coverage in 1 coat. I think on shorter nails you could definitely get by on 1 thicker coat. I used 2 thin coats for my photos. I didn’t have any issues with my skin staining from this polish. In general principle, I don’t like adding matte to linear holographic polishes however, I thought this looked really cool matte. Kinda like suede or velvet?
Sol Amazing
Description: flakes in a clear base easily shift to show off shades of red, orange, gold, green, and, at extreme angles, aqua.
Inspiration: The sun and a celebration of rainbows
Sol Amazing is a dense flakie topper. I could see the full range in the color shifts better when I paired it with Stream On, Stream Away as opposed to on its own. So what colors you see will vary on what color base you pair this with. I paired it in 1 coat over Stream On, Stream away, and wore it in 3 coats by itself. You will have VNL if you wear this on its own. It is dense enough that you shouldn’t have too much trouble sponging it on for a 100% opaque look.
Stream On, Stream Away
Description: A deepened navy blue creme, this cool-toned hue
Inspiration: binge-watch-enabling services
Stream On, Stream Away had a perfect, buttery smooth creme formula. It wasn’t too thick or to thin and stays where you put it. It is a deep navy that will look almost black in low lighting. I was kind of obsessed with this one matte. I think if you have shorter nails and use a thicker coat you might be able to get away with 1 coat. I used 2 coats for my photos. I didn’t have any issues with skin staining or removal.
Final Thoughts
In case it wasn’t clear already, these all had really great formulas with no application issues. The KB Shimmer brush is one of my favorites and it makes applying polish so easy. My top picks were Shamash Hit, Celebrate Good Shine, and Baking Spirits Bright. Knit Happens and How’s It Growing get honorable mentions because flakies and holo are the keys to my heart. You really can’t go wrong with any of these.
Sale & Black Friday Info
The Love At Frost Sight Collection launches Wednesday, November 25th at 10 AM EST on the KBShimmer.com. Each polish will retail for $10 and are in 15ml bottles. KB Shimmer is also available at several stockists (list available here) for those of you outside of the US. For international readers, I know Hypnotic Polish (EU/UK) and Harlow & Co (Canada) will be getting this collection. I’ll link their shops below.
The KBShimmer Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals also launch on the 25th. You can get 15% off your order (including these polishes!) until 11:59 PM on Monday, November 30th. It also seems that they will be doing some more deals during this period, so be sure to follow them on social media!
KB Shimmer
5 free, cruelty free & vegan
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shop Links
- Love At Frost Sight Collection (KB Shimmer website, not live yet)
- KB Shimmer @ Hypnotic Polish (EU/UK)
- KB Shimmer @ Harlow & Co (Canadian)
While you’re shopping, I highly recommend the Cleary On Top quick dry top coat by this brand! A bottle was included for me in this PR package and I have been using it nonstop ever since. I plan on picking up a refill bottle because I love this stuff. It dries super quickly and gives a nice hard finish. There is a 5 free version (Cleary On Top is 2 free) for those of you who are sensitive to toluene. I’d love to hear what you all thought of this collection in the comments below!