Today I am (finally…) sharing my favorite polishes from 2021. Trying to decide on what polishes to include was incredibly difficult. I had well over 50 polishes on my list and 10 collections.
For the sake of video editing time (and length..), I widdled down the list to something slightly more manageable. However, I did forget to add a few things. Anyway, here is my list. I’m really sorry so many of the polishes aren’t available anymore. Fingers crossed I like more non-LE polishes in 2022 haha.
Watch The Video
Bee’s Knees Lacquer – A Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw
Original review: Polish Pickup March 2021
Bee’s Knees – Rainbow Girl
Original review: Bee’s Knees Lacquer Fever Series
This polish *potentially* could make a return. Bee’s Knees often brings back polishes from their collections if people request them.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Color Spectrum Polish – Sparx
Original review: Polished Gamers Box Feb 2021
I like to credit this polish as the reason why I realized I really love yellow polishes.
Color Spectrum Polish
13ml, 7 Free, Vegan & Cruelty free
Website | Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
EDK Maholo
I feel like this polish paired with the ring magnet really kicked up my love for magnetic polishes last year. I picked up this polish during the Polish Pickup Rewind in July.
Note: I forgot to add this one to my video but it was on the list!
Fancy Gloss – Sparks
Original review: Neon Sparks collection
Fancy Gloss came out with a range of polishes in their Sparks line that feature holographic bar glitters. I was sooooo freaking obsessed by these polishes last year.
I *think* some of the (non neon) polishes have been restocked on the Fancy Gloss website semi-recently.
Fancy Gloss
15ml, 10 free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Heather’s Hues – Everybody Breaks
Original Review: Hella Handmade Creations | February 2021
This was the first black to red multichrome polish Heather’s Hues released and I was really really excited about how this reminded me of the Fire Nation from Avatar The Last Airbender. I hate the shape of my nails in these photos but I loooove this polish.
Heather’s Hues – Mystery Polish 1120-08
This polish also was featured in my first favorite blog post/video of the year. A similar polish to this would be Northern Lights which was released in the Heather’s Hues July Trio
Heather’s Hues – Lucky Charmed Life
Original review: Heather’s Hues March Duo
I feel like 2021 was quite the year for me as far as nail lengths go. I didn’t realize I went so long!
Heather’s Hues- Spring Tulips
Original review: Heather’s Hues April 2021 Duo
Heather’s Hues
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Jessie Monroe Nail Care – Eat Cake
I originally mentioned this in my Favorite Polishes Of 2021 (So Far) blog post. This one still takes the cake (no pun intended) as a favorite for the year.
Jessie Monroe Nail Care
15ml, 10 Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook
My Indie Polish – All Things Fine
This polish is going to be my absolute favorite polish of the year. The glitter mix is SO unique and I am just obsessed with it. I recently purchased a backup for it because it’s just that cool!
My Indie Polish is closing this year so if there was one polish on this list that I would say go grab, this would be it. It is available on their website.
My Indie Polish – IQ2000
Original review: Polished Gamers Box July 2021
My Indie Polish – Special Blooms
Original Review: Polish Pickup May 2021
Original Review: Project Artistry | Under The Sea Vs Sky High
My Indie Polish
15ml, 7 free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | TikTok
Red Eyed Lacquer – Kaleidoscope
So I actually won this polish in a giveaway from BeginNails. One of the prizes was a custom polish by Red Eyed Lacquer so of course I wanted a rainbow glitter crelly in a white base! This had a great formula and I love it to pieces.
Red Eyed Lacquer
12ml, 5 free & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Sweet & Sour Lacquer – Lost In Five
This was originally released during Polish Pickup April 2021. I loved this polish so much that I actually wore it on both hands AND at the same time. Wearing the same polish for 3 days on my swatch hand is practically unheard of. Both hands matching rarely ever happens.
On my ring finger, I was wearing Heather’s Hues Sunna. I picked that up from a destash a few years ago. It’s a yellow to pink solar polish.
Sweet & Sour Lacquer – Spook Squad
Original review: Polish Pickup September 2021
I loved this polish so much that I actually bought a backup for it. Like the ghosts in here made me sooo happy.
Sweet & Sour Lacquer – Chunky Glitter Toppers
Original reviews: October Duo, July Duo, April Duo & February duo.
All of the monthly duos by Sweet & Sour Lacquer that feature chunky glitters made it onto my favorite list this year. They released sooo many good ones including a bunch I never took photos for but wore on my dominant hand.
I picked up a couple during Halloween with skull glitters which also made me really happy. They have since had 2 more releases with chunky glitters and I am genuinely upset that I have missed out on both of them.
Most of these are still available on their website! If you use my affiliate code SweetNicole10, you can save 10% on your order.
Sweet & Sour Lacquer
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Feel free to use my code ‘SWEETNICOLE10‘ to save 10% on S&S website orders
Swamp Gloss – Whoa
Original review: Polish Pickup April 2021
I remember the day I swatched this polish that I loved it so much that I stopped swatching, painted it onto my dominant hand and then continued swatching. Like I did not want to take it off.
Swamp Gloss – Maxwell
Original review: Swamp Gloss Pedro Pascal collection
Swamp Gloss
15ml, 10 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Twisting Nether Lacquer – Lantern Festival
Original review: Polish Pickup February 2021
I LOVED this polish so much but good lord do I hate my nails in these photos. Back in late January, I tried using stiletto tips for my extensions instead of building on forms and it was a huge failure.
Twisting Nether Lacquer – Starlite
Original review: Polish Pickup June 2021
I was so freaking obsessed with this polish! The rainbow glitters paired with the star shaped glitters just ugh I loved it. Twisting Nether Lacquer will always be a favorite brand for me when it comes to glitter.
Twisting Nether Lacquer
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook Page | Facebook Group
Zombie Claw Polish – 4/3/21
Finally the last (individual polish) is the most special to my heart. This polish is the custom polish that Sabrina from Zombie Claw Polish made for me to wear for my wedding! Wayne and I got married on April 3rd of 2021.
Thank you to Elyse Heise for the amazing photos! If you need a photographer in CT or MN, she’s amazing. Here are her website and Instagram pages.
Zombie Claw Polish
10 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Favorite Collections
Original review: Heather’s Hues 7 Year Anniversary
I always look forward to Heather’s collections. I had such a hard time deciding on which polishes were my favorite from last year but I knew I HAD to include this collection.
All of the polishes are still available on the Heather’s Hues website. Also her 8 year collection will be coming out very soon!
Heather’s Hues
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Geeky Bee’s Nail Colors – Time Of Nine collection
Original review: Time Of Nine Vol 1 & Time Of Nine Volume 2
So technically, this collection was 2 separate releases BUT as a huge fan of the band Slipknot, I couldn’t not include these in my favorites. Plus Geeky Bee’s won best new indie brand for 2021 in the Indie Swatch awards and they totally deserve it. The owner is amazing and the polishes are top notch.
AFAIK, these are all still available on the Geeky Bee’s website.
Geeky Bee’s Nail Colors
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | TikTok
Peep Me Out Collab
Original review: Peeps Collab
I freaking loved this collab so much! This is another one that I HAD to include!
My Indie Polish Fall Trio/Anniversary release
Original review: My Indie Polish Fall Trio
The crellies in this release were all so unique to my collection. I loved all of the polishes but the crellies in particular especially were note worthy.
These are all still available on the My Indie Polish website. MIP is closing soon so they are actually doing a 30% off sale on their website right now!
My Indie Polish
15ml, 7 free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | TikTok
Glam Polish – Charmed Collection
Original review: Glam Polish Charmed
As a HUGE fan of Charmed, this collection made me really really happy.
This collection is LE but I believe some if not all of the polishes are currently available still.
Glam Polish
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | Twitter
Geekish Glitter Lacquer – Into Every Generation
Original review: Into Every Generation
How the heck I forgot to include this collection, that’s based off of my favorite tv show in the whole world, in the video is completely beyond my understanding.
If ever there was a collection for me to geek out over, it was this one. The polishes were all great and I had SO MUCH FUN editing the video.
Geekish Glitter Lacquer
16ml, 5 free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Final Thoughts!
This list is by no means a complete list of my favorite polishes for 2021. The actual list was around 50 polishes long, and that is with completely forgetting to include several polishes (I realized while editing I forgot to include a ton of KBShimmer polishes).
I have a very strong feeling my favorite list for 2022 will include a million reflective polishes because that’s what I am kinda obsessed with at the moment.
Anyway, 2021 was an amazingly crazy year for me. Thank YOU reader for hanging out with me. I can’t wait to share what’s in store for 2022!