Polish Pickup March 2021 | Birds and Butterflies

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Hey friends! It is that time once again for Polish Pickup! I have some really fun swatches to share with you all today. The March PPU shop opens this Friday at 11AM Eastern time. As always, I will have links and sale info at the end of this post. Be sure to check out my live swatch video to see how these apply.

In case you are new, Polish Pickup aka PPU is a monthly collaboration of indie polish and other handmade product makers based on a chosen theme. There’s a new theme with new products each month from dozens of makers. Items are available the first Friday – Monday of each month for pre-order. All items are shipped together, for one flat rate price of $3 (U.S. orders). Canadian shipping starts at $6 USD on the main site and international shipping is also available from the sister site.

Live Swatch Video

https://youtu.be/RYwiER_qevE

1422 Designs – A Perilous Journey

Inspiration: The Monarch butterfly
Description: a rusty red jelly with red-orange-yellow shifting shimmer, gold-green-orange-red shifting flakes and gold flakes.
Price: $12.00 for 15ml Cap: 100 bottles

A Perilous Journey had a great jelly formula. The flakies spread out evenly on their own. The shimmer in this is mostly hidden until you add top coat.

I used 3 coats for my photos. I found that the third coat does deepen the color to what you see in the bottle. This polish is pretty much fall in a bottle to me. The flakies don’t dry down textured and nothing in here is too difficult to remove.

1422 Designs
website | instagram | Facebook | Facebook group

All Mixed Up Lacquers – Butterfly of Darkness

Inspiration: the moth Butterly of Darkness
Description: A super shifty soft teal with unicorn pigment going from green to pink in the light and mega bold ucc flakes. 
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: 120

Butterfly of Darkness had a great formula. It was on the thicker side of normal but that might have been due to the fact that I didn’t wait a full 24 hours to allow this to come to room temperature before using it. The shimmer in this is very color shifty. The colors I was seeing in person greenish gold and a pinky peach color. The flakies all spread out nicely, I found myself dabbing them in a few places but I think I was just being really anal to be honest.

This was opaque in 2 coats but I ended up doing a third just to make sure that the clear part of my nail was opaque for the photos. I think natural nails would be good in 2 coats. I didn’t notice a difference in color or shiftyness with that third coat. Nothing in here is difficult to remove or textured.

All Mixed Up Lacquers
5 free, cruelty free
website | instagram |facebook | facebook group

Bee’s Knees Lacquer – A Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw

Inspiration: Songbird from the Bioshock games
Description: a cornflower blue with an orange to gold to green shimmer and holo flakes
Price: $13 for 15ml NO CAP!

A Lion With A Thorn In Its Paw has a great formula, that’s very opaque on the first coat. The shimmer is extremely strong in this one even just on the first coat. It just glides on the nail like butter. At my desk, the colors I was seeing on the nail were a reddish orange, gold and green.

This looked good in 2 coats but I decided to add a 3rd. The 3rd coat deepens the color and makes the shimmer a bit stronger. Not really necessary but worth it. Nothing in here dries textured.

Bees knees lacquer
15ml, vegan, cruelty free & 5 free
website | instagram | facebook | facebook group

Cameo Colours Lacquers – Hummin’ Bee

Inspiration: The Bee Hummingbird
Description: A slightly greyed white crelly with scattered holo sparkle, aqua/indigo shimmer, blue-violet-copper and violet-pink-gold UCC flakes, plus holo micro flakes.
Price: $11.50 for 15ml Cap: 105 bottles (100 US/5 UK)

Hummin’ Bee had a great formula. It was a little sheer on the first coat but built up to full opacity. The base is the lightest shade of grey you can get without being white. I didn’t have any application issues.

I used 3 coats for full opacity. Nothing in here dries textured or is difficult to remove. I really liked this one matte so I took an extra macro!

Cameo Colours Lacquers
5 free, vegan & cruelty free
website | instagram | facebook | facebook group

Color Spectrum Polish – Every Little Thing Is Gon’ be Alright

Inspiration: Bob Marley – Three Little Birds
Description: A sparkling grey holo base with red, yellow, blue holo glitters, blue to red shifting ucc flakies, blue to green shifting ucc flakies and yellow to orange ucc flakies. 
Price: $12 for 13 ml Cap: 100 US / 5 UK

Every Little Thing Is Gon’ be Alright had a great formula. It wasn’t too thick or too thin and I didn’t have any application issues. The holo base is just a touch more grey than silver linear holos typically are. The glitters and flakies make this a fun twist on silver linear holos.

I used 3 coats for my photos. Nothing in here dries textures and removal wasn’t difficult.

Color Spectrum Polish – Nature’s Nectar Lip Balm

Inspiration: Butterflies traveling from flower to flower
Description: A chocolatey brown balm with scents of lavender, vanilla and honeysuckle with a sprinkle of gold shimmer.
Price: $5 Cap: 40

I seriously love this lip balm! The fragrance this month is really pleasant. The fragrances I was picking up most were the honeysuckle with a light floral scent. The gold shimmer is very delicate and while I can see it on my hand when I swatch it there, on the lips I don’t really notice it.

Color Spectrum Polish
7 free, vegan & cruelty free
Website | etsy | instagram | facebook | facebook group

Fancy Gloss – Little Goldfinch

Inspiration: Black & yellow goldfinch
Description: Very dark green/black in some lights (cold) to yellow/greenish in other lights (warm) packed with blue/green/copper/gold flakes. 
Price: $12.50 (15ml) Cap: 520 bottles 

Little Goldfinch had a great formula. It felt slightly on the thicker side of normal but it spread on the nail easy. This is a flakie packed thermal that Fancy Gloss is pretty much known for. The cold state looks like a very dark murky green and in some lighting it looks black. The warm state is a pea soup green color.

The cold state is opaque in 2 coats however the warm state is still slightly sheer. The third coat slightly deepens the color in the warm state and adds just a bit more opacity. I think it would be up to personal preference on if you go in for a third coat. My photos show Little Goldfinch in 3 coats. Nothing in here is textured or difficult to remove.

Fancy Gloss
10 free, vegan & cruelty-free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group

Heather’s Hues – Find Beauty In The Small Things

Inspiration: the black-throated mango hummingbird
Description: A teal green to lemon like thermal is packed with pink to green shimmer, pink-orange-green iridescent flakes, and a touch of holo microflakes and microglitters
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: 

Find Beauty In The Small Things had a great formula. It applies very similar to an creme/crelly polish. The flakies spread out evenly on their own. This was very hard to photograph accurately. I felt like my photos don’t show just how vibrant this is in person. The warm state is pretty much a neon yellow and the cold state manages to be dark but bright at the same time.

I used 3 coats for my photos but this was opaque in both states in 2 coats. Nothing in here dries textured or was difficult to remove.

Heather’s Hues
5 free, vegan & cruelty free
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | FACEBOOK GROUP

KB Shimmer – With The Band

Inspiration: Nicobar pigeon
Description: a deep, navy blue jelly nail polish.  Bold color-shifting flakes mimic the feathers of the Nicobar pigeon, with hues of red, orange, yellow, and green showing as you change your viewing angle.  At certain angles, hints of aqua
Price:  $11 Cap: NONE

With The Band had a great formula. It didn’t feel thick from all of the flakie and this is packed with flakies. The flakies spread out evenly and easily on their own without needing to do anything for full coverage. They are also very color shifty! I was seeing all of the color shifts just sitting at my desk. I used 3 coats for my photos.

This will be a 2-3 coater depending on nail length and personal preference. I found in 2 coats, the base color is nice and you have a ton of flakies. But the third coat deepens the color as well as adds more opacity. You get the nice deep blue you see in the bottle with that third coat.

KB Shimmer – Restoration Drops Polish Thinner

Inspiration: Thick polish
Description: Over time, nail polish can get thick and stringy. This is due to the evaporation of Butyl Acetate and Ethyl Acetate, two of the main ingredients in all nail polishes that help the polish to dry on your nails.
Price: $7 for 4 ounces Cap: NONE

I have been testing out this polish thinner for a few weeks now. I mainly have been using it with my KB Shimmer Clearly On Top quick dry top coat (qdtc). I go through A LOT of top coat and qdtc in particular often needs thinner about halfway through the bottle. I add just a few drops and my top coat is back to being a nice workable consistency. This thinner is compatible with all 5+ free nail polish.

I demoed using this over in the live swatch video. The time stamp for it is 12:12.

Directions: To restore thick polish, use our KBShimmer polish thinner, Restoration Drops.  For slightly thickened polish, start with 2-3 drops, shake, then check the consistency. Repeat until you are happy with the result. For dried out or severely thickened polish, we suggest that you fill the bottle with thinner to the fill line, let it sit overnight, and then shake in the morning.  You may need to use a toothpick or paperclip to stir, allowing the thinner to reach the bottom of the bottle. 

KB Shimmer
5+ free, cruelty free & vegan
website | instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group

Leesha’s Lacquer – Butterfly Dancer

Inspiration: Fancy Shawl Dancers/Alicia’s childhood fancy shawl regalia
Description: A lilac based crelly with purple micro flakies and purple, neon pink, blue, turquoise and black glitters in different shapes and sizes.
Price:  $11 for 15ml Cap: None

Butterfly Dancer had a great formula. It didn’t feel thick at all from all of the glitters. I just love this base color paired with the glitters! I didn’t need to do anything special to get the glitters spread out on the nail. I did hold the bottle upside down between coats for all of my nails except for the middle finger. It doesn’t seem like it makes a difference in glitter pay off.

I used 3 coats for my photos with a coat of glitter eating top coat before my glossy top coat.

Leesha’s Lacquer
5 free, vegan & cruelty free
website | Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Psst.. You can use my code NicoleLovesNails25 on the Leesha’s Lacquer website to save 25%!

Paint It Pretty Polish – Free As A Bird

Inspiration: the violet backed starling
Description: a blue/purple/gold multichrome packed with multichrome flakes is purple, blue and magenta
Price: $12 for 15ml Cap: 140

Free As A Bird Smooth even formula. It didn’t feel thick at all from all of the flakies. This has a very color shifting multichrome flakie base. At my desk I was seeing magnenta, purple, blue a reddish gold, gold and a hint of green at extreme angles. I found that the green was more visible when matte.

This will be a 2-3 coater depending on nail length. I used 3 coats for my photos. Nothing in here is textured and removal will not be difficult but it will be messy if you scrub. If you really liked the topper Topped Off, by this brand, this is like an opaque version to that polish.

Paint It Pretty
5 free, vegan & cruelty free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | facebook group

Twisting Nether Lacquer – Am Berry, Not Bird

Inspiration: The Pink Robin
Description: A gray polish with pink-violet-gold UCC flakies, crystal chameleon flakies and holo sparkle
Price:  $12.50 for 15ml Cap: 150 bottles 

Am Berry, Not Bird had a great formula. It applies similar to a jelly polish so you will want to build it up. I found the flakies spread out really evenly and this is jam packed with them.

Depending on how thick of a coat you do, you might be able to get away with 2 coats. I had some nails that were mostly good in 2 but my live swatch nail needed that third coat. I used 3 coats for my photos. Nothing in here dries textured and no difficulty on removal.

TWISTING NETHER LACQUER
5 free, vegan & CRUELTY free
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK PAGE | FACEBOOK GROUP

Zombie Claw Polish – Swallowtail Butterfly Kisses

Inspiration: Swallowtail Butterfly
Description: A black base with scattered Holo, different sized white glitters and black shards 
Price: $13 for 13ml  Cap: 150 bottle

Swallowtail Butterfly Kisses had a great jelly formula. I didn’t have any application issues. The glitters and shards spread out nicely without needing to do any glitter placement. The black shards are sparse on the nail. They seem to be similar if not the same as the black shards in previous PPU Zombie Claw polishes so they can dry a little textured. There appears to be a subtle shimmer in this that is more visible once you add top coat.

I used 3 coats for my photos plus a coat of a glitter eating top coat before my regular top coat.

Note: The larger circle glitters do seem to sink to the bottom of the bottle a bit so holding this one upside down between coats would be smart if you want a lot of those on the nail. I didn’t do that for my middle nail aka the live swatch nail so you can see the difference between keeping the bottle upside down between coats vs not.

Zombie Claw Polish
10 free, vegan & cruelty free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group

Sale Info

These items will be available on PolishPickup.com starting Friday March 5th at 11AM Eastern time until Monday the 8th at 11:59PM Eastern time. The UK site, PolishPickup.co.uk opens Thursday March 4th at 1600 GMT. Orders to the same name/address on the US site are automatically combined and shipping on multiple orders refunded. As of October 2020, there are upgraded shipping options within the US. Details on shipping charges can be found here. Items purchased during the sale period are a pre-order and generally ship 3-4 weeks after the sale period is over.

POLISH PICKUP
WEBSITE | INTERNATIONAL SITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | FACEBOOK GROUP | CHAT/BST GROUP

Both sites are open now for wishlisting. There are WAY more items available than just what I have shown today. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check out my live swatch video up on my YouTube channel Nicole Loves Nails. It’s a new channel and I’d really appreciate if y’all would watch the videos and subscribe!

Comparisons

https://youtu.be/VfAUO8HKLlU
Nicole Loves Nails

Nicole Loves Nails

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