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.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Halloween 2021

There was no question that I was going to buy the new Insta-Dri Sour Patch Kids shades that Sally Hansen released for Halloween this year. That was more challenging than it might have been, since I had to get them from three different sources. Left to right: Full Moon (never saw this in a store, got from the Target website), Slime All Yours (Walgreens exclusive), Oh My Gourd, and Hallo-Queen (these last two were more widely available; I think I got mine at Bed Bath & Beyond but might be remembering that wrong).

 

Full Moon, a blue base filled with tiny white glitter, looked to me like a combination of two shades from last year's Halloween collection, so I had to pull those out to compare. One my index finger (top): Boo-lue (from 2020) topped with First Sour Then Sweet (2020, rereleased this year). On my other digits, three coats of Full Moon. So obviously Full Moon isn't quite the same blue at Boo-lue, being a touch more turquoise. Full Moon is also more sheer to let the glitter show through. It also lets some visible nail line show; I think I might try Boo-lue (or another blue) as a base under two coats of Full Moon next time I wear it.

 

 

Slime All Yours is a green microflakie shimmer with pops of blue and lime as well as a scattering of tiny white hex glitter.

 

I wasn't sure how sheer Slime All Yours would be, so I hedged my bets by doing another layering experiment on my index finger. So on my index (top) I have Hallo-green (green creme from 2020) topped with one coat of Slime All Yours, then on my other fingers I have three coats of Slime All Yours.

 

 

 

 

Oh My Gourd is a glitter topper with hex glitter in pale yellow satin and white matter plus tiny pale yellow satin glitter in a clear base. Just looking at it in the bottle, it didn't say Halloween to me, more like Easter, so when I tried it, I first did orange creme tips with Pump-kid (from 2020, rereleased in 2021), then put on two coats of Oh My Gourd. The look has a sort of candy corn vibe.

 

 

Hallo-Queen is a another glitter topper. This one has large and medium satin hex glitter in pale orange, medium hex glitter in black, and square glitter in silver holo.

 

I put two coats of Hallo-Queen over R.I.P.-urple (from 2020, rereleased in 2021).

 

 

There were also two glow in the dark shades in this year's Halloween display that fooled me into thinking they were new, because their names weren't on my spreadsheet, but when I got them home, they looked suspiciously like two shades from last year. Left to right: Glowing Night (2020), Creep It Real (2021), Fa-BOO-lous (2021), Happy Hollow-een (2020).

 

On the nails, top to bottom (all three coats): Glowing Night, Creep It Real, Fa-BOO-lous, Happy Hollow-een. The 2021 version of the pink seems a bit more pigmented than the 2020 one but not dramatically so. The two margarita colored ones are indistinguishable from each other.

 

In the dark, all four glow evenly.

 

Slime All Yours is the standout for me in this group. I do like the two glitter toppers, too.

Kiss Jelly Fantasy Nails

It's been a while since I shared any of my artifical nails of the day. Not because I haven't been wearing them, but because I've been re-wearing some designs (if I see a sale and like the nails, I often buy multiple sets), and somehow my brain is not able to get over the hurdle of doing a simple search to see if I've already posted about a particular design. With the nails I have today, I didn't need to do that search, because they are very unusual for me. I picked up these Kiss Jelly Fantasy nails in a weak moment at Walmart because they were unlike any I'd tried. They're long, which I have worn on rare occasions before, but they also have clear tips, which I was just "why?" about. I haven't been able to find a name for the design, but the code on the box is KGFJ09X. There were three styles in the box: peachy pink with a clear tip, peachy pink with a clear tip and a sheer iridescent coating, and silver microglitter with a clear tip. I used only the first two, because the silver glitter ones looked really odd with my natural nail showing through as the glitter didn't provide full coverage. I put these on one evening in my dining room (thus the light in the next two photos), and my first impression was "wow, these are super long".

 

 

The next day, I still thought they were long.

 

One thing I did enjoy about the iridescent ones was the way the light shone through the tips and made pastel rainbows on things (here, the thing is my Kindle):

 

I also enjoyed how the iridescent ones changed colors with angle and light, sometimes looking orange or pink and sometimes lilac.

 

 

After four or five days, I felt I'd given the length a good try but it was hard to do things like type on my laptop, so I clipped and filed them to a more manageable for me length. If I someday use the ones left in the box, I'll do that from the start.

 

When I was looking for a name for these, I found they're still in stock at some websites, so if you want long fake nails with see through tips, you can get 'em. I'm not planning to buy more. The clear tip messed with my head ... if I'm going to have long nails, I want them to look long, and the clear tip made them feel longer than they looked. Maybe I'm just not open enough to new styles. Maybe these are just a bad idea for me.

Pop Beauty Nail Glam Duo

My most recent jaunt to the county to the south of me (to get my 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine—yay!) didn't yield any new displays to share but did lead to me discovering a mystery in a cosmetics bin on the clearance shelves at Walgreens: Pop Beauty Nail Glam polish, which I'd never seen at Walgreens before. I thought this brand was long gone, having not seen it anywhere in years. I bought a bunch when Ulta carried them back in 2011. Those were full size 15ml rectangular bottles; these are 8ml half size in square bottles. Despite being in the clearance bin, they rang up at full price: $6. There were only two colors in the bin: ZZZ Pink and Black Cherry.

 

ZZZ Pink is a medium pink with pearly shimmer.

 

This was plenty opaque in two coats. Unfortunately the shimmer pretty much disappeared on the nail, leaving just pink. Which maybe is why they named it ZZZ Pink ... it's so uninteresting it puts me to sleep. Yes, pink polish is classic, and looks pretty. No problem if that's your thing. It's not my thing anymore. Yet I still buy it to satisfy the collector in me, so I guess I'm encouraging brands to keep pumping out the pinks and reds and skintones. They're going to do that anyway, though ... always have.

 

In direct light, the shimmer was ever so slightly visible.

 

To add a pop of interest to ZZZ Pink, I added funky French tips with Black Cherry, which we'll take a closer look at shortly. Yes, my lines could be smoother, and I might as well have used a cheap black creme for this, but it is more interesting to look at.

 

I had high hopes for Black Cherry, which has lots of small deep pink glitter in a black base.

 

Two coats of Black Cherry plus topcoat (to smooth out the glitter) later, I was let down. The glitter disappears into the base on the nail, which makes having to add topcoat to deal with the texture frustrating. (I don't think it's supposed to be a textured polish.)

 

Okay at this angle I can see the tiniest hints of glitter showing on some of my nails. I can also see the uneven texture despite already having added one layer of topcoat.

 

Getting up close in direct light does let the the glitter shine through more. In daily life, I am not this close to my own nails very often, much less letting anyone else get that close (especially in COVID times).

 

I did try putting a black creme base on and trying to do a thin coat of Black Cherry to see if that would help. It was hard to tell. Maybe a tiny bit, but I still needed bright direct light to see the glitter.

 

 

So yeah, I'm underwhelmed by these two. I do like square bottles for how space efficient they are to store, and the formula of these has good opacity (too good in the case of Black Cherry). I see that more shades are available direct from Pop Beauty, but as there are no swatches, it's hard to know if things like the blue glitter or the purple shimmer are worth getting.

Zoya Isti

Still working through swatching the polishes I got from Zoya last last year. Today it's Isti, a silver and light blue Pixie Dust textured polish.

 

I used two coats for my swatch and let it dry. It doesn't seem as textured as I recall the older Pixie Dust polishes were. Maybe it's the density of the glitter or the silver reflecting light. I'm not sure.

 

Here's Isti with topcoat. It's shinier, yes, but not a dramatic difference that I could see.

 

 

What I should have done at this point was put the Leopard Spots topper on to see if it looked more leopard-y over texture, but I didn't see it (it got put away with the other crackles from last week's nail wheel). Instead, I grabbed Meredith and did funky French tips (plus slicked on more clear topcoat). I like this combination.

 

 

I am going to try very hard to do the Leopard Spots plus texture at some point. Maybe I can also do a Pixie Dust comparison between old and new shades. In the meantime, enjoy this pretty blue.

Nails of the Day That Was a While Ago

It's been months since I posted any NOTD looks. It doesn't help that I rarely have good photos of my nails of the day, as I usually do them after I've gotten home from a swatching session at my studio, which means I don't have a lightbox, and it's often late a night so daylight isn't an option, either. By the time the next day rolls around, I'm distracted by other things. I do take not-so-good photos, though, to remind myself later what I wore, if nothing else, and scrolling through some of those I found one I liked enough to post today. This look is a combination of nail polish strips and regular polish: Sally Hansen Salon Effect French Mani strips in Pink Macaroon topped with Revlon Shining Strength, a glitter topper. I liked this combination a lot at the time and still think it's good now. This is a daylight photo, taken in my car, where I'd just slicked on the glitter topper.

 

Right now, I've got nothing on my nails but a treatment coat. I meant to put on some fakes but haven't gotten around to it yet. Having just spent time at my studio with my many, many untried polishes (and many, many tried ones), I was very aware that I could skip all the Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday polish sales and still have plenty of options, so I held firm and didn't buy anything this past holiday weekend. I was tempted, very much so, but held out. I'm not on a no buy, because I know myself better than that, so I'm sure I'll order a few Christmas presents for myself, but better to let the holiday deals and exclusives go to other folks who really wanted them or needed them.

Cool Hues from Bee's Knees Lacquer

A while back, I did a post with some warm hued shimmers from Bee's Knees Lacquer. Today I've got some cool hues from them: I Was a Survivor and I Was Strong, Welcome to the Family, Feyre Darling, and Night Triumphant.

 

Three coats of each in the same order as the bottles above. I Was a Survivor pulls more yellow on me than the lime green it looks like in the bottle, but it looks okay. There is a hint of nail line showing with some of these in certain conditions, and I'm fine with that. The glow and shimmer of these provide a lot of visual interest that distracts me from worrying about VNL.

 

 

 

In direct light, they go from glow to showing some sparkle in the shimmer.

 

Like I did with the warm hues, I tried these in a funky French with a "mannequin hands" creme base and black creme tips to which I added one coat of the shimmers in the same order as above. (I was a bit heavy handed with Welcome to the Family, the green on my middle finger.)

 

 

I had a few more cool hued shimmers from Bee's Knees I also wanted to play with: Prick, Don't Let the Hard Days Win, and Stay with the High Lord. Like the ones above, these are from the Acotar Agaaaiiiin collection, but I bought them later, after I saw how gorgeous the first group I got was. (There were still four shades in the collection I didn't buy, and I'm wondering now if I should have just gone for it and got them all. Too late; the ones I skipped are now sold out.)

 

 

I first tried these as Skittles. On my index finger (top), I layered them all together; two coats of Stay With the High Lord followed by one each of Don't Let the Hard Days Win and Prick. Moving down, they each got their own digit: Prick, then Don't Let the Hard Days Win, then Stay With the High Lord on my pinky. All shown at three coats each. You can see that Don't Let the Hard Days Win is the odd polish out finish-wise; it's more of a traditional pearly shimmer compared to the newer style flecked/microflakie ones. I like the layering effect; I'm not sure how much Stay is contributing, but the blue of Don't Let the Hard Days Win transforms Prick's greenish base and still lets the shift show.

 

 

 

Next I did an ombre with Stay With the High Lord. My base colors were Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Kiss My Mints (light mint green), Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Teesta Turquoise (medium teal green), Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Jungle Green (deep teal green), and black. I added two coats of Stay With the High Lord over those cremes and ended up with this:

 

The two darker base shades really let the shift show:

 

 

I was absolutely in love with how this looked in regular room light:

 

To finish out my swatching session, I tried an ombre with Prick. I used it alone on my index finger, then over OPI Dreams Need Clara-fication (cornflower blue), SinfulColors Roar (medium blue), and black. This didn't look like an ombre when viewed straight on because Prick alone pulls greenish, not blue, and the black base highlighted the green side of the shift.

 

It looked more ombre-esqe at an angle, when the purple in the shift came out more:

 

Like Stay, this looked great in regular room light; it made me think this was a manicure a mermaid would wear.

 

So yes, more beauties from Bee's Knees. I don't think I've gotten anything from them yet that I haven't liked.