Spring Colors from Kokie

Products provided for review

 

Well hello again. I'm recently back from my not officially summer yet vacation, a road trip from Idaho to Illinois and back again. In a bold move, I left my laptop at home, which meant, among other things, that I was able to wear longer fake nails than usual, but that's a story for another day. The story for today is that Kokie kindly sent me some polishes in colors perfect for spring. Left to right: Iris, Rock Star, Crown Jewel, Classic, Georgia Peach, All the Envy.

 

I started with Classic, a pale milky peach crelly. This was buildable; I did four coats but could have stopped at three for a faux French mani look. This is indeed classic. I wore similar polishes for years early in my career as an accountant when I was trying to fit the mold of a serious businesswoman.

 

Nothing like dots to quickly add color, so I decorated with Georgia Peach, Iris, and All the Envy before adding clear topcoat.

 

Iris is a light lilac creme. This one covered in two coats.

 

I topped Iris with Crown Jewel, which has blue and holographic blue glitter in a sheer gold shimmer base. (I knew this would work because I swatched a different bottle of it over another light cool creme back in 2019. Because I was craving sparkle, I used two coats of Crown Jewel and added clear topcoat to bring out the bling even more.

 

All the Envy is a medium green creme. I used two coats for my swatch.

 

I put one coat of Crown Jewel on top of All the Envy and added topcoat to that. The somewhat deeper base brought out the gold in Crown Jewel more than Iris had.

 

I combined Rock Star, a warm lavender flecked shimmer, and Georgia Peach, a light red-leaning orange creme, into a funky French look alternating with Georgia Peach alone. Rock Star took three coats and Georgia Peach two. I did add topcoat to the funky French nails to smooth the line between the polishes. This look does say spring to me. If you want to see Rock Star on its own, I swatched a bottle I bought myself back in 2019 (and also topped it with another Kokie shimmer/glitter topper).

 

Given that Rock Star was three coats, I wondered if it would work as a topper, so I laid down a base of two coats of Iris and added one coat of Rock Star to all but my index finger. I really liked the combination. Rock Star warmed up Iris just a tiny bit, and Iris brought out the pale golden shimmer in Rock Star.

 

These are all nice polishes; good basic cremes and some bling to liven them up. It's nice that Kokie doesn't seem to discontinue things too quickly, given that I got two of these colors four years ago and you can get them today. The polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the polishes for my own use.

Kokie Green Greens and Gold

Sample provided for review

 

Today I've got three more of the new shades in the Kokie Green line, which the brand generously sent me for review. Two of these are green in color, too. Left to right: Feral, Starry-Eyed, and Maybe Baby.

 

Maybe Baby is a teal-leaning medium toned green shimmer flecked with golden highlights. I did two coats for my swatch and added clear topcoat to bring out the pretty sparkles in the shimmer even more.

 

 

 

Starry Eyed has small gold and holo glitter in a clear base.

 

Starry Eyed didn't look like it'd be full coverage, so to try it, I bared just my index finger and put on three coats of it, then did one coat over Maybe Baby on my other digits. I'm not usually a gold person, but this gold and green combination looked really good to me. The clear base of Starry Eyed let the shimmer in Maybe Baby show through while the glitter added lots of sparkle and pop.

 

 

Feral is a warm-leaning medium-toned green shimmer. It looks almost metallic in some lights, porbably due to the wealth of silvery shimmer in it. I used two coats, no topcoat for my swatch. Despite it being lighter in tone than Mabye Baby, it seemed more opaque.

 

 

I liked Feral on its own, but of course that didn't stop me from experimenting on it. I sponged Maybe Baby on the tips to make a slightly messy, sort of subtle gradient. I used clear topcoat to smooth it out. I thought these worked well together.

 

 

And finally, I put one coat of Starry Eyed over the gradient, skipping topcoat because it was smooth enough for photos without.

 

 

In direct light, Starry Eyed popped nicely:

 

In the bottle, I was pretty sure I'd like the blue and purple I shared last week. I was less certain about this trio, fearing a couple would be too warm to flatter my skintone, but I ended up liking them all, especially together. These shades are available at select Meijer stores and online for $8 each on the Kokie website.

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The polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the polishes for my own use.

Shifty Duo from Great Lakes Lacquer

Today I have two beauties from Great Lakes Lacquer that have been languishing in my stash waiting for their day to shine: Making Peace With Past Indiscretions and Resolve.

 

Making Peace With Past Indiscretions is a multichrome shimmer that's deep green shifting to purple, with shades of blue and even gold in between depending on the light. It has scattered holo microglitter, too, to add even more interest.

 

I used two coats for my swatch and that was plenty. Straight on in indirect light, it mostly showed its rich green base, with hints of purple at the edges.

 

Start changing the angles and the shifts appear:

 

 

 

Out of the lightbox under direct light, it looked like a gorgeous night sky:

 

Resolve has small shifty glitter pieces that go green to blue to purple along with a holo microglitter scatter in a clear base, so it pairs very well with Making Peace.

 

I put one coat of Resolve over Making Peace and added clear topcoat. Loved this combination!

 

Resolve is so sparkly and it seemed to really enchance the shift in Making Peace.

 

 

 

One more of the combo in direct light:

 

On the one hand, I have so many pretties I haven't worn, so at least swatching them so I get to enjoy them for a little while is a good thing. On the other hand, seeing them on my nails just makes me want to go look for more pretties. We shall see if my commitment to a low buy survives the post-Thanksgiving rush.

Another Kokie Green Trio

Sample provided for review

 

I took a quick trip to Detroit, which accounts for my most recent absence. I'm delighted to report that I didn't get COVID, despite most folks having given up masking. Me, I just ordered more colors of my favorite KF94s. Last month I shared a few polishes Kokie sent me to try from their Green line, and today I have a few more. These are plant-based, bio-sourced, vegan, and cruelty free. Left to right: What Deadline, Eden, and Glass Slipper.

 

What Deadline is a pale green creme. This had a surprisngly thick formula, so I only needed one coat for my swatch.

 

 

Eden is a dark green creme. This one was also one coat, which was less surprising since it's a darker hue and those generally cover better. I did do a thinner coat on my pinky, and you can probably see that if you go with thin coats, you'll probably want two.

 

 

Glass Slipper is a pale blue shimmer. I used two coats plus clear topcoat to enhance the shimmer. There's a very slight visible nail line, which I'm okay with for a color like this.

 

 

Direct light to show the shimmer better:

 

The greens are both solid cremes, but of course my favorite is Glass Slipper. Shimmers are just more interesting to me, and delicate blues like that are a soft spot for me.

Kokie   Website    Facebook    Instagram

 

 

The polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the polishes for my own use.

Wheel O15: Green Shimmers

I'm back. For how long, I don't know. It feels like my life is ridiculously busy, which confuses me. How did I ever work a full time job? Was I better able to cope with life then? I have no idea. Anyway, today I have a wheel full of green shimmers that looked more cohesive in the bottles than they turned out to be on the wheel, but that's why I'm doing this project, to see how all my polishes look when applied.

 

1. Revlon Top Speed Wicked Star (2 coats)
2. Smitten Polish Grinchy Claus (3) [wish I'd put topcoat on this as I think that would make it even prettier]
3. China Glaze Running in Circles (3) [such a great sparkle to this one]
4. China Glaze Paper Chasing (3)
5. Cult Nails Feelin' Froggy (3)
6. Finger Paints Ball Gown Glamour (1)
7. Zoya Holly (2)
8. NYX Mermaid (4) [lighter than I expected based on the bottle; has a nice blue flash in the shimmer]
9. Essence Nail Colour 3 A Walk in the Park (2)
10. Liquid Metal 35 Br (3)
[I wish I remembered where I got this] 11. SinfulColors Pine Away (2)
12. Nicole by OPI Faux Fur (2)
13. Nicole by OPI Fell From the Tree (2)
14. Finger Paints Our Tips are Tealed (2) [not sure if this is meant as a texture or just needs a topcoat]
15. Wet 'n' Wild FastDry AF Mermaids Do Exist (2)
16. Deborah Lippmann Green Eyed Lady (1)
17. Bonita Salon Year of Riches (2)
18. Zoya Honor (2) [such a gorgeous matte finish]
19. LCN 337 (2) [not sure of the shade number since the label is is Russian]
20. Ulta Professional Tainted Love (2) [shades like this kept me buying Ulta polish for a long while]

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20: