KBShimmer Northern Exposure Winter 2022

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Hey friends! We’re gearing up for turkey day festivities around here and I have been in the kitchen all day. Which isn’t a bad thing for me (I love cooking) but I am currently stressing myself out over if I made my lemon curd thick enough to use to fill a cake tomorrow.

And since I am officially all out of eggs (which is a surprise seeing how we have dozens of laying hens) I can’t make any more lemon curd so I am just going to relax, type up some blog posts and worry about it in the morning.

Anyway, that long intro was to catch you all up on what’s going on here. And as you can tell from the title, today’s blog post is for the newest collection from KBShimmer. This is their Northern Exposure collection for Winter 2022. It is a 9 piece collection with a variety of finishes that is available right now and it’s on sale!

As always, links and sale details can be found at the end of the post. I’m hoping to get my live swatch video up in a few days but until then, enjoy the swatch photos!

KBShimmer is a US based indie brand. Their polishes are in 15ml bottles, 5 free, vegan and cruelty free.

Chill Out

Description: a sky-blue nail polish with twinkling silver reflective glitters that echo falling snow.  Loaded with a multichrome shimmer, this shade shows off a rainbow of hues.  Glistening gold, pink, red, and warm orange easily pop against the cool blue base, while some angles even show hints of lime

Chill Out had a good but very thick formula. This is one of the reflective polishes that have an application akin to ‘wet sand’. Out of the reflective glitters in this release, this one was the thicker but also the most opaque. If you have fairly short nails, this could be a 1 coater for you.

This polish is incredibly sparkly. The shimmer in here is a larger particle size and paired with the reflective glitters, it made for a very very sparkly finish.

The reflective glitters do give this polish a lot of texture. It has a sandpapery finish once dried so you will want to load up on your top coat with this polish IF you don’t like textured finishes. I did use the KBShimmer Smooth Moves glitter smoothing top coat before going in with the KBSHimmer Clearly On Top qdtc and that combination smoothed this out perfectly.

My photos show Chill Out in 2 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. Removal will of course be very difficult to remove if you don’t soak this polish of use a peel off base coat.

How Polarizing

Description: A deep navy base sets off a multichrome magnetic in teal, blue, purple, and green.  A hint of micro holo flakes adds a touch of sparkle to this shifty shade.  Worn without using the magnet, this vibrant multichrome still flips through teal, blue, and purple hues

How Polarizing had a really good formula. It was slightly on the thicker side, but in the ‘this is opaque’ way and not the difficult to work with way. Coverage is pretty good in 1 coat so if you have shorter nails, this might be a 1 coater.

The magnetic pigment in here was very strong and had a teal, blue, purple color shift with pink coming in at extreme angles. I used an arch magnet for these swatches.

The holographic, and here was also very sparkly. This one’s gonna look amazing out in natural sunlight. Nothing in here is going to dry down, textured, or be overly difficult to remove.

My photo show How Polarizing in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

Let’s Hang

Description: a magnetic nail polish starts with a deep forest, almost black base.  A vibrant magnetic pigment shows off shades of green, while a colorful mix of shifting flakes echo the glow of holiday lights

Let’s Hang had a really great formula. I surprised myself by liking this polish as much as I did! This was another one of the ‘slightly thicker but wow that’s opaque!’ polishes. Short nails might good in just 1 coat.

I decided to try out one of KBShimmer’s new magnets for my swatch of this polish. I used the new zip zap magnetic. I really liked how it turned out. You see the flakies best when this polish is magnetized, but they are visible unmagnetized.

My photos show Let’s Hang in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. Removal won’t be overly difficult.

Logging Off

Description: A blue-leaning deep green color, this reflective polish is the perfect shade for those wanting a bold jewel tone.  Accented by green reflective pigment,

Logging Off had a good but thicker formula. This is another one of those reflective glitter polishes that apply akin to wet sand. And I mean that in the best way possible.

I found the base color to be a really interesting shade. It leans teal depending on lighting but out in the sun it looked very green. The green reflective glitter likely made it look more green than teal out in the sun. And I LOVED this one out in the sun. I didn’t think I was going to like this one as much as I did.

Obviously, this being a thicker reflective glitter polish there is some signifanct texture with those glitters. I used the KBShimmer Smooth Moves glitter smoothing top coat before going in with my quick dry top coat. That seemed to smooth everything out nicely. Removal will be very difficult if you opt to scrub this one off. Definetly go for the soak off method or use a peel off base coat.

Northern Exposure

Description: A purple base deepens as layered, offering a night-like canvas for a scattering of twinkling holo flakes.  Shifting shades of red, gold, green and blue appear as lighting and viewing angles change, mimicking that spectacular evening light show.  

Northern Exposure had a fantastic formula. I was pleasantly surprised at how opaque this polish was. The base was just slightly on the thicker side but I didn’t have any issues with the application.

The purple base darkens up considerably with the second coat which also brings it to full opacity. Depending on the angle, I could see some VNL on the clear part of my nail but it was pretty minor. I don’t think that will be an issue for those of you with natural nails.

The shimmer paired with the purple base gives you *almost* a full rainbow of color. I found the red color shift is more burgundy so while not a traditional rainbow, it is rainbow enough for me. Super super pretty.

My photos show Norther Exposure in w2 coats plus glossy top coat. I thought this one was going to be a stainer but I didn’t experience any staining.

Out of Sequins

Description: a reflective nail polish topper

Out of Sequins had a beautiful formula. I thought the base would be a lot thicker but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t feel any thicker than what I would call a normal thickness of polish.

I think a reflective topper would be a good move for anyone who doesn’t like how difficult most reflective polishes are to remove. You get all of the sparkles with a thinner formulation and removal isn’t nearly as difficult.

I found while this one dries slightly textured it isn’t nearly as textured as the reflective glitter polishes in this release. One coat of top coat seemed to smooth it out nicely for my swatches.

My photos show Out Of Sequins in 1 coat over Night Owl Lacquer’s How At The Moon.

Paired Up

Description: a glittering purple nail polish with a magenta to copper shimmer and holo flakies

Paired Up also had a fantastic formula. The base was a little sheer on the first coat but this builds up really nicely. I think this will likely be a 2-3 coater depending on how you feel about VNL.

The shimmer was very strong. I was able to see a magnet, copper/gold color shift with a yellow-y green at extreme angles. It is a larger particle size so no brush strokes with some sparkle.

Obviously, I am a sucker for a purple polish with shimmer and this was really pretty. The flakies were very holographic even indoors.

My photos show Paired Up in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Removal won’t be overly difficult and I didn’t experience any staining.

Slush Fund

Description: A gold reflective nail polish, Slush Fund is accented by a warm orange to red to gold shifting shimmer

Slush Fund had a really good but thick formula. Despite the thickness, I found it very easy to apply. And again, wet sand like texture for the base. As per usual, the reflective glitters make the thickness expected.

The coverage is a little bit uneven/sheer on the first coat but this built up really nicely in 2 coats for me. I could see some VNL on the clear part of my nail at some angles but overall coverage was good.

The shimmer in here was really beautiful. I could see hints of green at extreme angles but most of the color you see on the nail is the orange/gold and red.

The reflective glitters do give this polish some significant texture so I did pair this with KBShimmer’s Smooth Moves glitter top coat. The gold reflects were easy to see in natual lighting as well under my led floor lamp indoors.

My phoros show Slush Fund in 2 coats plus 2 coats of top coat. Removal will be incredibly difficult if you scrub this polish off. I used a peel off base coat but I would also recommend the soak off method.

Yes We Cran

Description: a vibrant red shimmery metallic nail polish shade.  Flashes of orange, gold, and cool red flash

Yes We Cran had a fantastic formula. I thought the purple polishes in this release were awe inducing but this polish really knocked my socks off!

The base color paired with this metallic shimmer is really gorgeous. I would say it leans more pinky/magenta-y than red. This one is a bit more on the sheer size you really wanna build up to get the most opacity depending on your nail length you might still have some VNL with it.

I was seeing all the described colors in the shimmer as well as a hint of green and extreme angles. This one is a slightly larger particle size so you do not get any brush strokes. And, of course, removal will be very easy, but messy due to the sparkly factor of the shimmer.

My photos show Yes We Cran in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.

Final Thoughts

KBShimmer knocked it out the park with this collection. I loved the variety of finishes, the colors (it vaguely made a rainbow) just everything looked amazing together. Even thought it is a winter release, I do think all of the colors can be used no matter the season.

My favorites from this release were Yes We Cran, Chill Out and Let’s Hang.

KBShimmer
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
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Sale Information

The Northern Exposure collection is available right now on KBShimmer’s website. KBShimmer doesn’t ship internationally but they do have a variety of stockist pages all over the world. Check out their international stockist page for more information.

Between November 21st-28th, the entire KBShimmer website is having a 15% off sale with code BLACKFRIDAY15. The Northern Exposure collection is part of the sale.

If you are reading this after the Black Friday sale and want to support my blog, KBShimmer is also sold at BeyondPolish and Amazon. If you pick these up from BeyondPolish use code NicoleLovesNails to save 10%.