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Happy Friday! It is that time again for Polish Pickup and this month’s post is huuuuge. I have quite a few new to the blog brands and I am super excited to share these with you all! I have a total of 36 products this month. I have quite a few new-to-the-blog brands and I’m extra excited because a few of the new brands are personal favorites of mine so that’s pretty dang exciting if you ask me.
The theme for August is the 4 Elements. The August PPU shop opens on August 6th on the Polish Pickup website. As always, sale details and comparisons will be at the end of the post. I will have my live swatch video up this weekend.
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.
Live Swatch Video
Alter Ego – Serpentine
Inspiration: The song Serpentine Fire by Earth Wind & Fire
Description: a yellow solar polish that changes to a red/orange
Price: $10 for 17ml Cap: 50
Serpentine had a good formula. It was slightly on the thinner side so keep an eye on the stem of the brush from it dripping. It was also a little patchy. This wasn’t a finicky polish to apply but I did notice that if you apply it carefully by floating the brush, it does apply a lot less patchy.
The solar color for this will range from a deep red to an orangey shade depending on how strong of a UV source you have. Unfortunately, the flashlight I use for indoor solar shots broke so I wasn’t able to showcase this that way.
This is a more sheer polish so even in 3 coats you will have some VNL. This can be worn over a VNL blurring base to hid your nail line. Was
Alter Ego Body Care Products
17ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
A Bead Apart Jewelry – Maiden Voyage
Inspiration: Water
Description: Adjustable sterling silver ring (size starts at 6); can also be worn as a midi ring. Bezel is 3mm – filled with Kathleen & Co polish (“Rock You Like A Hurricane”) and topped with resin.
Price: $15 Cap: 85
This was my first time trying an adjustable ring out in a very long time. I wear a size 6 on my ring finger and this fits perfectly. Since I do usually wear my wedding ring on that finger, I actually prefer wearing this on my thumb on my right hand. I have pretty skinny fingers so I wasn’t able to wear this as a midi ring but I did like it a lot as a thumb ring.
I wore this all day for about a week to see if I had any issues with the metal or if my finger was stained. I didn’t have any problems with this. The metal adjusts easily and even after having it on my thumb, it went back to the size 6 easily. The bezel is a beautiful turquoise shade.
From the maker
I am a nature girl, and am SO excited about August’s theme of Earth, Air, Fire and Water – it has endless possibilities! It was difficult to choose which of the elements fit me better. Growing up I used to relish being out in the sun, hanging on the beach, so fire would work for me. I’m drawn to leaves (especially in the Fall) and growing things in general, so earth could fit. I love cool crisp morning breezes blowing through my hair so air could easily be the one. But I went with water because throughout my life I seem to be drawn to it.
I am a nature girl, and am SO excited about August’s theme of Earth, Air, Fire and Water – it has endless possibilities! It was difficult to choose which of the elements fit me better. Growing up I used to relish being out in the sun, hanging on the beach, so fire would work for me. I’m drawn to leaves (especially in the Fall) and growing things in general, so earth could fit. I love cool crisp morning breezes blowing through my hair so air could easily be the one. But I went with water because throughout my life I seem to be drawn to it.
Sooo, I stepped out of my comfort zone for this month’s contribution and did something new (not unlike those first solo swims of mine all those years ago). May I present to you my “Maiden Voyage” sterling silver bezel ring! Not just any ring, this baby is ADJUSTABLE starting at size 6. It’s got a sweet little bezel on it that I filled with sparkly turquoise pool-water blue polish from Kathleen & Co Polish. It’s topped with rock-hard domed resin. I am so in love with this ring! That blue shimmers and sparkles its you-know-what off in the sun.
A Bead Apart Jewelry
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Babygirl Lacquer – Water On Mars 2.0
Inspiration:
Description: A beautiful teal green/blue polish with a huge flakies assortment, as well as a touch of holo and iridescent blue/purple/violet shimmer.
Price: Cap:
Water On Mars 2.0 had a great formula. It started out pretty sheer but builds up well. The flakies all spread out evenly and easily. In person this polish really falls between a teal/green/blue, depending on lighting it will lean in any of those directions.
As I mentioned, it starts out sheer but if you build it up in 3 coats you get full opacity. I did have some hints of VNL but I don’t think natural nails will have that problem. Nothing in here dried textured or will be overly difficult to remove. I didn’t have any problems with staining.
Babygirl Lacquer – Glitter Be Gone
Description: a water-based, peel-off base coat that makes glitter removal super easy!
Directions: apply 2 coats, let dry to a matte finish and apply nail polish as usual! Gently peel the fully-dried polish off of your nails and proceed!
Ingredients: A proprietary, latex-free mixture of purified water, polyvinyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol & polyvinyl alcohol.
Price: Cap:
Glitter Be Gone went in like a normal base coat but dries matte. It’s pretty thin but pretty much what I expect from a base coat.
I used this base coat when I was wearing one of my new favorite crellies, All Things Fine by My Indie Polish. I applied 2 coats of Glitter Be Gone, 3 coats of polish plus 2 coats of top coat. I washed my hands several times while I was cooking, cleaned litter boxes, took a hot shower and I didn’t have any chipping or lose a peelie.
Dry time seems pretty good. Due to the length of my nails, dry time is going to be longer than shorter nails. I found to get this to dry quickly you want to go in for *thin* coats. A thick coat will take FOREVER (ok really like 10 minutes) to dry. A thin coat took about 3-4 minutes to dry on me. Because I was curious, on my shorter thumbnail, it dried in about 2 minutes.
So BGL recommends using 2 coats for best results. I had great results doing 2 coats. In 1 coat it was a bit harder to peel off in 1 piece. Personally, I don’t really love this base for quick swatching. By quick I mean wearing the polish for less than an hour. It was difficult to peel when I tried using it for quick swatching and honestly, I very often don’t wear any base coat when I swatch. However, I do really like it for when I’m actually wearing a polish for at least a few hours to a couple of days.
Babygirl Lacquer
5 Free & Cruelty Free
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BCB Lacquers – Petal Dance
Inspiration: Representing earth and inspired by the Bulbasaur from Pokemon.
Description: a light pink polish with a strong green shifting shimmer. You will pick up hints of blue and gold as well at certain angles.
Price: $13.00 for 16.5ml Cap: 150
Petal Dance had a great formula. It didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. This has a slight metallic look to it in person. For the shimmer, I was mainly seeing a greenish gold color with a hint of blue at extreme angles.
This polish is very opaque. Not quite a 1 coater but I think most people will be good in 2 coats. I did use 3 coats for my photos as I had *tiny* bit of transparency on my tips. Nothing in here dried textured or will be difficult to remove. I also didn’t experience any staining.
BCB Lacquers
16.5ml, 5 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Bee’s Knees Lacquer – Fine, Make Me Your Villain
Inspiration: General Kirigan (aka the Darkling) from Shadow and Bone
Description: a blackened indigo with glowy orange to green shimmer
Price: $13 for 15ml Cap: None
Fine, Make Me Your Villain had a great jelly-like formula. It starts off sheer but builds up very quickly. The shimmer in this is very strong and glowy. In person I was seeing a red to orange to green color shift.
This will be opaque in 2-3 coats depending on preference. To get the color in the bottle, you will want to go in for that third coat. My photos show it in 3 coats. I didn’t have any VNL and no problems with staining.
Bee’s Knees Lacquer
15ml, 5+ Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Cameo Colours Lacquers – Mystic Waters
Inspiration: Bioluminescence in bodies of water.
Description: A soothing, dusty mauve, full of scattered holo sparkle, with teal-navy-violet UCC flakes, blue metallic micro flakes, and silver holo micro flakes.
Price: $11.50 for 15ml Cap: 105
Mystic Waters had a fantastic formula. The flakies spread out evenly and easily on their own without needing to do anything special. I got out quite a few larger UCC flakies which is always awesome.
The dusty mauve base leans more lavender in my opinion. This is very holographic! I used 3 coats for my photos. I think this could potentially be a 2 coater with thicker coats.
Nothing in here dried textured and removal shouldn’t be overly difficult.
Cameo Colours Lacquers
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook group
Chirality Polish – Ice Ice Cave-y
Inspiration: Ice caves
Description: Sparkling denim blue polish with intense cobalt blue/electric indigo/violet/green/gold shift.
Price: $12 for 15ml Cap: None
Ice Ice Cave-y had a good formula. It was on the thicker side of normal but I didn’t have any application issues. I note that this one doesn’t like being overworked so be mindful on the number of times you go over the same area. This polish has a very icey metallic look to it. The shimmer is color shifty but I was only seeing the shifts in shades of blue and purple. There was a hint of green at extreme angles.
On top of the shimmer, there also seems to be a blue fleck or flakie. This had pretty good coverage on 2 coats. Shorter nails might be good in 2. I used 3 coats for my photos. I didn’t have any problems with staining.
Chirality Polish
15ml, 5 Free, Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group | Twitter
Color Spectrum Polish – Planeteers Power Rings
Inspiration: Captain Planet Power Rings
Description: A gold shimmer with silver linear holo along with green holo squares, red holo hearts and blue holo stars.
Price: $11.00 for 13ml Cap: 115
Planeteers Power Rings had a great formula. It didn’t feel overly thick or thin. The larger glitters do seem to sink in the bottle a bit so holding this upsidedown between coats will get you the most glitter payoff. To apply this polish, I found the best way to get a good glitter payoff was to swish the brush around a bit to ensure the glitters were on the brush.
Obviously, this is a sheer polish so it could definitely be used as a topper. I (like always it seems) couldn’t decide what I wanted to pair this with, so I went with my go-to black creme (Heather’s Hues Shadow). I think this would look great over lighter colors as well.
This will be a 2-3 coater depending on how thick of a coat you end up doing. On all of my nails except for the middle nail, I used 3 coats with some glitter placement. On my middle nail (aka the live swatch nail), I used 2 thicker coats. This will dry textured due to the larger glitters. I would recommend 2 coats of top coat for a perfectly smooth finish.
Color Spectrum Polish – Gimmie S’more Please Lip Balm
Inspiration: S’mores by the campfire
Description: a vegan lip balm tinted light brown with flavors of creamy chocolate fluffy marshmallows and crunchy graham crackers along with flecks of copper glitter
Ingredients: sunflower wax, castor oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, vitamin E, and flavoring
Price: $5 Cap: 40
I have raved about this lip balm countless times since I first tried it last year. It doesn’t feel heavy on the lips at all and it is fantastic to use all year round. It also doesn’t feel hard to apply like some beeswax lip balms. If your lips are super chapped, this won’t hurt to apply.
This month’s fragrance is very much a creamy chocolate scent. I wasn’t picking up the other fragrances. I will note, this brand’s lip balms usually have a glittery look to them in the tube but I don’t ever see them on my lips.
Color Spectrum Polish
13ml, 7 Free, Vegan & Cruelty free
Website | Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Crystal Knockout – Offerings of Earth
Inspiration: Agriculture
Description: A light mint green crelly with copper shimmer, matte micro glitters in green and pink, blue-gold micro flakies, and metallic chameleon flakes in green, copper, gold, and fuchsia
Price: $11 for 15ml Cap: None
Offerings of Earth had a great formula. It didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. All of the components spread out evenly and easily. I really love how they look paired with this base! None of them give off texture.
In person, this is very much a pale mint shade. I noticed in natural lighting, it leaned very blue toned. So lighting will play a big part in what color you see with this polish.
I think this will be a solid 3 coater. It seemed to dry a little bit sheerer than it applied. I used 3 coats for my photos.
Crystal Knockout
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty Free
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Cupcake Polish – Hydro-Pump
Inspiration: The Pokemon Squirtle
Description: a medium teal leaning blue polish packed with blue/green iridescent flakes and a matching blue/green/gold iridescent shimmer
Price: $13 for 15ml Cap: None
Hydro-Pump had a great jelly formula. The flakies give this an almost metallic look on the nail. The shimmer is more subtle in this so the flakies are the star of the show. The base is almost aqua in color. Like the previous polish, lighting is going to play a big part in what color you see.
This had pretty good coverage in 2 coats. If you don’t have much of a free edge to speak of, you might be able to get away with 2 thick coats. I used 3 coats for my photos. Nothing in here dried textured or will be difficult to remove.
Cupcake Polish
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty Free
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Fancy Gloss – Don’t Play With Fire
Inspiration:
Description: A thermal that is red (cold) to whitish (warm) with lots of small red metallic flakes
Price: $12 for 15ml Cap: 350
Don’t Play With Fire had a great formula. I didn’t have any formula or application issues. The thermal aspect started changing right away. In the cold state, the red is on the warmer toned side but without looking orange. In the warm state, it is a very pale white that is almost clear. You will have very obvious VNL in the warm state.
The metallic flakes do not dry textured and won’t be overly difficult to remove. I used 3 coats for my photos. The third coat slightly deepened the cold state color.
This polish will make for a really cool topper. If you do red stamping over it, this will make for a neat disappearing nail art look.
Fancy Gloss
15ml, 10 free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Glisten & Glow – Night At Red Rocks
Inspiration: one of the most beautiful concert venues in the US; Red Rocks Amphitheater located in Morrison, Colorado
Description: a rich burgundy jelly polish loaded with red, orange, pink, gold, green iridescent flakes with holo micro flakes and a touch of holo magic
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: None
Night At Red Rocks had a great formula. It felt slightly on the thinner side but not at all watery or difficult to work with. The flakies spread out evenly and easily on their own.
The burgundy base is a little sheer so you will want to build it up for full opacity. Due to the thinness of the base, I wouldn’t recommend applying this in overly thick coats. This builds up to full opacity in 3 coats.
For this swatch, I used the Glisten & Glow quick dry top coat. Nothing in here dried textured or will be overly difficult to remove.
Glisten & Glow Top Coat
Description: a fast dry glossy top coat
Ingredients: Butyl Acetate, toluene, ethyl acetate, alcohol, acrylate co polymer, butyl bezyl, phthalate, nitrocellulose, and benzophenone
Price: $7.50 for 15ml Cap: None
This top coat is really amazing! I have purchased it in the past and always was impressed by how quickly it dries. This is super glossy. I haven’t had any problems with it shrinking.
About halfway through the bottle, I will usually need to add a few drops of thinner (I like the ones by Leesha’s Lacquer and KBShimmer) but Glisten & Glow does sell their own brand of thinner.
I am very picky about which top coats I use. I have no patience for top coats that don’t dry super quickly. This top coat dries fast enough that I can apply it and within 5 minutes I can go about doing things with my hands. Within 15-20 minutes I can even put on gloves and do dishes without having any dents.
It’s great for swatching as well as normal wear time.
Note: this top coat is listed as 2 Free as it contains toluene.
Glisten & Glow
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Heather’s Hues – My Yellow Flame, She Dances
Inspiration: inspired by the fire dancer logo of Dave Matthews Band
Description: an orange jelly packed with red-orange-pink-gold shimmer, pink-red-orange iridescent flakes, red-copper-gold metallic flakes, and fire red holo microshreds
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: None
My Yellow Flame, She Dances had a really great formula. The base is a medium orange that screams fall and looks very firey in person. The flakies all spread out evenly and easily.
So when I was swatching this, something told me to swatch it over black. Over black this is literally a Halloween polish! Since this is a jelly, you will want to build it up for opacity. Shorter nails might be good in 2 but I used 3 coats for my photos.
Heather showed me her prototypes of this polish when trying to decide on which to release and I am SO happy she went with this version! It’s so beautiful and I don’t think my photos really captured just how cool this polish is. I *highly* recommend watching my live swatch video for this polish and seeing how it looks moving around.
Heather’s Hues
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
KBShimmer – Lust At Sea
Inspiration: The sea
Description: A deep, purple-leaning indigo base glistens with an ultra-shifty shimmer that creates a nearly full spectrum of color. In bright light, golden tones give way to glimmering green and sparkling peach. In lower lighting, the magic of this lacquer truly shines, with pink hues flowing into copper and yellow. Green, aqua, and blue tones appear at some angles, while hints of purple dance at the edge of the nail.
Price: $11 for 15ml Cap: None
Lust At Sea had a great formula. This is very color shifty. In person, I mainly saw pink, gold, green/teal, and blue. The shimmer doesn’t show brush strokes at all and looks amazing in the base!
KBShimmer describes this as being a sister polish to Hidden Potential (reviewed here). As I was swatching this I kept getting thinking that I had swatched something *very* similar to it. Side by side they are very similar but the base and the shimmer effects are different. I’ll have a comparison at the end of this post.
It had pretty good opacity so I see this being a 2-3 coater. I will note that a third coat does deepen the color to what I was seeing in the bottle.
KBShimmer – Farmer’s Market Sugar Scrub
Inspiration: earth’s bounty found at local markets
Description: fresh summer scent starts with a melody of fragrant clementine, ripe apple, and sweet melon. A bouquet of blooming lily, delightful freesia, and soft violet adds fresh floral notes, while a base of musk, amber, and rich vanilla adds a lasting depth pleasing to the senses.
Price: $10 for 9.5 ounces Cap: None
It’s no secret that I love the KBShimmer sugar scrub. Before I started swatching for this brand, I was buying this pretty much every month from PPU. I like to use it for pedicures, manicures, and my body.
This month’s fragrance is very fruity with some floral notes but it doesn’t smell overly sweet/sugary.
KB Shimmer
15ml, 5+ free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
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Leesha’s Lacquer – Four Directions
Inspiration: the Medicine Wheel and the four directions. Each color, yellow, red, black, and white are the four directions. Each represent many life things, including the 4 elements, the 4 stages of life, the 4 seasons and so on. It is a very important culturally significant symbol to my peoples, the Ojibwe and is also used in other native nations.
Description: a white based crelly with red, black and yellow glitters
Price: $11 Cap: 200
Four Directions had a great crelly formula. The glitters spread out evenly and easily on their own. I didn’t need to hold the bottle upside down or do anything special for good coverage. I really like the glitter colors for this polish.
This was a little patchy in 2 coats so I went in for a third. This dries down fairly smooth so I only needed 1 coat of top coat. Removal will be a little difficult due to the glitters, I soaked this off with no problems.
Leesha’s Lacquer – Scented Top Coat
Description: musk and soft floral top notes boosted by citrus middle notes with sensual woody amber bottom notes.
Price: $6 for 15ml Cap:100
This was my first time trying out the Leesha’s Lacquer top coat. I don’t usually love scented top coats but I wanted to give this one a fair shot. It dries pretty quickly and the fragrance is actually really pleasant. Based on the name, I was expected it to smell like seasoning but it has a nice earthy fragrance. The longest I tested this out for was 24 hours. After 24 hours, the fragrance was still noticeable but it didn’t seem as strong as it was the day before.
So I used this top coat with a couple of polishes with no issues. I didn’t love it for quick swatching (I need something that dries *fast* so that my nails don’t dent when they bump each other when I’m posing) but when I’m not swatching and can wait 15ish minutes before using my hands, I do like it for that.
Unfortunately, I had some issues using this with the polish I wanted to showcase it with. For some reason, it was picking up the base (Superchic Lacquer’s REM) and causing some streaks. And then on top of that, it dulled out the holographic. I didn’t notice this happening with the other polishes I tried it with, but this was the only linear holographic polish I have tried with this top coat.
Leesha’s Lacquer
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Psst.. You can use my code NicoleLovesNails25 on the Leesha’s Lacquer site to save 25%!
Lucky 13 Lacquer – Mooltipass
Inspiration: The movie The Fifth Element
Description: A bright orange with lots of red/orange/tangerine/gold shifting shimmer. This polish glows in the dark.
Price: $11 Cap: 150 to 170
Mooltipass had a good formula. It felt pretty thick but I think that was due to the heat and humidity the day I was swatching it. Despite feeling thick, I didn’t need to add thinner to apply it. The orange base is very Halloween-y!
The shimmer in this is pretty color shifty. In person, I was seeing a red to orange to a gold shift. The shimmer doesn’t show brush strokes. The flashlight I use to charge GITD polishes was dying so I had a hard time getting this to charge. Between standing outside and holding the flashlight over my nails, I was able to get it glow. The glow didn’t seem to last very long though.
Nothing in here dried textured or will be difficult to remove. I didn’t experience any staining.
Lucky 13 Lacquer
10 Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
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LynB Designs – Full Of Hot Air
Inspiration: Air
Description: an indigo based magnetic polish with green to blue to purple shifting magnetic pull, holo micro shimmer, and green to yellow to orange crystal flakies
Price: $13 Cap: None
Full Of Hot Air had a great formula. It felt slightly on the thicker side but I didn’t have any application issues. It was surprisingly opaque for a magnetic polish. I really liked how this polish looked magnetized but it was also pretty without that effect.
I was seeing all of the described colors in person. Nothing in here dried textured or will be overly difficult to remove. My photos show this in 3 coats both magnetized and unmagnetized. I magnetized my pointer and ring fingers.
LynB Designs
15ml, 5 free, Vegan
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Moonflower Polish – Flamboyán
Inspiration: Flamboyán or Royal Poinciana tree’s flower.
Description: Intense red base with shimmer that shifts pink-gold.
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: 100
Flamboyán had a wonderful formula. It was slightly on the thicker side but I didn’t have any application problems. The red base is didn’t come across as a seasonal red. The shimmer is a tiny bit brush strokey but for the most part, you need to look for them to see them. In person, I was seeing a red to gold to green shift.
I think this will be a 2 coater on most people. I had a bit of transparency on my tips so I used 3 coats for my photos.
This polish is very pigmented so I highly recommend wearing a base coat with it. I didn’t experience any staining.
Moonflower Polish
15ml, 5 Free, Cruelty Free
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My Indie Polish – Here Comes The Sun
Inspiration: Based on the famous Beatles song
Description: Yellow with hot pink micro flakes and glitter
Price: $13 for 15ml Cap:
Here Comes The Sun had a great formula. It applied really smoothly and streak free which was actually amazing especially for a yellow base. The micro flakies and glitters spread evenly and do not dry textured at all.
This will be a 2-3 coater depending on preference. The third coat does seem to deepen the color just a tad. I used 3 coats for my photos.
My Indie Polish
15ml, 7 free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Music City Beauty – Gaia
Inspiration: Gaia
Description: a green jelly scattered holographic with gold to green color shifting shimmer and blue to pink Aurora pigment
Price: $12.50 Cap: 100
Gaia had a really great formula. The green base is really gorgeous! The shimmer effect gives this a metallic look on the nail. There are some very slight brush strokes that almost all disappear as this dries.
This polish has the potential to be a 1 coater on shorter nails. I think long natural nails will want to go in for 2 coats. I used 3 coats but only because part of my nail is clear. For normal wear, I would wear this in 2 coats.
Music City Beauty
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan and Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
NeVerMind Apothecary – I Invoke Thee
Inspiration: The Craft
Description: A deep purple jelly with violet shimmer and a rainbow of color shifting crystal flakes
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: 200
I Invoke Thee had a great jelly formula. It applied very smoothly and evenly. The flakies spread out easily on their own and lay flat.
This builds up nicely in 3 coats. It’s like 90% opaque in 3, I had a tiny bit of VNL. Nothing in here dried textured or will be overly difficult to remove.
Note: this has a skunky odor from (I assume) the flakies. The scent does dissipate as the polish dries but it is something to note.
NeVerMind Apothecary
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Night Owl Lacquer – Magic Itself
Inspiration: by the fire element because my husband and I are a Leo and Sagittarius.
Description: a blackened purple/burgundy/red/copper multichrome
Price: $13 for 15ml Cap: None
Magic Itself had a great formula. It felt a bit on the thicker side but it applied very easily. I did notice that it doesn’t like being overworked but the brush makes applying this in a few strokes very easy. In person, I was seeing all of the described colors.
The multichrome pigment in this doesn’t show brush strokes. This will be a 2-3 coater depending on nail length and potentially application. I used 3 coats for my photos.
Night Owl Lacquer
15ml, 5 Free & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Paint It Pretty Polish – What’s Your Element?
Inspiration:
Description: a light purple base and is packed with shifting shimmers in gold, green and blue
Price: $12 for 15ml Cap: 150
What’s Your Element? had a great formula. It didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues. The shimmer doesn’t show brush strokes. I was seeing all of the described colors in person.
This will be a 2-3, coater depending on preference and application. 2 thicker coats will give you the same amount of coverage as 3 thin. I tied have some VNL at some angles.
This polish was reminding me a lot of Doomicorn by Bee’s Knees Lacquer from June’s PPU (reviewed here). This is more opaque, the base colors and shimmer also seem different. I’ll have a side by side comparison at the end of this post.
Paint It Pretty Polish – Breath Of Fresh Air
Inspiration:
Description: full of shifting shimmer and flakes. Over a black base you will see shifts of teal to blue to purple and flakes in pink, orange, yellow and green.
Price: $12 for 15ml Cap: 100
Breath Of Fresh Air had a great formula. It didn’t feel thick at despite having so many flakies. It’s very color shifty and the flakies do not dry with texture.
I swatched this in 1 coat over black (Heather’s Hues Shadow) and also in 1 coat over Paint It Pretty Polish’s What’s Your Element.
Paint It Pretty Polish
15ml, 5 free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Facebook Group
Poetry Cowgirl – Heatwave
Inspiration: Weather Maps
Description: A mango yellow/orange crelly packed with red-orange-gold shifting shimmer and green-blue-purple iridescent flakies.
Price: $13.50 Cap: None
Heatwave had a great formula. The base is somewhere between an orange and a yellow. This applies very nicely and I didn’t have any application issues. There was a tiny bit of unevenness so I had a couple of light spots.
The shimmer is on the more subtle side in normal room lighting and comes alive under direct lighting.
I think this will be a solid 3 coater. I did have some VNL. Removal shouldn’t be too difficult and nothing in here dried textured.
Poetry Cowgirl
15ml, 5+ free, Cruelty-Free
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Polish Pickup Ring Magnet
On behalf of Polish Pickup, Lisa from Cosmetic Sanctuary sent me this really cool ring shaped magnet to try out. Magnetic polishes are honestly one of the biggest pains in the butt for me to work with as my attention span is short and I often forget to magnetize things. This magnet is a real game changer for me. I love the effect it gives polishes and it’s really easy too!
To showcase this, I used a PPU polish that I purchased from EDK called Mahola!. I have a full review of this magnet up on my YouTube channel, and there’s a short version up on my Instagram Reels.
Pretty Beautiful Unlimited – Lighter Than Air
Inspiration: Elemental Air Dragon
Description: a pale grayed down lavender crelly base with blue to purple to pink shifting shimmer, miro holographic flakies, purple and sapphire micro glitters and a mix of 5 crystal chameleon flakies.
Price: $12 for 15ml Cap: 190 US / 10 UK
Lighter Than Air had a great formula. It felt slightly on the thicker side but I didn’t have any application issues. The base paired with the flakies looks really amazing in person. I was seeing all of the described colors in person. This is a very color shifty polish!
This one was a little on the sheer side so you will want to build it up in 3 coats for full opacity. The components in this dry down fairly smooth but you will want top coat for a glossy finish.
I had very minimal VNL with this polish on some angles.
Note: the square shaped glitters do seem to sink slightly so be sure to give this a good shake before using or hold the bottle upside down between coats.
Pretty Beautiful Unlimited – Storm Watch Wax Melt
Description: A cleansing ocean air before the storm with hints of mandarin, tangerine, ruby red grapefruit, lemon rinds and fresh sage leaves.
Ingredients: Para-Soy Wax, fragrance oil, glitter and/or mica.
Price: $5.00Size – 2.5 oz Cap: 45 US / 5 UK
This wax melts smells SO good! As someone who usually favors bakery scents and sweet scents, this was a nice change from what I usually melt. The scents I was getting were that ocean scent and something floral. This didn’t really smell fruity to me but it’s a nice fresh scent.
The throw was great. Despite having the AC going, I was still getting a great fragrance in the room. The one cube that I used for my photos, is going on 1 week of usage.
Pretty Beautiful Unlimited
15ml, 5 Free, Cruelty Free
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Red Eyed Lacquer – Full Of Crababilities
Inspiration: Cancer zodiac sign
Description: An indigo base packed with strong teal/purple shifting shimmer and holo micro flakies
Price: $12.50 Cap: 200
Full Of Crababilities had a great formula. It starts off pretty sheer so you will want to build this up for full opacity. This is extremely color shifty! In person, I was seeing a teal to blue to purple color shift. The holo flakies give this a nice sparkle.
This will need 3 coats for full opacity. It can also be used as a topper. Nothing in here dried textured or will be difficult to remove.
Red Eyed Lacquer – Tamesies
Inspiration: Ocean
Description: a custom blend of sea salt and coconut
Price $12 Cap: 75
Tamesies has become a staple in my hair care routine since getting my first bottle back in May. I like to apply this to both my locs as well as my scalp. After washing my hair, I like to apply it to my still wet locs. In between washes when my scalp is feeling dry, I apply a half a pump to my hands and rub into my scalp. Any excess I just rub into my hands and arms.
This comes with a pump to make applying it easier (click here to see a photo with the pump). I did need to trim the stem a little bit to get it fit. This month’s scent is very coconuty and beachy. It’s not my favorite fragrance but the scent in this product don’t linger too long so I still plan on using it once my other bottle finishes.
Red Eyed Lacquer
12ml, 5 free & Cruelty-Free
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Sassy Sauce – Whole Lava Love
Inspiration: A photo of lava pouring down a beautiful sunset in the background
Description: a blue tinted jelly base with a strong glowing red/gold shift, red micro glitter, ghost flakies and a holo flame
Price: $12.50 for 15ml Cap: 400
Whole Lava Love had a great jelly formula. It went on very smoothly. Starts off pretty sheer but it builds up very nicely. I think this could also be used as a topper potentially. The shimmer is VERY strong and really glows and the holographic is just as strong. The glitters do not dry textured at all.
This will be a 2-3 coater depending on nail length. I used 3 coats for my photos.
Sassy Sauce Polish
5 Free & Cruelty-Free
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Twisting Nether Lacquer – Rain
Inspiration: Snapple Elements
Description: holographic base with different shades of blue glitters in matte, holo and metallic finishes.
Price: $13 for 15ml Cap: 200 bottles
Rain had a great formula. It didn’t feel thick at all despite having so much glitter in it. Everything spread out evenly and easily on their own. I didn’t need to do anything special for coverage. This polish is very holographic!
This polish is on the more sheer side so you will want to build it up for opacity. In 3 coats you will have some VNL. This polish can be used as a topper.
The glitters dry down surprisingly smooth so I only needed 1 coat of top coat. Removal will be on the tricky side due to the amount of glitter. I soaked this off with no issues. This polish reminds me of the TWL polish from May’s PPU, I Apologize For Nothing (reviewed here). This is like a blue version of that.
Twisting Nether Lacquer
15ml, 5 Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
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Comparisons
PPP What’s Your Element vs BKL Doomicorn
Doomicorn was released during the June PPU (Reviewed here)
Moonflower Polish vs Red My Mind
I thought it would handy to compared this month’s Moonflower Polish to Red My Mind that was released recently (reviewed here)
Poetry Cowgirl Vs Pepper Pot Polish Mack N Cheese
While these two aren’t dupes, I thought the colors were similar enough to compare. The Pepper Pot Polish’s color was released in May’s PPU (reviewed here)
KBShimmer
Hidden Potential was released earlier this year (reviewed here)
Sale Information
These items will be available on PolishPickup.com starting Friday, August 6th at 11AM Eastern time until Monday the 9th at 11:59PM Eastern time. The UK site, PolishPickup.co.uk opens Thursday, August 5th at 1600 GMT. Orders to the same name/address on the US site are automatically combined and shipping on multiple orders refunded. 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
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Other Products Used
- Top coats: KBShimmer Clearly on Top & Glisten & Glow Top Coat (PR) & Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber
- Matte Top Coat: Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat & My Indie Polish My Perfect Matte Top Coat (gifted)
- Base coat: Heather’s Hues – 1st Base
- Black Creme Heather’s Hues – Shadow
- Black Holo: Superchic Lacquer – REM
- Blacklight Flash Light (for charging glow in the dark polishes)
*Everything in the above list was purchased by me unless otherwise stated
A note on thermal/solar polishes…
I want to note that thermal and solar polishes do have a shelf life on how long they will change colors. Generally, they are guaranteed to change colors for 6-12 months. Be sure when shipping thermals during summer months to not let them sit for an extended time in your mailbox as the heat will kill them. More information on
My oldest thermal that still transitions is from 2018. My oldest solar is from 2019 and also still transitions. To get the most out of a thermals/solars (all nail polish really) you’ll want to store them in a cool, dark place. I store my thermals with my other nail polish in the Ikea helmers. Once a thermal no longer changes color (aka dies), you can still wear them! The thermals that I own that have died, all stayed in the warm state but it’s not guaranteed to stay in the warm.