PRESS SAMPLE

Look at her getting the matching blog post up right after the Insta posts! Who is she! I want to say expect this always, but that’s still a work in progress, but THAT’S THE GOAL. (For the people subscribed from my parents work who noticed I was behind on posts, this is for you. Tell them I say hi!)

Anyways, we have this gorgeous little set over here, and you’ll notice that little Press Sample label in the corner up top there!! Whats Up Nails so kindly sent on over their newest release for me to swatch and review for y’all! As always, I give my little spiel for PR posts (basically the same spiel I send to the companies before they send it over as well): even with a company sending products over for free I still test them in the exact same way as any other polish. I never guarantee positive reviews, so these are still all my honest thoughts! If a polish was bad, I would tell you – and I mean you would see it in the live swatches. PR is just nice as it allows me to show y’all even more polishes that I wouldn’t be able to fit into my polish budget. ALRIGHT, spiel done, let’s talk about the polishes.

This is the ‘Geodes’ collection and it features 6 shades: 2 creams, 2 duochromes and 2 “gem encrusted” shades. This set is available NOW on the Whats Up Beauty website – along with a matching eyeshadow palette! I love that idea, who doesn’t love to coordinate from eyes to nails. The shades are available individually, or in a somewhat discounted bundle.

So let’s get right into the swatches already!

I started out with the 2 creams first – maybe the most “boring” to YOU but I LOVE a good cream shade. Gimme them all.

This first one is ‘Clay’ and it’s a medium olive green toned shade – though in some lighting it can shift to a more brown shade as well. This was a lovely formula, an easy 2 coats. The 2nd coat covered up any last patches I had after the 1st coat, and it was so smooth to paint on – and a favorite shade to wear in the fall time as well.

Clay – Live Swatch

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Next up we have the 2nd cream, though Whats Up Nails labels it as a 4th finish in the release: matte. This is a warm, rosy toned medium brown cream shade called ‘Rhodonite’. This had a STUNNING formula. Basically opaque in 1 coat, and so smooth and easy to paint on. And since it’s a matte it dries more quickly – but not too quickly, plenty of time to paint on a smooth coat – making it perfect for any quick last minute nail look.

Rhodonite – Live Swatch

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Now we shift on into the duochrome action.

First up we have ‘Agate’. This is a warm toned, sandy, coppery shimmery base with bright red glitters all throughout, that shifts from a coppery-gold to a rosy pink. This one had a more sheer formula than I was expecting out of the gate, almost feeling like a dense shimmer you have to build up. But it did build up to pretty well opaque with that 2nd coat – depending on your application, you might want a 3rd to deepen up that color coverage a touch more.

I loved the shiftiness and shine of this one!

Agate – Live Swatch

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Next up we have my favorite of the collection, because I mean, just look at it, heart eyes all around.

This is ‘Peridot’, and it’s a shimmery teal base that shifts from a bright aqua blue (which you can see in the corners of the bottle) all the way to a bright lime green. And just like the previous shade, a touch more sheer on the 1st coat than I was expecting. And again, it builds up well with a 2nd coat and is pretty well opaque. I did add a 3rd on my own application, just to smooth out that color even more, but most will be good with just 2 coats.

It’s so dang shifty and even more beautiful in real life! I wore this as a full manicure and I just kept staring at these perfect mermaid nails.

Peridot – Live Swatch

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And now we get to the “Gem Encrusted” shades! These are really just textured, dense glitter polishes. They dry to a more subtle sandy texture – nothing that’ll get caught on hair or clothes. I do recommend wearing a peel off base underneath if you can, to help you out with that glitter removal.

This first of 2 is ‘Crystal’, and it’s a purpley-pinky-coppery glitter shade. There’s just all sorts of shades going on in there, and it can be hard to describe. As mentioned it’s a dense glitter, so that first coat is more sheer. It was also the most textured of the coats. I noticed after I added a 2nd and 3rd coat, the texture smoothed out more as the base built up well – drying to that slightly sandpaper-y finish. I do recommend thicker coats, just to make sure you have enough on the brush to avoid skipping, and to fill in all those gaps between glitter pieces.

And maybe it’s those thicker coats that leads me to my one “gripe” about these shades. I don’t know if it’s something to do with the dense glittery base formula or what, but I noticed these shades took quite a while to dry – longer than some other textured polishes I have, which can often be go-to last minute mani shades BECAUSE of their quick dry times. That wasn’t the case with these, and they would be ones I suggest settling in with a TV show or book while using these as a full manicure. Carve out some time.

Crystal – Live Swatch

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And last but certainly not least, we have ‘Earthlike’, the other of the “gem encrusted” finishes. This one has a deeper brown base to it, with bright blue glitters as well as silver holographic sparkle. Pretty much all of my thoughts and notes for the shade above apply to this shade as well: texture smooths down to a slightly sandpaper-y finish as you add the 2nd and 3rd coats; thicker coats to avoid skipping; took quite a while longer than other shades I’ve swatched to dry, so no rushing through a full manicure.

Earthlike – Live Swatch

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And that’s the collection! I do love the geodes theme, and the different finishes and sparkle we get with these shades! A little something in there for everyone. Overall, I had no complaints – except maybe on the dry times of the 2 gem encrusted shades, though I’m not sure if that’s something with the dense glitter. Just something to know going in!

Are you interested in any of these shades?

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