Author: GingerlyPolished

Affordable nail polish + makeup blogger

Holo Taco 3rd Anniversary ‘Gala’ Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

I’ve been a big fan of past Holo Taco releases, and I grab a collection here and there where it absolutely sells me (I’ve got a big ol’ cart of past releases that I wish I could just press check out on, but even my inflated polish budget can’t afford that at the moment). And from the moment I saw this one advertised, I was absolutely intrigued.

This is the ‘Gala’ collection, released in honor of Holo Taco’s 3rd Anniversary. Crazy that it’s been 3 years already, time flies truly. But along with the standard holographic sparkle we would all come to expect, this one also had a black and white theme, complete with coming in a box made to look like a clutch bag perfect for any black tie event. We have 4 full color shades and one topper shade to look at here.

Okay yes I KNOW SOME OF THESE SHADES ARE SOLD OUT. BUT not all of them are and I still just want to feature this collection for posterity and future reference! (And I’ll be more on time for posting of future collections, I swear). Who knows, maybe you’ll stumble upon them on a restock or on a future destash. For now, you can check out what’s in stock on the Holo Taco website!

These are still just absolutely gorgeous to look at, so let’s get right into the swatches!

***

Read More »

Mooncat ‘Medusa Unleashed’ Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

This past year I’ve been dipping my toe into brands outside of the mainstream label, just ever so slightly swimming into the shallow end of indie polish. Now don’t be expecting me to dive DEEP into the indie polish game – there are SO many amazing brands, and as much as I would love to blow my grocery budget on trying everything, I must have some restraint. There are amazing swatchers and bloggers out there that are exclusively indie based so I’ll let them continue to do their great work. BUT I’m so grateful and privileged to be trying a few brands that have caught my eye this year. I’m already buying so many mainstream brands, but every so often there’s a little wiggle room to try something else.

And one of them has been Mooncat! If y’all weren’t aware, this brand used to be named Live Love Polish. They rebranded and renamed and I’ve been watching out for their releases ever since I saw Instagram friends posting about them (those bottles and caps were just so cool). And well, this release of an absolute sparkle-fest just hooked me in.

This is the ‘Medusa Unleashed’ collection, and it features 6 super sparkly dense shimmer shades that are all packed with scattered holo sparkle, and have a gorgeous shift to them – and include Medusa themed names. What more could we want in a polish?

I grabbed these from the Mooncat website – as far as I know that’s the only place they’re sold so far, as they’re more of an indie brand. They retail for $14 each, or if you buy the bundled set you get a touch of a discount. I understand they’re more expensive than mainstream shades, but they are an indie brand and offer different finishes and formulas than you’ll normally see in the mainstream game. I’ve enjoyed trying out these new brands and adding some sparkle to my ever-growing collection!

So let’s get into the swatches already!

***

Read More »

Glam Polish ‘Where the Sky Meets the Sea’ Collection (5 Shades) – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

PR SAMPLE

I’ve been so blessed to be swatching for Glam Polish lately, and listen, we can say straight up here that they release a LOT of shades. They keep me busy in the best way, showing you all of the sparkle and shimmer. There is about one collection a month, so I can understand it can feel very overwhelming. Since I’m receiving shades from most collections, I’m doing my duty here to swatch them up, tell you how they perform, and show those live formulas. Be your lovely little guide through this sea of Glam Polish, you know the drill.

All of Glam Polish’s collections have fun themes, and styles, and they especially have many inspired by popular movies! And along those lines, the set we’re looking at today is the ‘Where the Sky Meets the Sea’ collection, and it’s based on the Disney movie, Moana. We have lots of tropical and shimmery and summery shades inspired by all of those gorgeous hues and shades of that movie. There are 10 total shades releasing, and I have 5 of them to swatch up for you!

These are available on the Glam Polish website both individually as well as in a bundle set. (As always, even though these were so kindly gifted to me, all my thoughts are my own and honest). Their collections and shades stick around for a while, so don’t feel like you need to rush out and buy them immediately if any catch your eye! Just a nice little heads up (I don’t like to swatch super limited edition shades, I don’t want to create a frenzy to buy immediately!)

Now let’s get right into these swatches!

***

Read More »

What’s Up Nails ‘Gust of Wind’ Collection + Polish & Beauty Expo Exclusive – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

PR SAMPLE

You know when your boyfriend is gone for an entire week and you’re like “I’m going to be so productive, I’m going to catch up on blog posts and get so many up!” and then you sit watching satisfying cleaning videos for hours every night instead? Just me, oh okay. But look, CRAIG, I got ONE UP, thats productivity, baby. I’m so proud of me, time to reward myself with more videos.

But actually, let’s look at some polishes today, shall we? That’s what we’re all here for. So today we’re looking at another release from Whats Up Nails! I had previously reviewed their Geodes collection, so I was so excited to be able to review this next release for y’all! Whats Up Nails – or Whats Up Beauty is a whole site selling a variety of brands of indie polishes – as well as featuring tons of nail art supplies, as well as their own line of polishes!

This is the ‘Gust of Wind’ collection and it features 6 polishes. These are available now on their website for purchase! It features 4 shimmers, 1 magnetic shade and 1 reflective glitter. At the very end of the post I also featured their Polish & Beauty Expo exclusive shade (that’s no longer just exclusive to the Expo).

We’ve got some GORGEOUS shades so let’s dive right in!

Read More »

Zoya ‘Hello Summer’ Collection 2022 – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

She’s getting there! She’s slowly catching up on the posts! I swear it’ll happen and I’ll be back on consistently posting again!! Just you wait!! It’s coming!

For today, let’s look at a new Zoya release, shall we?

This is the ‘Hello Summer’ release, and it features 6 previously released popular shades bundled up. On release Zoya also said “Infused with more color saturation and streak-less, full coverage application for the perfect summer kickoff!” – so I was also assuming they came with a new formulation at the release as well. Otherwise they haven’t fully said, but from that I’m still assuming they’re newer formulas.

They also just released another curated palette of previously popular shades called the ‘Summer Vibes’ bundle – those are more shimmery jewel-toned shades. So that means we have no actual new shades for their summer release – but of course if these are shades you’ve felt like you’ve missed out on previously or are new to Zoya it’s a good option, or a nice place to start with.

These are now available on the Zoya website individually! Let’s dive on into the swatches.

Read More »

Nails Inc x Velveeta ‘La Dolce Velveeta’ Duo – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

YES I BOUGHT THE CHEESE POLISH. Yes, you’re seeing the photos correctly, you’re reading all of these words correctly.If you haven’t seen the announcement, Nails Inc collaborated with Velveeta. A cheese product. So let’s discuss.

Now what is Velveeta? It’s so hard to describe to someone who’s never heard of it or tried it. It’s described as a “processed cheese product” and it comes in this brick and it’s kind of jiggly and it’s definitely somewhat cheesy but also just interesting. Just a cheese log basically. It’s kind of creamy, you can feel the processing, but it wasn’t horrible.

As a Midwestern kid who was raised on Velveeta just melted on every vegetable, (listen I would eat straight up slices of this bad boy too, it was the culture, the lifestyle) I had to get this duo. A Velveeta expert had to weigh in here.

So yes Nails Inc decided this was the next collaboration and listen, I’m not mad. I love a bizarre, off the wall collab. And clearly this was to get people talking and it WORKED. This is still my most viewed Instagram story and one of my most liked photos. The people were interested. Especially when they heard it was promised to be cheese scented. We were all ready for the true review, someone had to do it for the people.

This comes in their standard duo packaging, featuring of course 2 polishes. It features the Velveeta logo across both the packaging and the bottle, with a cheese dripping graphic on the caps. It’s gorgeous all around, incredible so far. And it’s still in stock on the Nails Inc website for $15.

***

Read More »

Sinful Colors ‘Fresh Squeeze’ Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

Sinful Colors will always be the brand I built my blog on, the brand who was always there for me with their low prices when I was just a college student on a college student nail budget. I’ll always have a great love for them, and for whatever they continue to put out!

And I love their food themed polishes. They just know how to really commit to a bit, and just really nail (I’m sorry) the look of whatever theme they’re going for. So when I saw previews and sneak peeks of this newest set, I just had to get it. Who doesn’t love a fruit themed shade?

This is the ‘Fresh Squeeze’ collection, and as noted above, we have 6 fruit themed shades. There are 5 full color bottles, with one more nail care shade in there. It’s called ‘Glowing’ and it’s a clear nail brightener – I didn’t grab that one, but I did grab the other 4 available in the US now. I talk about it at the end of the post as well, but there’s a 5th peach shade that was promised to come to the US this summer as well, but we haven’t seen it, and it’s enough to get these 4 reviewed.

These are available in Target stores as well as online at Target’s website! They’re just as affordable as ever, being just $2.99 a bottle, I just love that so much. They’re just so gorgeous and fun so let’s dive on into them already!

***

Read More »

Essie Summer 2022 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

Yes, yes, once again here’s my same spiel about sorry for disappearing and not posting for so long and I’m looking to get back into more of a routine because I’m missing this blog. But it’s TRUE. I do miss this blog and I feel guilty when I see I posted nothing in a month! THAT’S MY BAD. Sure, Instagram will always be my main platform – but this blog will always provide things that Instagram cannot. Like being able to search and pull up any collection post and swatch, and have it as a reference. My blog is still continuing to pull in views, so clearly it’s still helpful to all of y’all, and because of that I’ll be posting. So don’t worry, no matter how sporadic I get at times, I’ll always come back.

But WHEW I’m BEHIND on the summer collections and posts here! I posted up some and just never posted others WHOOPS. If I’m truly looking to continue to be a resource in the nail world here, it’s about time I finished these on up, huh? So let’s talk about the Essie Summer 2022 collection! I swear the next ones will be more season appropriate. (So funny to say as I know we’re still smack dab in the middle of the summer but the nail world moves fast, we’re already getting previews of fall collections).

This is their typical 6 bottle release, and it features 5 bright cream shades and one super interesting shimmer! I actually bought this from beyondpolish.com as they have the shades for a more discounted price! My new Essie supplier really. They’re also available from Ulta – but for full price.

So you’ve been waiting long enough for this one already, let’s dive right into the swatches!

***

Read More »

China Glaze x Jurassic World: Dominion Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

Y’all like some dinosaurs? Who doesn’t love dinosaurs, I know I do. So do I have the collection for you!

China Glaze has collaborated with the upcoming new movie, Jurassic World: Dominion, for a great 8 piece themed release. We have a couple creams, and then some interesting shimmers and flakes and textures all throughout this. All of the names relate to the movie, as well as the polishes themselves. I love when a mainstream brand does a more interesting collaboration, so I was so excited for these shades!

As always I grabbed this set from polishpick.com – always great discounts and prices on polish and fast shipping! Never any complaints. (If you happen to purchase, you can mention Gingerly Polished – I make nothing from it but it lets the brand see where the traffic is coming from!)

I’m keeping it short here, as I’m sure you just want to get into these polishes, and see what they’re all about, so let’s get on into the swatches!

***

Read More »

Orly ‘POP!’ Summer 2022 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

Oh you probably thought I was just GONE, didn’t ya! Well NOPE, you won’t ever get rid of me. Don’t you WORRY, I’ve still been buying mounds of nail polish and I still have lots and lots of shades to show you. This here blog isn’t going ANYWHERE, and in fact, as we continue on in this summer I only want to get more and more consistent in my posting again. Because I MISS Y’ALL. And I just like talking about nail polish, that’s not going to change anytime soon.

ANYWAYS, let’s talk about this next collection shall we? We have a few more summer releases to look at still, more shades for the warm weather coming out.

This is the POP! collection and it’s Orly’s release for Summer 2022. It features 4 cream shades, 1 shimmer and 1 topper. As always, I got this in my Orly Color Pass. If you’ve seen any of my previous posts about Orly you know what that is – but just in case you’re new here, it’s a special that Orly does where you pay up front, and then throughout the year you’re automatically sent 4 of Orly’s seasonal releases. And they always contain an extra fun goodie in each box. I always say it’s a deal if you’re already planning on grabbing all of the collections like me. But you can also purchase one box at a time now to try it out! So lovely all around. Otherwise, these shades are available individually on the Orly website.

We have some gorgeous colors here, so let’s get right on into the swatches! Let’s see if these shades do truly POP. (Sorry, I had to).

Read More »