Continuing right along with my post catch-up! I fully believe in me to finally get all of these posts up, I’M DETERMINED. LET’S GET INTO IT. (If you haven’t seen other posts, I definitely got a little bit behind, and ended up taking a break with the companion posts to swatches I post on Instagram. Even if its out of season, I still want to post up these reviews, so here we go! And as mentioned, I’m still always posting swatches on my Instagram, so be sure to follow me there, @GingerlyPolished. For full transparency I’m currently writing this on November 14, but adjusted the date so they’re spaced out in the order posted on Instagram, and so November doesn’t get overwhelmed with summer posts, ALRIGHT OKAY I’M DONE).

***

We’re looking at the other half of the OPI Summer 2020 release. They released 6 shades in both their Infinite Shine finish, as well as in their regular lacquer formula. I linked the Infinite Shine review up above, so now we’re looking at the 6 regular lacquer shades!

As always I purchased these bad boys off of polishpick.com, and they’re still available there.

This part of the collection features 6 shade of different colored, more sheer bases with glitter throughout. They have an almost flakie look to them, without having larger glitters. Overall they all have pretty similar formulas, so you’ll see that reflected in the notes for each shades. A couple are more sheer than others, and of course I noted that in the individual shades!

Alright, it’s been long enough without this post, let’s just get into it already!

********

Up first we have ‘She’s a Prismaniac’, the pink version with blue-purple shimmer all throughout. This had a sheer 1st coat but it’s smooth, so it could be a nice 1 coat nail look depending on your preferences. Most of these shades can be worn in that way as well!

It builds up well with 2 thicker coats, but you could still have some nail line peeking through, so I did a 3rd coat to fully cover everything up.

Nails Inc ‘Naked in Neon’ Set – Swatches & Review

July 26, 2020November 14, 2020 GingerlyPolished4 Comments

Whooo boy I went a little dark there for a while (okay like a month). I can’t explain it, I just apparently needed to not blog for a while, but now we’re catching up so that’s right you’re getting like 9 posts over the next two days. You know, that feeling when you don’t feel like doing anything for a couple weeks, and then suddenly you have the motivation to bring the blog back up to speed. We have to ride this motivation as long as it lasts.

This is also a good place to plug my Instagram (always linked at the end of posts as well), as I always post swatches there first even if the full blog posts aren’t finished. But enough rambling, we have posts to catch up on!!

***

So summer may be winding down, but of course, there’s still some posts about neons to look at. It’s still warm down here, so event though I’m very ready to wear some sweaters and drink pumpkin spice lattes, summer isn’t over yet. Let’s look at some neons I wore!

I always said I’m not that much of a seasonal polish wearer, and wear any color you want any time of the year, but dang, did this summer heat have me craving ALL of the neons. I know, groundbreaking. In this first review we’re looking at the Nails Inc Naked in Neon set. I had seen swatches of this from other lovely creators I follow and lord, I could not resist, it just looked so beautiful. And I’m so glad I didn’t.

This retails for $22 on the Nails Inc and Sephora websites for 4 of their full sized nails polishes – keep in mind their individual polishes can retail for $15 each, so this is a pretty solid deal all around.

It features 3 bright neons and one neutral beige cream. Let’s get into the swatches already, as these beauties basically speak for themselves!

Color Club ‘Pride & Joy’ Collection – Swatches & Review

July 23, 2020November 14, 2020 GingerlyPolished2 Comments

Whew, it’s been a little bit since I’ve put up a post! If you didn’t see in my last one, my computer had some keyboard issues, so there were extra spaces all over the place, and it was just a pain to type up posts! But it’s all fixed up, I have a lot of swatches and posts to get up, so August will be full of reviews! I don’t want to ramble too much, so let’s get right into it!

***

Color Club recently has had a lot of sales, including a BOGO, on their website, so I chose that time to stock up on some neons, as well as some of their newer collections. (Color Club likes to release like 9 collections at once, so I didn’t grab them all). But they have some beautiful shades, and I think they’re truly underrated! So you’re about to get a whole lot of Color Club action.

This first collection we’ll be looking at today is the Pride & Joy collection! I believe it was released for Pride month, but of course, we accept LGBTQIA+ all months of the year, and these are just beautiful colors for anytime of the year (or the warmer months if you’re feeling more seasonal). It has 6 cream shades, some with shimmer throughout them as well.

These retail for $8.50 each on the Color Club website, but as mentioned they have a ton of sales, so I don’t think I’ve ever grabbed them at full price! Be sure to follow their Instagram or mailing list to be notified of different sales!

Let’s get into swatches already.

OPI Hidden Prism Infinite Shine Summer 2020 Collection – Swatches & Review

July 10, 2020August 29, 2020 GingerlyPolished3 Comments

My computer keyboard has been wigging out for a wh ile now, and you knowIshould really get itfixed. What’s i t doing youask? Well, exactly what you’reseeing. here. (I promise I’m not typing like that the whole time, I just needed you to see what I’m dealing with here).

That’s right, my spacebar is acting up and you never realize how much you’re controlled by just one key until that key starts going haywire. There was one terrifying day when it just stopped working in general. That’s right I had to google “myspacebarisn’tworking” and I was copy and pasting in spaces as I went. It suddenly started working again, but really it hasn’t been the same since.

Now it just does little bursts all throughout the day of BOTH not adding spaces, and then adding in 9 at a time. So a lot of my typing involves going back to add in lost spaces, and deleting the extra 7 in an other place. It’s been as fun as it sounds. Do you even care about any of this? Probably not, but of course I’m going to tell you about it because I like to share. So if you see any random extra spaces or words crammed together throughout this entire post, please remember my struggle.

***

ANYWAYS, let’s talk about some polish now shall we? Today we’re looking at the Summer 2020 release for OPI! This is the Hidden Prism collection, and just like the Neo-Pearl release before it, OPI has released 6 shades in the regular line, and then 6 different shades in the Infinite Shine line, for a total of 12 new shades. The regular lacquers are more shimmery and sparkly jellies, while the Infinite Shine polishes are more shifty, shimmery creams.

And we’re looking at the Infinite Shine segment of it today!

As mentioned in the Neo-Pearl post, the Infinite Shine is supposed to be their more long-wearing line of polishes. And as always, I’m only wearing my polish for a couple days at a time so I’m not the one to comment on the longevity. We’re always just here to look at the colors and the formula in general.

I bought these off of polishpick.com (aka where I buy all of my OPI polishes) It’s available now with the regular lacquers as well. The regular lacquers sell for $5.50 each and the Infinite Shine polishes are $6.50 each. Let’s get into it already!

Orosa Beauty ‘Cool Heat’ Summer 2020 – Swatches & Review

July 6, 2020 GingerlyPolished4 Comments

PURCHASED & PR SAMPLE

Woo-hoo we’re actually all caught up on blog posts currently! We love that! And yes, okay that might seem like a standard thing for a blog. But I mean it mainly in the way that I have all of the posts up to match what’s on my Instagram. Since the posts take a little longer I usually have swatches up on Instagram first with the full review and blog post coming after. (Small plug to follow me on Instagram too – you’ll find the link at the end of every post!) And now we’re all synced up! Let me have the small victories, okay.

I’ve also been hauling a ton of polish lately, so be prepared for lots more posts on this way!

Okay, okay I’m done, I’ll start talking about the polish pictured already.

***

We’re looking at the newest collection from Orosa Beauty. This is called the Cool Heat collection, and is their traditional 6 piece size, featuring 6 new cream shades. The shades retail for $12 each, or the full 6 piece bundle retails for $62 on their website.

Orosa Beauty was so kind to send over 3 of the shades, and then I went ahead and bought the other 3! As always, they sent the PR to me with no strings attached – I was not obligated to post or review these, and I chose to myself. And as always, even though it’s PR, it’s all of my own honest thoughts and feelings. As you can see, I would still buy this collection even if it wasn’t sent! Alright disclaimers over, let’s look at the polishes!

Loud Lacquer ‘I’m So Excited’ Collection – Swatches & Review

July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 GingerlyPolished4 Comments

We have another new-to-me brand to look at today, and it’s another indie! I have been slowly adding in some smaller and more independent brands into the blog, but I will say I’ll still be focusing mainly on mainstream brands. I’m not going to be reviewing every single smaller indie brand, because my budget wouldn’t allow it and I’ve already got so much polish to review now! Just wanted to quick put that out there if you’re questioning why you seem some brands and not others! These are just the collections that personally interest me and that I could put into my budget! There are tons of full indie bloggers and Instagrammers out there! Okay I’m done.

***

Today’s brand is Loud Lacquer! This is a cruelty free and vegan nail polish brand that I believe is based out of California. It’s a woman-owned brand, and their polishes have intrigued me for a while. It was when they released this new collection that I just couldn’t resist and finally chose to check them out!

This is the I’m So Excited collection and it’s inspired by the classic TV show “Saved by the Bell”. It features 4 super bright and saturated shades. This set retails for $45 on the Loud Lacquer website, or you can buy the shades individually for $11.99 for Buddy Bands & PSA, and $12.50 for the 2 neons, Kapowski and Hot Sundae. It is a small independent brand, so the prices will be a little higher, so of course, it’s all about your own budget and preferences!

The bottles are super fun as they have LOUD spelled out around the sides. I think it’s a fun branding move and makes them stand out from other polishes! (Yes I was having too much fun making sure the bottles spelled out Loud, okay)

And let’s get on into the swatches!

RX Polish ‘The Freedom Collection’ – Swatches & Review

July 4, 2020 GingerlyPolished4 Comments

Happy 4th of July weekend to all of my fellow Americans. Obviously this holiday looks a lot different right now, and it seems like there’s not too much to celebrate right now, but I hope you can at least get a restful weekend with family.

And I’m always here to talk about some polishes, especially ones to support the different causes happening in this country right now. I purchased these near the end of June, and it’s a new brand to me! It’s an indie brand called RX Polish. I’ve seen others that I follow swatching their polishes, but I finally went for it and bought this trio!

The main thing that pushed me, besides the beautiful colors, is that throughout the month of June, they donated 100% of profits from the sale of this trio to various organizations supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Obviously as we’re past June, they’re no longer continuing that, but the collection is still available and I linked to those organizations below so you can still directly donate to them.

These retail for $10 each, or for $27 for the trio on their website. They are .35fl oz, while a normal polish, like OPI, normally have .5fl oz., so they are a touch smaller. Of course, you have to keep in mind that it’s a smaller independent brand overall, and they’re a much smaller operation! Now let’s get into the polishes!

Lights Lacquer YNBB Collection – Swatches & Review

June 21, 2020 GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

To begin this post, I’m again going to be discussing how I want to continue to learn and improve this blog to keep making it more inclusive. It came up when I was swatching this specific collection, and I was thinking about how I describe polishes, especially with shades I’ve called “nudes” in the past.

Describing and naming polishes and colors in general is an area I want to improve in. I know I’m guilty of describing any sort of light beige color as a “nude’. Now it could be a “nude” shade on my certain skin tone, but I’ve never described a deep brown as a “nude”, even though it’s a nude on deeper skin tones than mine. It wasn’t something I was doing maliciously, or purposefully to exclude others, but it’s these small things that we don’t even realize that are the most important to be aware of and slowly adjust. It’s just like when Crayola used to have just one color named “Flesh”. It just adds to the idea that a lighter skin tone is the “norm” and the only “nude”, and that’s an idea we need to slowly work through and break down.

I highly recommend reading this post from Temptalia called “How the Language of Beauty Needs to Change“. In this she talks about different naming conventions in the beauty industry and how they can contribute to a problem without us even realizing it. She brings up this very idea of “nude” and how it’s almost became one specific color in beauty (in a more articulate way than me, I’m sure). My favorite quote is “Nude is a concept, not a color”. And so I’m taking that with me going forward. I’ll be describing the actual color of the polish itself, and leaving “nude” to a concept, or theme. Or in this case, a whole collection of Nudes.

Thank you for listening, and now into the actual polish.

***

This is the YNBB (Your Nails But Better) collection from Lights Lacquer! As mentioned we have 6 shades all of various “nude” colors, from a super light beige down to a deep brown. I grabbed these off the Lights Lacquer website, and you can get all 6 shades bundled for $52, or individually for $9.50 each.

Maybe a collection of 6 neutrals isn’t the most exciting for you, but of course, polish is so personal so I’m not one to decide what is or isn’t exciting! It’s a new polish release to talk about so it’s automatically exciting to me! Let’s dive into swatches already!

LA Colors Metals Nail Polish – Swatches & Review

June 20, 2020 GingerlyPolished5 Comments

Listen, I told you all that you were getting a lot of posts as I worked through my backlog today, so ENJOY THEM. This poor post has been waiting in my drafts for far too long, and I’m finally setting it free because these polishes are just beautiful. (Also here’s an advertisement to follow my Instagram, as I often post swatches, like these ones, up there even if the blog posts aren’t done yet!!)

So let’s look at these beauties already! These are the Metal line from LA Colors. LA Colors describes them as having a “metal effect from bright, jewel tones to classic metals”

Now I will say, I wouldn’t quite call these “metal” finish. I do think of more chrome finishes with “Metal”, so I will call these super foiled shimmer shades. I know, I know, semantics, but of course, I always want you all to know exactly what you’re getting and what to expect with a polish!

There are 14 shades in this line, and I have 8 here! The 6 I didn’t grab were a mix of golds and silvers, and pinks that I wasn’t as interested in. I know Accio Nails has swatched all of the shades, so I recommend her Insta posts as well for any shades not here! (And her swatches were the ones that convinced me to buy these in the first place!)

I grabbed these off the LA Colors website, and they’re $3 each. You can also find these at the Dollar Tree for only $1 as well!

So let’s get into the colors!

Nailtural Core Shades – Swatches & Review

June 20, 2020 GingerlyPolished1 Comment

PR SAMPLE

Of COURSE, there’s always some more nail polish to talk about! It’s about to be a rainy Saturday here, so I’m using it to finally get caught up on various blog posts! Be prepared to see a bunch in a row as I work through some backlog! Who doesn’t love an abundance of reading material on a rainy day though?

***

Today we’re looking at some more shades from a brand called Nailtural! I have a post here talking about their newest collection, Malibu. And now I have 5 more shades from their core line to show! They were so kind to send these over to me for review, but as always all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Nailtural is a line of vegan, 16-free polishes with up to 85% natural ingredients! They use potato, beet and cassava extracts! It’s super interesting, and I love being able to show you some more vegan polishes.

As you can see they also have these cute bottle handles as well! It’s the actual plastic of the handle itself, so it’s not a sticker that’ll slowly peel and tear away.

Hopefully they’ll be available to order through their website again soon, but I also found some shades on the Walmart.com website, and I’ve heard they’re available in Rite-Aid stores as well! It’s also showing as available in some Walmart stores in Canada, as well as Boots. So lots of places!

I have 5 creams to show you today, so let’s get right into the swatches!

GINGERLY POLISHED

OPI Hidden Prism Regular Lacquer Summer 2020 – Swatches & Review