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.

Orly Holo Jellies and Friends

Despite having a goal to continue buying less polish than I did in my stash expansion heyday, I'm still signed up for all sorts of brand newsletters and text alerts, including Orly's. I saw they were having a sale and went to look and noticed it included the shades from the Holo Jellies collection released this past summer. No better time then for me to share swatches of the bottles I bought a while back, along with two glitter toppers I ordered at the same time. Left to right: Party Animal, As If, Peace Out, Chill Pill, Like Totally, and Dancing Queen.

 

I first Skittled the Holo Jellies, doing three coats plus topcoat. They're not quite opaque at three coats, but close enough. All have a generous helping of silver holo glitter in a jelly base. As If is a soft orange. Peace Out is lime green. Chill Pill is a blue between turquoise and sky. Like Totally is purple, such a pretty purple, not too red and not too blue. I like these; the formula is good, with the jelly base being buildable, not too opaque so it hides the glitter.

 

 

 

I then reached for the glitter toppers, grouping them each with the Holo Jellies shade(s) they were most compatible with. Party Animal has pink, orange, and yellow matte hex glitter in various sizes plus silver holo microglitter in a clear base. I layered one coat of it over As If, finishing with clear topcoat.

 

 

 

Dancing Queen has lime, purple, and sky blue matte hex glitter plus silver holo microglitter in a clear base. It seems made for the remaining shades of Holo Jellies. I did a gradient over a creme base that matched my skintone, then Peace Out on my middle finger, Chill Pill on my ring, and Like Totally on my pinky, topping the three non-gradient nails with one coat of Dancing Queen plus clear topcoat. This whole look made me happy. I really should take the time to do manis like this again because they do make me smile.

 

 

 

I don't regret getting these at all despite having more polish than probably all the nail salons in town put together. They're mood lifters for me. And I'm proud of myself for resisting the plain jellies that Orly came out with sometime after Holo Jellies. Maybe I don't have exactly those shades of blue, pink, and yellow in exactly that consistency, but I do have blue, pink, and yellow jellies in my stash. If you don't, those are also in the sale going on now on the Orly website. Five dollars a bottle is a deal. Dancing Queen and Party Animal are available still at full price. I'd pay it because I'm a fool for glitter still, even though the nail world has mostly moved on to other things for now.

Essie Roll With It Collection

I can buy nail polish way faster than I can swatch it, which means bottles get stuck in my swatch boxes and eventually I have too many swatch boxes, so I go through them to move things to the "put on nail wheels" shelves. Sometimes I find things that catch my eye all over again so before they get moved, they get swatched, months and months (somtimes years?) after I bought them. Today's example: Essie's Roll With It Collection, which I believe was released for fall 2020 and which I bought in fall 2021. There are six shades, all shimmers with a scattering of holo microglitter: Sequin Scene, Roll With It, Let's Boogie, Whirl 'n' Twirl, Lace Up & Get Down, and Head Over Wheels.

 

 

These looked like two distinct trios to me, so I swatched them that way, starting with the more neutral hues: Let's Boogie (pewter-leaning silver), Roll With It (pinkish taupe-leaning silver), and Sequin Scene (brown-leaning orange). I did a sponge gradient with them on my index finger, then Let's Boogie on my middle, Roll With It on my ring, and Sequin Scene on my pinky. All of these were three coats for me.

 

The difference between the two silvers on the nails is more subtle than it is in the bottles. Roll With It is a touch cooler-toned and seems to have a slightly less dense shimmer base. I wish instead of one of these, they'd done a deeper grey, not quite charcoal. Or a teal.

 

I topcoated the gradient, and should have topcoated the other nails, as these do have a slightly gritty look without it. Still, the holo microglitter catches the light very nicely, distracting from what might be too much brushstrokey-ness otherwise for some of the shades.

 

Then I took the same approach with the more vibrant shades. A gradient on my index, then Whirl 'n' Twirl (blue) on my middle, Lace Up and Get Down (purple) on my ring, and Head Over Wheels (hot pink) on my pinky. Whirl 'n' Twirl was three coats and the others were two. Again, I added topcoat just to the gradient. I loved how these shades blended.

 

 

Lace Up & Get Down seemed to have the densest shimmer, with fewer holo bits showing color in it that the others, though a few did pop through at some angles.

 

 

The sun came out while I had this last trio on, so I hustled over to the window and was rewarded with this glowy-ness:

 

If I had to choose just one of these (and at some point I might, as I cannot move into assisted living someday with thousands of bottles of nail polish), it'd be the blue, Lace Up & Get Down.

Kokie Green Trio

Sample provided for review

 

Kokie has sent me several more polishes from their Green line, which is plant-based, bio-sourced, vegan, and cruelty free. (To see the ones they sent previously, see here and here.) Today I have Tan Line, Moonbeam, and Coffee Break.

 

Coffee Break is a light warm milky brown creme. It's not quite rosy enough to be "mannequin hands" on me, but it's a good neutral look for my skintone nonetheless.

 

 

Tan Line is a dark orange shimmer.

 

 

 

Moonbeam is a white cream. I feel a good white cream is essential for any nail polish collection.

 

 

For fun, I added dots of Tan Line and Coffee Break to Moonbeam, then added clear topcoat to smooth everything over.

 

 

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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.

Salon Perfect Dippin' Dots Collection

Continuing the "Easter in July" Skittles theme I started last week with Sally Hansen x Peeps, today I have the Salon Perfect Dippin' Dots colors, which caem out around the same time. These aren't necessarily Easter, though the palette does resemble candy eggs. I'm pretty sure I have similar colors from any one of a number of "soft neon" or "pastel neon" or "sunwashed neon" collections that have come out over the years, but the Dippin' Dots tie-in got me. It's been ages since I had any of that delightful ice cream of the future, so having the nail polish to look at is good. Top: Banana Split, Orange Creme, Strawberry Swirl, Birthday Cake. Bottom: Berry Freeze, Cotton Candy, Cool Mint, Lime Ice.

 

I wanted to try these over white, so I first grabbed two of the colors to try that. Left to right: Banana Split (2 coats), Banana Split (1 over white), Lime Ice (2 coats), Lime Ice (1 over white). The white made a slight difference, brightening the color a touch. The formula on these was a bit tricky; definitely pigmented but also a bit runny and didn't self level as well as I'd like. Still, not too hard to work with.

 

Then I got to Skittling, without the white base. Top to bottom: Banana Split (2 coats), Orange Creme (2), Strawberry Creme (2), and Birthday Cake (1 thick).

 

 

Now the cooler shades (all 2 coats): Lime Ice, Cool Mint, Cotton Candy, and Berry Freeze.

 

 

I don't think any of these are must haves, but I can see wearing them for summer pedicures.

Sally Hansen x Peeps Insta Dri Collection

Yes, Easter was a while ago, but I bought the Sally Hansen x Peeps colors and wanted to at least Skittles swatch them before they went into the queue to get on nail wheels. Left to right: PEEPS White, PEEPS Pink, PEEPS Lavender, PEEPS Blue, PEEPS Yellow, PEEPS Fruit Punch, PEEPS Sparkly Wild Berry.

 

I did the White, Pink, Blue, and Lavender together. They were what I expected from Insta Dri, plenty opaque in two coats. I'm sure I've bought the white at least a half dozen times now under new names each time it's re-released. That's okay. A good reasonably priced white is a good find. I probably have close enough shades for the others, maybe not all in the Insta Dri line, but didn't take the time to do comparisons because I didn't really want to know.

 

Sparkly Wild Berry is a topper with pink metallic and white matte hex glitters in various sizes.

 

I put one coat of Sparkly Wild Berry on top of the Skittles then added clear topcoat. The white glitter got lost on the white creme base of course, but on the other bases, Sparkly Wild Berry looked good.

 

 

Looking at the two cremes left, I didn't want to just swatch them on alternate fingers, and while Yellow would play nicely with Pink and Blue and Lavender, Fruit Punch seemed the odd one out. Then I remembered I'd bought Sprinkle Sprinkle, a crelly glitter with sky blue, soft orange, and golden yellow hexes in it.

 

I put Sprinkle Sprinkle on my index and pinky fingers, with Yellow and Fruit Punch in between. Neither of those cremes quite matches the glitter, but they both coordinate well enough. All were two coats.

 

I'm thinking I should do a couple wheels with Insta Dri cremes to carry around in my car so I can bring them into the store any time Sally Hansen does a new collection and perhaps not buy so many look alikes, but that probably won't work anyway. I have mostly managed to not re-buy the Pride colors every year, so that's something. This year I only got two, the orange and the brown. But that's another post, if I ever get around to it.