Two New and One Not from Kokie Green

Polish provided for review

 

There are eight new shades in the Kokie Green line, which the brand was nice enough to send me to try out. Kokie Green is bio-sourced, plant based, free of animal by-products, 16 free, cruelty free, and not tested on animals per the card that came in the box with the polishes. I've got two of the new colors today, along with a previous favorite that I thought looked nice with them. Left to right: Glass Slipper (previously swatched back in August), Oasis (new), and Dewy (new).

 

Oasis is a light cool-toned blue. It has a very subtle shimmer that's visible in the bottle but which tends to disappear on the nail. Perhaps the shimmer helps with self-leveling, as this was opaque in two coats and not at all streaky (any wobbles you see are due to my nails, which are in winter breakdown mode now).

 

I tried direct light to see if I could get the shimmer to show for the camera. No luck with that, which is fine, since this sort of blue is right up my alley regardless.

 

I remembered that Glass Slipper showed a hint of nail line at two coats, so thought it might work as a topper for Oasis, so I added one coat of it to my index, middle, and pinky fingers. That combination really worked for me, with Glass Slipper adding a bit of shimmer and sparkle without changing the pretty blue color of Oasis significantly.

 

As long as I had both of these blues out, I did a quick comparison. Two coats of Oasis on my index and ring fingers versus three coats of Glass Slipper on my middle and pinky.

 

Dewy is a blue-leaning lavender pearly finish shimmer. At two coats, it shows a hint of visible nail line at some angles, which I didn't find objectionable.

 

 

Dewy had a nice glow under direct light.

 

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.

Sally Hansen Insta Dri Pinks and Greens

I feel like I've picked up a lot of Sally Hansen Insta Dri shades, both over the years and more recently, so some more comparisons like the blues from earlier this month seemed like the thing to do. First up I have pinks: Confection Perfection, Bubble Gum, Cotton Candy, and Flamin-go.

 

On the nail, two coats each, in the same order as the bottles above. Confection Perfection and Bubble Gum are very close to each other. Cotton Candy is in the same family, just a touch darker than those first two. Flamin-go has a warmer cast to it than the other three.

 

Another angle on the pinks:

 

Finishing with two greens: Mint to Be and Hallogreen.

 

On the nail, starting with Hallogreen on my index on the left and alternating with Mint to Be. Hallogreen is darker and a touch more blue-leaning.

 

A second look at the greens:

 

Doing comparisons, like painting nail wheels, helps me justify having such a big stash. I simply must see how the different colors and shades and finishes stack up against each other. Or that's what I tell myself anyway!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue Cremes

In the seemingly never-ending quest to organize my nail polish stash, I was sorting through some blue cremes recently. Someday maybe I'll get around to getting them all on wheels at least, but I did pull out four Sally Hansen Insta Dri shades to see how they compared to each other. Left to right: Peppermint Dandy, Crusin' Blue (I would have sworn this was Cruisin' Blue but the label is clearly Crusin'), Brisk Blue, Boo-lue.

 

On the nail, top to bottom in the same order as bottles above:

 

Peppermint Dandy is the lightest, a bit lighter than Crusin' Blue and Brisk Blue, which are very close to each other. Boo-lue is noticeably darker. Another angle:

 

SinfulColors Saweetie's Xtraterrestrial Effects

With Halloween coming up fast, I thought I'd best get to swatching the SinfulColors I grabbed from the big display at Walmart. The four limited editions for this year are part of the brand's collaboration with Saweetie; these are the Xtraterrestrial Effects. Left to right: Lil Beast, Icy Monstar, Baelien, and Big Mamaz Ship.

 

I started my session with Lil Monster, a spring green, applying two coats without topcoat. The effect in question is bumpy, I guess like the surface of another planet. The base is metallic-leaning shimmer enhanced with bar glitter and texture, but not as much texture as the textured polishes that were on trend for a while in 2014/15.

 

 

We've seen this sort of thing before, with texture/glitter submerged in shimmery and metallic bases. I pulled out a couple bottles from the past to do a quick comparison. Left to right: China Glaze Crinkled Chrome Wrinkling the Sheets (from late 2013/early 2014), SinfulColors Lil Beast, Finger Paints Underwater Enchantress (from summer 2014, see the whole collection swatched here).

 

Left to right below: Lil Beast, Underwater Enchantress, Lil Beast, Wrinkling the Sheets (all two coats, no topcoat). It was easier to get the bar glitter in Wrinkling the Sheets onto my nail; for Lil Beast I had to make sure I didn't let it settle too long between shaking it and applying (though why I would worry about bubbles with that one I don't know). Underwater Enchantress is a different take on the "lumpy but not quite a proper textured polish" idea. I do like how it coordinates with the color of Lil Beast.

 

 

I was not enchanted by the effect, so combined the remaining three Xtraterrestrial Effects into one look. My index finger has a rough sponged not quite gradient with the trio. Middle finger is Balien, a warm light brown. Ring is Big Mamaz Ship, a medium pink, and litle finger is Icy Monstar, a dusty deep blue.

 

 

 

These do catch the eye for sure. I don't see myself wearing them much, same as I can't recall ever having done a full mani with the Crinkled Chrome shades or those lumpy shimmer from Finger Paints (though I didn't hate that one as much now as I did when it was new, maybe I'm mellowing). I think Halloween is a perfect time for them, though, as that's when we break out of the everyday and dress up based on our imaginations.

Purple Thermals Comparison

Before I left for vacation, my nails were long enough and the weather was moderate enough to show off thermals, so I pulled out two that had been languishing in my swatching boxes for months: Girly Bits Basic Witch (from Polish Pickup for September 2020) and KBShimmer In the Mood (from PPU for November 2020).

 

Girly Bits Basic Witch is a deep purple with blue shimmer and pink/orange/green flakes that shifts to lavender (cool light purple) when warm.

 

 

Apparently my index and middle fingers run warmer; you can see above the cool color is fading faster on them than the ring and pinky. I ran my hand under cool water again and ran back to my lightbox to get the picture below while more of the cool color was still in evidence.

 

Another look at this beauty. I don't care which state it eventually settles in once the thermal dies as I like both the cool and warm states.

 

KBShimmer In the Mood is also a deep purple; it has pink/purple shimmer and pink/blue/green flakes. When warm it shifts to lilac (warm light purple).

 

The contrast between warm and cold was very dramatic with this one, and seemed to last longer in that I was able to get a photo before the tips started to warm up (though perhaps my hands were cooler by then having been under the water a couple times with the Girly Bits).

 

 

 

 

I realized a couple days later than I hadn't done a nail to nail comparison of these two, so did that quickly on my somewhat shorter travel-ready nails before I left on my trip. Top to bottom: Girly Bits (heat already taken over the cool zone), KBShimmer, Girly Bits, KBShimmer.

 

These definitely are in "similar but not the same" category. The Girly Bits is a cooler-toned purple while the KBShimmer is warmer, and while they both have shimmer and flakies, they're not the same color shimmer and flakies. So I'm good with having them both. And good with whatever state they get stuck in when that happens, as it does with all thermals eventually.

A Trio from SinfulColors Quick Bliss

About a million years ago, I ordered a set of SinfulColors Quick Bliss shades even though I already had half of them, just because the set included an exclusive purple shade, along with two other colors I hadn't yet seen. When I swatched the rest of the line back in August I was despairing of ever getting the set since shipping had been delayed twice, but thanks to a tip in the SinfulColors fan group on Facebook, I was able to cancel that order and get the set from a different supplier. The three shades of interest in it were Vvvroom, Speedster, and Fast Ride.

 

Vvvroom is a cool-toned light purple with pink shimmer.

 

I used two coats of Vvvroom for my swatch, and added clear topcoat for extra depth and shine.

 

 

Fast Ride is the online exclusive that I bought the set for. It's a blue-leaning purple shimmer. The shimmer has more blue in it than the base does. Depending on how the light hits it, it can look blue or purple.

 

Fast Ride was also a two-coater. I skipped topcoat with this one.

 

 

I happened to have a brief moment of sun when I was swatching this and that really brought out the difference between the shimmer and the base. You can see the shimmer glowing blue while the base around the edges shows a warmer purple hue.

 

The last color here, Speedster, is a red creme. As with the other two, it needed only two coats for full coverage.

 

 

I just had to see how this red creme compared to the other two Quick Bliss reds released earlier. Left to right: Cherry Chaser, Speedster, and Sweet Cheeks.

 

Left to right below: Speedster (2 coats), Cherry Chaser (2), Speedster, Sweet Cheeks (3). Sweet Cheeks is the odd one out here, being more sheer and pink than the others. Cherry Chaser is slightly warmer than Speedster. I like Speedster better with my skintone, but Cherry Chaser is also wearable for me.

 

Another angle:

 

I always used to look forward to the SinfulColors winter holiday display, but it appears that this year they didn't do any new colors for the season, just repromoted existing shades (I didn't see the display myself but read reports from those who did). I hope that's just a temporary thing for this year of the pandemic and by this time next year we'll see new stuff.

[NOTE to the 12 of you who saw the earlier version of this post in the three hours it was up: yes, I did take it down and re-do, as the photos in the earlier version had incorrect watermarking on them and Blogger was not cooperating with showing the corrected versions I'd uploaded before publishing the first version.]