Guest Post: Polish Buy-Ban Aftermath.....Part One! by Cottontips NZ

Hey lovelies,

Omg! It's moving day! I hope like heck we've got everything organised. At least I know I have one thing sorted - this guest post from Samantha at Cottontips NZ! Sam has some really cool Pretty & Polished shades to show you today, so get comfy and prepare for some lovely lacquer.

X
Lani

At this point, I don't even know why I even banned myself for a month. My haul in just a couple of weeks was FAR more than I might acquire in a regular "go buy polish gurrrrrl!" month. I partly blame this on some amazing Indie companies I discovered and partly on Doctor Lacquer's release of the Kaleidoscope World Collection of some fit-inducing neon holographic jelly polishes - I BOUGHT THEM ALLLLL!!

But today, I have the Mystery Bag from Pretty & Polished to share! I am sharing them first mostly because they are for-real amazing, but actually really mostly because the Doctor Lacquer hasn't arrived yet and I am sorry but Neon Holographics > EVERY POLISH EVER.

Indoors in Natural Light

Bad Little Boy was the first polish I opened up and I will be honest...I was a bit disappointed-at-first-sight. The bottle appears as if there is a rusty, brown, 'dried blood' sort of jelly with a smattering of matte black glitters and some satin blue glitters. I was just not taken with this one when I first saw it....and then I swatched it.....and then I changed my mind!

Indoors in Natural Light

This polish looks SO different on the nails and I really am happy I received it! It is a really rich, deep, vibrant, "I just killed a man!" red jelly polish with a healthy dose of the glitters. I get the feeling it will be an amazing Halloween polish for some reason!

Indoors in Natural Light

Formula was fantastic and went on like butter - only two coats needed for full opacity. Dry time was excellent and a good healthy coat of Jordana Quick Shine smoothed out the glitter. I did find during application that while the glitter didn't 'drag', it was quite dense and I needed to push it around on the nail or remove some with the brush so I didn't have big clumps of black on my nails.

Indoors in natural light

Indoors in natural light

You can see that those tiny teal glitters are nearly non-existent until they catch the right light - pretty cool because they appear black on the nail until you get a flash of blue in the sunlight. Overall, I was really taken by this polish once I had given it a chance. I find sometimes I get stuck in a colour-rut and don't experiment enough so I think Mystery Bags are a great way to try a new brand AND to experiment with new colours!

Indoors in natural light

Disguise the Limit is a very beautiful shimmery, medium aqua holographic polish. It truly is stunning and what you can't really see in this pic is that the polish also has a touch of duochrome to it as well! This one was definitely a love-at-first-sight colour and I was super happy about it being blue because I really don't own too many blue polishes. That and it's HOLOGRAPHIC. I love absolutely everything holographic and need to swatch and share my collecting of silver holographic toppers some day...

Indoors in natural light

The slight duochrome shift in this shade has a more purple-blue at one angle and a more green-blue at the other. It is very subtle, but noticeable on the nails at certain extreme angles. You can see the deeper blue shift on my index finger above towards the cuticle end. Also, worth mentioning that I do prefer using natural light when taking photo's and we had a super rainy day so it is hard to see the holographic flare - I assure you it is very strong and very visible in direct sunlight!

Indoors in natural light

Formula was great and it went on smoothly, but be aware it is VERY sheer. I wasn't expecting how sheer it would be and needed at least three coats, pictured above, to get opacity. I would nearly hazard that a fourth would have made the slight nail line you can see disappear. The problem with 3-4 coats is, of course, the dry time. Dry time was not great with this one. First coat dried well, but then the next two afterwards took an incredibly long time - even with considerable waiting time between each. In the end I just gave up and slapped on the third and my Quick Shine top coat to seal it in.

Indoors in natural light

Disguise the Limit is definitely a winner in my books and I am happy to add another holographic polish to my collection!

Indoors in natural light

The final Mystery Polish I received is called Back to the Fuchsia. Incidentally, I have been spelling Fuchsia wrong my entire life and googled for this blogpost and was pleasantly (?) surprised to find the actual spelling. As for the polish, it is a bright, eye-searing pink to purple glitter thermal! Thermal polishes are my next favourite down from holographic polishes...or maybe on par. Either way, Back to the Fuchsia is a real beauty!

Indoors in natural light

Above, in it's warm state we have the bright pink shade and you can see a smattering of purple glitter. What you may not be able to see is the neon pink glitter that is an exact colour match for the warm shade of this thermal polish. Pretty & Polished have done a really neat thing here where they have included two shades of glitter: one neon pink and one neon purple, both matches for the respective colour end of the thermal polish. This means when it is warm, you can't see the pink glitter, but can see the purple...and when it is cold, you can't see the purple, but can see the pink!

Indoors in natural light

The textured finish is entirely due to the neon pink glitter that becomes visible when the base shade transitions to it's purple cold-state. A note about the formula of this polish: it is a true neon and dries matte. It can also be noted that while it went on nicely, the sheer density of the glitter made it a bit difficult to apply. The same way that I had minor issues with too much glitter in Bad Little Boy, this polish pales in comparison and I really did struggle at one point against having too much glitter on the brush and 'dragging' glitter on the nail. Application is NOT smooth with this one.

Indoors in natural light

Above is the transition state and you can see the more vibrant purple towards the tips of my nails.

Indoors in natural light

Nearly completely transitioned into neon purple - the tip of the middle fingers shows the change most accurately. I am a bit 'on the fence' about Back to the Fuchsia. I want to love it so bad....but that application. The photos above are actually the second set that I did and I will be honest, I struggled just as much with application and smoothing the glitters out the second time. It's a beautiful shade and I will wear it, but not as much as I might have if I didn't dread the application and removal of the glitter.

Indoors in natural light

As well as the Mystery Bag, I also purchased one polish of my own choosing. I had lusted after this periwinkle-blue looking polish for a while and was very surprised to find it a might lighter colour when it arrived.

Indoors in natural light

Flashdance is a pale, powdery blue shade that is super light when warm and changes to a darker blue when cold. Above you can see three thin coats and the lightest shade I was able to achieve. Formula with this one was absolutely flawless. Application was a breeze, dry time was amazing and overall was a really lovely polish to apply.

Indoors in natural light

The thermal change with Flashdance was very subtle, but only because the colour itself was so pale. Above you can the slightest hint of a darker blue on the index and middle fingers.

Indoors in natural light

Bottle shot with Flashdance back to it's original powdery blue warm state. I was really very impressed with this polish. I would have liked if it was just a tad darker in shade, but honestly it really doesn't matter. It is a pretty polish and I don't have anything like it at all.

Final verdict on my first Pretty & Polished bottles? Good. Overall, the shades were unique and surprising in the Mystery Bag. I am glad I went for that option to begin my foray into this brand because I really did get three very distinctly different polishes and they all have their merits. As for the one I did choose? While it arrived a much different colour to the one I could see on-screen...I don't see that as a drawback for me at all. I love it's beautiful paleness and subtlety of thermal change.

You can find Pretty & Polished in two places: Their Etsy website and their main website. Both locations offer a large collection of colours and international shipping!

(Disclaimer: All polishes and extra materials used and reviewed in this blog post were purchased and not donated for review unless otherwise stated.)

X
Lani