May 2020 Polish Pickup Haul + Swatches

First off if you don’t know what PPU aka Polish Pickup is, it’s a monthly collaboration between dozens of independent nail polish and hand crafted item makers. There are a ton of things available ranging from nail polish to wax, jewelry, nicknacks and skin care items. Since starting a few years ago there been many expansions to add a variety of items. It’s a great website to get familiar with indie polish brands as well as other small businesses. Each month follows a theme and makers create items based on that theme. The shop is open starting the first Friday of the month until the next Monday. Items are, for the most part, limited edition and only available through the Polish Pickup website. However some non nail polish items can be sold on the maker’s website but that’s up to each individual maker.

For the most part, if it’s available from PPU it’s only available during that month. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. May’s Polish Pickup theme was Candyland and I bought a bit more than I normally would. Usually I tap out at 2 or 3 items each month. Which is hilarious since June PPU just opened today and I bought 9 things for June. Oh well! Back to May. For May I purchased

• Heather’s Hues – Sugar Crush
• Heather’s Hues – WiTS in the scent Gummy Bears
• The Crafty Taco – Treat Yourself Book band
• Dollish Polish – Where My Peeps At?
• KB Shimmer Sugar Scrub in the scent Spun Sugar
• What Addiction Polish – Candy Dreams
• Kathleen & Co – Swirly Twirly Taffy
• Glisten & Glow – Now and Later

I loved all of these items very much. The lotion smells absolutely fantastic! WiTS is my ride and die lotion. I use it on my hands and feet all year round. I haven’t used the scrub yet (still using a previous jar) but I did give it a sniff and it’s great. It reminds me of the Pink Sugar scent that Bliss Kiss uses in their oil but slightly different. Super similar which is great for me since that’s my favorite scent by that company. Anyway on to the swatches!

Dollish Polish – Where My Peeps At?

First time trying this brand! Where My Peeps at is described as a bright turquoise crelly with subtle indigo shimmer and rainbow matte glitters. I honestly didn’t noticed shimmer in this polish but it did seem to have a glow to it which I’ll assume is the shimmer. It did apply really easily. I didn’t notice a difference in glitter coverage from holding the bottle upside down vs just shaking before applying. It was a tad bit streaky on the first coat but the streaks evened out really well by the time I did the 3 coat. There was a *tiny* hint of VNL after the 3 coat but it was only on at certain angles. I did 3 thin coats for these photos plus top coat. I will note that the square cap in the photo does come off and there’s a smaller (easier to use) cap that’s attached to the brush.

Now and Later is described as a white glitter crelly with various sized/shaped pink, purple, red, yellow and neon green glitters. This polish was absolutely packed with glitter! No glitter fishing or holding the bottle upside down needed. Despite being full of glitter the formula was still thin (not in a bad way) and easy to work with. The polish did run down the stem of my brush (and on to my pajama pants..) a bit so I had to watch out for that. Otherwise it was a perfect application. I love Glisten & Glow polishes very much despite only owning a few of them. The brush is pretty skinny and not my fave but it works well with this formula. I did see that they have the wide paddle brushes available on their website to purchase. I did 2 coats plus top coat for these photos.

Heather’s Hues – Sugar Crush

Sugar Crush is described as dark turquoise when cold to a sheer light turquoise when warm with rainbow iridescent flakies. I did 3 coats plus top coat for these photos. I’m pretty sure I could have stopped at 2 coats as there wasn’t much of a color difference between the 2nd and 3rd. The flakies really pop in this base. They’re absolutely stunning! It was a bit cold in my house when I swatched this so I was seeing the cold and transition colors most at first. The next day was warmer so I went outside to show how light this gets when it’s warm. It transitions really easily and despite my nails being so short (for me) I could still see a nice gradient effect throughout the day. For the most part on me the color either sits right in the middle or shows the warm state with my tips being a bit darker. I love Heather’s thermals so much.

Kathleen & Co – Swirly Twirly Taffy

Another new to me brand! This polish was described as light neon turquoise crelly with neon pink hex glitters in various sizes. I loved swatches of this so I knew I had to get it. This is 3 thin coats plus top coat. I found the larger glitters sunk a bit between coats so before the third coat I held the bottle upside down. Super easy to apply and I was sad to take this one off. 1 coat of top coat smoothed out the very minimal amount of texture from the glitter.

What Addiction Polish – Candy Dreams