Essie ‘Blue Moon’ Halloween 2020 Collection – Swatches & Review

November 2, 2020December 6, 2020 GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

Behind the Scenes: I’m actually finishing up this review on December 6th. As mentioned too many times, I’m slowly catching up on a backlog of posts that built up when I took an unexpected couple of months break from blogging (and then I adjust the date to show when they were posted on Instagram – def follow my Insta as that’s more caught up). 90% of the polishes I review are still available to purchase (I don’t love to review SUPER limited edition things) but this is one post where it might be hard or almost impossible to find the shades at the point I’m writing! But I still wanted to get it posted up! I have the swatches, I don’t want them to go to waste. There’s a chance you can find these in certain target stores, or in a destash, so just in case, here are swatches!

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I’m a big supporter of brands releasing Halloween collections and I fully think there should be MORE. Yes, this is a campaign I throw myself entirely behind. And this year, along with China Glaze who usually brings out some sort of Halloween release, Essie did as well! We are truly blessed.

This is the Blue Moon collection and it contains 6 super shimmery and sparkly shades. I actually managed to grab 5 of the 6 shades off of Target’s website. HOWEVER, tragedy struck and the package with 2 of the shades just got lost, so somewhere out in the world those polishes are hanging out. I hope they’re happy.

SO we’re unfortunately only looking at 3 of the 6 today. This collection was popular and I can see why! The 3 shades I don’t have are ‘Once in a Blue Moon’, a deep navy base with larger silver flakes; ‘Like a Charm’, a deep teal base with stunning bright green shimmer; and ‘Broom with a View’, a more gray-toned blue with silver shimmer.

Alright, let’s look at the shades that actually managed to make it to my doorstep!

China Glaze ‘Spellbound’ Halloween 2020 Collection – Swatches & Review

October 28, 2020December 29, 2020 GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

Listen, one thing I’ll forever love about China Glaze and something I hope they never stop doing is releasing collections just for Halloween. Some of their iconic and most talked about releases have been previous Halloween collections, and I’m sad that I didn’t join the nail community until after some of these classics. (Forever wanting a bottle of Don’t Let the Dead Bite). They have come out with some of the most weird and unique shades for these collections and just GIVE ME MORE.

Now 2020 has been real weird, and of course has affected releases overall. Because of –you know-, China Glaze didn’t release a fall collection for the year, but we still did get a Halloween release and that’s all I need. (I fully know at the point of posting that most of these shades are sold out, but I did still want to get this review up! Mostly for archival purposes, or for anyone who happens to run across them in a destash or otherwise!)

So today we’re looking at the China Glaze Spellbound collection, a 6 bottle release for Halloween! This features 3 matte finish shades, and 3 “normal” finish polishes. I grabbed 3 from PolishPick, but this collection was definitely very popular and was sold out in a lot of places by the time I was getting around to reviewing. I posted about missing out on 3 shades and one of my nail friends Joy from @JoyDumpling (follow her immediately) sent me the 3 I was missing! Forever the nail community is one of the most generous and the friendships I have from it are my favorites.

Alright random little wholesome friendship story aside, let’s get into the swatches!

Orosa Beauty ‘Night Train’ Fall 2020 Collection – Swatches & Review

October 26, 2020November 29, 2020 GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

PURCHASED

As mentioned many times before, I stick to mainstream brands with this blog and my reviews. The indie world is so large and expansive that I’m not even sure where to start! And I know my wallet wouldn’t be able to handle expanding fully into indie reviews as well 😂 (There are so many great reviewers already doing entirely indie-specific posts, so definitely check them out!)

But there are a couple smaller brands now that I just enjoy, and have expanded to reviewing consistently on the blog! And one of them includes Orosa Beauty. They might not technically be “indie” in the way of one person handmixing polishes, but they are still a smaller independent nail polish brand. I did receive a couple collections in PR, but even now when I’m not, I still purchase them to try out as I just enjoy their polishes. It’s just something about those square bottles that are so pretty.

So we’re looking at their Fall 2020 release today! This is the ‘Night Train’ collection and features 6 cream shades. I know cream finishes might not be the most exciting for everyone, but it seems like Orosa is building up a good catalogue of cream shades before branching out into other finishes. Listen, I love all polishes equally so I’ll never say no to a solid cream formula.

I grabbed this off of their website for $60 for all 6 polishes. You do save the price of one polish when purchasing the full set, otherwise each shade retails for $12.

Let’s get right into the swatches!

Loud Lacquer x Bailey Sarian ‘Aqua Tofana’ Collection – Swatches & Review

October 22, 2020November 29, 2020 GingerlyPolished3 Comments

As mentioned before, I’ve enjoyed adding a couple smaller brands to my list to regularly review. And today we’re looking at a newer release from one of those such brands!

This is the Loud Lacquer collection titled ‘Aqua Tofana’. It’s in collaboration with Bailey Sarian, a makeup YouTuber. I absolutely love Bailey, and her series of “Murder, Mystery and Makeup Mondays”, where she recounts a true crime case while doing her makeup. (She does her makeup just to have something to do with her hands, she doesn’t stop to talk about products or techniques – it’s just focused on the case as an fyi). There was one specific night when I worked late and just had on a playlist of those videos to pass the time, so they’ll always have a place in my heart.

The name ‘Aqua Tofana’, as well as the shade names of the polishes, are in relation to Bailey’s video about Giulia Tofana, a woman from the 1600s who was a “professional poisoner”. That’s right, we’re combining two interests, nail polish and true crime today.

I grabbed this off the Loud website. The full bundle retails for $55 for the 4 polishes, otherwise they range from $12.50-$14.50 each. The bundle came with a fun look booklet, showing the promotional photos of Bailey, as well as these 2 stickers containing references from her videos! (I say “suspish” far too often). Overall it was so fun, and I enjoyed the little extras! They’re currently out of stock on the website, but I highly recommend following Loud on Instagram, as they notify when restocks happen.

As mentioned we have 4 polishes in the set – one cream, 2 shimmery metallics, and one topper. Let’s get into the swatches.

Zoya ‘Luscious’ Fall 2020 Collection – Swatches & Review

October 15, 2020December 2, 2020 GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

Slow and steady, we’re slowly catching up on my backlog of blog posts! I’ve mentioned this in other posts, but for some reason I definitely got behind on blogging, and just needed a break from it, which I took for a couple months! But now I’m feeling motivated again, and posting! I know some of these collections are “older”, and we’re well into the next season but I did still want to post these reviews, especially for brands that keep shades around. I’m writing this post actually in December, but I adjusted the date to when swatches went up on my Instagram – to keep them spaced out and not overwhelm anyone reading the blog! (And of course, I know people would be more interested in winter collections, so I want the current season to be the most recent posts on the blog). ALRIGHT ENOUGH BACKSTORY.

Today we’re looking at the Zoya release for Fall 2020! Zoya keeps around the shades released in their collections as individuals (you might just have to search the shade name, or scroll through the library to find them). And they fully advertise at least 2 collections at a time, so there’s no need to rush out and buy this collection immediately. This post is to help you decide for whenever you choose to grab some of the shades!

This is the Luscious collection, and as usual is made up of 12 shades. We have creams, we have some foils, some shimmers and one gorgeous shifty beauty! These retail for $10 each on the Zoya website – though I did grab them on a 50% off sale. (I always recommend following brands on their Instagrams, or through their newsletters to get information about sales. I’ve been able to grab all of their seasonal collections this year on some sort of deal!)

We have a lot of shades to look through, so let’s get right into the swatches!

Essie ‘Let it Ripple’ Collection – Swatches & Review

October 2, 2020November 29, 2020 GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

Essie is on a new game of releasing 8 billion collections a year, so of course we have another Essie review to talk about! Really keeping my nails and my keyboard busy, aren’t they? And it means we have lots of variety of polish to choose from, so you can pick and choose which shades strike your fancy!

Though they are releasing so many collections a year, I’m here as your friendly neighborhood reviewer to say that you’re not at all obligated to collect them all. Sure, I do just because I enjoy it, and I like reviewing them, but I don’t recommend everyone go crazy like me. And this is a great example of a collection that might not appeal to everyone, and if it’s not your preference, feel free to skip out! In the end it’s up to each individual person to decide what they want to add to their collection, I’m just here to show you how it looks!

ALRIGHT enough chattin, lemme tell you what I’m even talking about here. We’re looking at the Essie ‘Let it Ripple’ collection today! It features 6 shimmery and shifty shades that Essie says are “inspired by the pearls and shimmer from sun glistening off of ocean waves”. They’re all very glittery, but pretty well are opaque in 2-3 coats.

These are all still available on the Polish Pick website! It’s where I grab all of my Essie collections, and if you regularly read my posts, you’ll hear me talk endless praise about it every time.

Loud Lacquer x Junior High LA ‘Back to School’ Fall 2020 – Swatches & Review

September 27, 2020November 14, 2020 GingerlyPolished2 Comments

Now I don’t venture too far into indie brands at this point in time – mainly do to budget reasons as I can’t afford them as well as all of the mainstream brands I swatch (and there are so many good indie-only swatches out there). But there are a couple that I have been regularly buying from, and Loud Lacquer has definitely nudged its way in! I picked up their summer release, and just loved the whole branding and concept, and from there have been watching their new releases. (It also helps that they only release 4 at a time, so it’s much easier to grab a full collection).

So let’s look at their fall offering! It’s called ‘Back to School’ and features their traditional 4 polish release. This collection is in partnership with Junior High LA, a non-profit organization out of Los Angeles that helps benefit and showcase marginalized artists! A portion of the profits from this collection will be donated to them! The collection already sold me with the colors, and I’m so glad to support a wonderful cause as well!

I also entirely love spelling out Loud with the bottles too much okay. (Also bottles sold through restocks won’t have the specific letters on them, as it’s easier for them to restock that way. Just an FYI – only the first rounds of new collection drops will have the letters, if that matters at all!)

I grabbed this lil bundle off of Loud Lacquer’s website! (It’s currently out of stock, but they’ll be restocking soon!) Now let’s get into those swatches, shall we?

OPI ‘Muse of Milan’ Fall 2020 Collection – Swatches & Review

September 20, 2020December 30, 2020 GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

I have waxed poetic in many-a blog post over the years about how much I love the fall and that it’s my favorite season. I forever have to live in a place that experiences all 4 seasons because I just need fall in my life. Just pumpkin and apple everything (yes I absolutely love Pumpkin Spice Lattes and I’ll never be ashamed over that), and the weather is cooling down enough for layering but not too cold. Overall it’s just perfect, and honestly it’s too short every year.

One of my favorite parts is always the makeup and nail polish releases. I love some vampy shades on my nails, and fall is the START of those colors and trends, and just gimme all of the deep berries and wines, and oranges.

And OPI delivered! We’ve got a pumpkin orange, a burnt orange, a deep wine cream, a deep teal and blue cream, and some lovely shimmers and interesting finishes. That’s right, today we’re looking at the OPI Fall 2020 collection. This is the Milan collection and OPI says it’s inspired by the vibrant colors, textiles and material trends of Milan’s fashion scenes. They already have my attention.

As always I purchased this whole collection from Polishpick.com, my supplier for all things OPI. They always have the fastest shipping, and the best prices, and you’ve heard me talk about them 19 million times.

We have 12 shades to talk about here, so let’s get into the swatches already.

Sally Hansen Mega Strength ‘Mermaid Vibes’ Shades – Swatches & Review

September 8, 2020November 29, 2020 GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

I have a sizeable collection of Sally Hansen polishes at this point, and I do love to keep an eye out for any new releases. They’re the main drugstore brand still putting out shades, and they often have some unique finishes and releases. So when I saw posts about these shades, I went on a nice little hunt to scoop them up! Or should I say fish them up? Hook them up? Idk I’m going for the mermaid theme here.

I happened to visit my parents for a week (safely of course), and made my normal trip over to their closest Meijer – Chicago doesn’t have Meijer, nor does it have larger stores that get in newer limited collections, so at this point my parents just know I’ll disappear to go look for nail polish. And I found this collection and snatched up 3 of the shades!

This is the ‘Mermaid Vibes’ release in their Mega Strength line. It features 6 new shades. I only have 3 to show you here. The other 3 shades I didn’t grab were ‘Sea Shells’, a baby pink with gold shimmer; ‘Queen Trident’, a bright purple cream; and ‘Mermaid Parade’, a clear topper of golden glitter and larger pink pieces. I just have colors like the other 3, and I wasn’t as interested in the topper.

They seem to be more permanent shades overall as they’re still available on the Ulta website, and you might be able to find them in drugstores as well! They retail for $3 each.

Let’s get into the swatches of the 3 I grabbed!