OPI ‘Big Zodiac Energy’ Fall 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

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HAPPY FALL Y’ALL. I always love a new season of nail polishes, and I have to say Fall is always my favorite for any sort of beauty. It’s always vampy, and bold and rich and I just love the shades, the oranges, the greens. And August-Septmber always kicks off the fall season in the nail world – even if the outside weather is not quite matching. (It’s supposed to get back up into the 80s here in Chicago and I NOT happy with it).

Weather aside, of course, I always love to dive into the newest seasonal releases with OPI’s collection.

This year for Fall 2023, OPI’s release is the ‘Big Zodiac Energy’ collection. It’s the traditional 12 bottle release, and as you might guess, they’re inspired by the 12 zodiac signs. Astrology is very popular, and whether or not you fully believe in it, we’re just here for fun and sparkly nail polishes. In the past I have loved any sort of collection that uses it for inspiration – they’ve usually always included rich jewel colors and sparkles and shimmer, and I’m glad to say this OPI set was no different! If you’re not a glitter lover, this set won’t be for you. We don’t have any creams in this set, it’s all shimmery goodness.

I purchased these from polishpick.com as I always do. They are also available from beyondpolish.com (and you can use my code GINGERLYPOLISHED for 10% off any individual items there. It is affiliated, so I do get a small commission, but as always no pressure to use it!).

Enough talk, let’s jump right into the swatches already!

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Orly ‘Plot Twist’ Fall 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

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The weather has absolutely been SWINGIN’ here in Chicago and it truly cannot make up its mind. We had some little peeks of gorgeous fall weather for a week or so, and I was thriving in those 60s and low 70s. HOWEVER. Now we once again have some rampant 85 degree weather days on the horizon, THEY JUST WON’T LET GO, and I’m going to need it to stop.

But if you’re like me, and not letting that residual hot weather stop you from wearing all of the pumpkin orange and cozying up in a chair with a good mystery paperback, this release is for you.

That’s right, as you can tell by the title, we’re looking at Orly’s newest seasonal set for Fall 2023. It’s the ‘Plot Twist’ collection, but the color palette is anything but. We have 5 creams and then 1 deep shimmer, and all of these colors are going to feel familiar. They feel cozy, they feel comfortable, like an oversized sweater or the above mentioned well-read mystery book. Maybe there’s not actual twist here in colors, but we’ll act surprised anyways.

If you’re intrigued, these polishes are available as always on the Orly website as well as on Beyond Polish (though some of the shades there are sold out there).

Now let’s get on into the swatches!

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Sally Hansen Miracle Gel ‘Totally 90s’ Collection – Swatches & Review

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Listen, somehow I’ve ended up with a large amount of newer Sally Hansen releases, all sitting on my desk, just staring at me, waiting to be swatched up. I can’t fully explain it, there’s just something about seeing a set of their Miracle Gel bottles all lined up, in a beautiful new color story, I just want them all. And then on the other side they’ll have cute little collaborations from their Insta-Dri line. And then suddenly, with all of these different lines all concurrently releasing new collections, I end up with just a pile of new Sally Hansen polishes. It’s a problem.

Now, I can’t just let them go to waste, I can’t just let them collect dust, unreviewed – they need to have their PURPOSE. (I’m making this all more poetic than ‘I’ve spent money on these, I should get content out of them’). So this is all to say there’s going to be a lot of Sally Hansen reviews coming up later. I know you’re curious as you glance at those polishes sitting on their little displays as you browse in Walgreens. I know you want to know, “are those any good?, are they worth the $12?”

So I bought them so you don’t have to, time to TALK ABOUT THEM.

We’re starting out this stream of Sally Hansen reviews with the newest release in the Miracle Gel line. The Miracle Gel line is their most expensive, with the larger bottles, and they just look the fanciest. With any of these “gel” lacquer lines, you don’t need a lamp or to cure it at all – but they’re not going to wear long term like gel. I fully ignore the Gel claims and just treat them like regular lacquer, which they are.

This particular release is called the ‘Totally 90s’ collection, and with that we have 8 shades in a rainbow of creams and shimmers, all inspired by the bright colors of the previous decades. I was so excited for those colors right away, so I had to see what we were working with.

You can find these at Sally Beauty (for a discount!) as well as at Walgreens and other drugstores.

Alright they’ve been waiting long enough, let’s look at the swatches!

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Glam Polish ‘Life in Plastic’ Collection – Swatches & Review

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You THOUGHT we were done with all of the Barbie collaborations but you’re WRONG. There’s MORE. (I say this with only swatching one other Barbie polish collection before this – see it here with my OPI x Barbie collection review). But we all know there’s been endless marketing and products from this movie release, and I for one, fully accept and endorse our pink overlords.

Listen, I know it seems like such an overload of Barbie and pink marketing, but it’s just CUTE. Women (and men and non-binary friends) everywhere are celebrating unabashedly loving pink once again, and I’m always here to support that. As someone who had an entirely pink bedroom as a child (I’m talking pink carpet, walls, curtains and bed spread) of course, I love it, and let it continue for so long. (We need to have more themed dress ups for movies, I’m just saying).

And of course, never ones to miss out on a pop culture themed collection opportunity, Glam Polish had to get in on the action and release their own Barbie nail polish collection. Though this collection doesn’t feature that traditional Barbie pink cream, we still have that essential Barbie color palette – with bright pinks, yellows and blues – just in a little different formula and finish.

We have 6 shades, 5 of which are crelly glitter mixes and 1 clear base glitter topper. As always these are available from the Glam Polish website! So let’s get into the swatches already! Let’s go, Barbie!

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OPI x Barbie the Movie Collection – Swatches & Review

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Have you all heard of a little movie that’s out right now? A little movie called Barbie? I’m sure you haven’t seen anything about it at all.

Listen, if you’re sick of it by now, if you’re haunted by all the versions of the lyrics “I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world”, if you see pink in every single waking moment – I’m sorry to say look away now, there’s another Barbie collaboration we’re looking at today.

That’s right, MORE BARBIE, BRING IT ON. In all seriousness though, I do love all of these releases. I love the resurgence of Barbie as well as wearing pink for adults. I’m so happy and pleased, and come on, if it makes you happy and isn’t hurting anyone, what more can we ask for. (I get it can seem like a lot, but we’re living in Hot Barbie Summer right now, in an age of 2 original Blockbusters dominating at theaters, at sold out shows at 10am, and as an avid moviegoer I couldn’t want anything more).

So yes, let’s look at this newest Barbie collaboration. This is a new release from OPI celebrating, of course, the Barbie movie. We have 9 gorgeous shades, in some obvious tones of pink, as well as some blue and yellow and lots of glitter and sparkle. These shades all come with a special cap, with the OPI logo and Barbie the Movie printed on it. So you’ll never forget where these came from. I will say it’s not directly printed on the caps, but instead is a separate plastic wrap – not my favorite but I do love a themed package.

All of these shades are available from polishpick.com as well as from Beyond Polish (as always I have an affiliate link and code – GINGERLYPOLISHED – with Beyond Polish that gives you a 10% discount on individual items. I do make a small commission from each sale – but no pressure to use and purchase as always).

So alright, let’s get on into the swatches now! Let’s go Barbie. (I had to).

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Orly x Adam Lambert ‘High Drama’ Collection – Swatches & Review

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When Orly sent out the preview for this collection I was just sent BACK IN TIME. Back to listening to the entire “For Your Entertainment” album as a freshmen in high school, most likely leaning my head against the car window and imagining I was in a music video. You know, things we all did. So of course I was excited for this full circle moment as a 28 year old.

If you can’t tell by the album mentioned above, this newest Orly release is a collaboration with Adam Lambert. If you’re not familiar with Adam, he was the runner up of season 8 of American Idol, way back in 2009. Since then he’s been consistently releasing music, as well as touring with Queen as their fill-in lead singer (my mom and I will be seeing them in October!).

So now, as Adam is releasing his newest album, ‘High Drama’, we have the Orly collaboration to celebrate. It’s also called the ‘High Drama’ collection, and takes inspiration from the album and cover itself for the color palette.

We have 6 shades in this set – with 1 entirely new shade created by Adam himself, and then 5 previously existing shades that he loved. I mention further down when each of those 5 shades was previously released, and whether it was in the regular lacquer or the Breathable formulation. This is all to make sure you don’t get any accidental overlap if you already own those shades.

These are available from the Orly website, both in a bundle, and individually. So let’s get on into the swatches!

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Starrily ‘Noble Gas Neons’ Collection – Swatches & Review

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Two things about me and this blog:

1. Starrily is a brand that’s always hovering around in the edge of my brain, as I keep up with their newer releases, hoping for a collection to grab my eye. (Although their recent Love Spell set was INSANELY GORGEOUS and also sold out SO fast).

And, 2. for the longest time, after I first started wearing nail polish consistently, I just plain avoided neons. I just couldn’t be bothered with swatching them over a white base, they were streaky, they were sheer, and they just didn’t feel worth it to me.

BUT with that point, we have been so blessed as neons have continually improved over the years, and we’ve been getting more and more opaque formulas. We no longer need white bases to get that intense brightness, and so my interests have changed. I’m a new person, with new nails, and these nails understand the beauty of a neon nail in the summer sun.

And so when Starrily reached out to send over their newest set of 6 new neon shades, both of those scratches above were wonderfully itched, and I couldn’t be more excited.

Said collection is the ‘Noble Gas Neons’ collection from Starrily. As you can tell, it features 6 more squishy, yet still bright neon shades. We’ve got the more “typical” neon shades, from the bright pink and orange, to a highlighter yellow and green, so these could be a fantastic neon foundation for anyone’s collection.

These are of course available on the Starrily nails website (along with 3 other neon shades filled with holographic sparkle). Time to jump on into the swatches!

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China Glaze ‘What’s the Scoop?’ Summer 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

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And now for the last mainstream summer collection that I have to show y’all on the blog for this year! (Obviously there were many more, but I can only buy and post so many). Summer is just zooming right on by. (We’ll be getting into fall collections before we know it! Sorry I had to say it). (Do I have enough parenthesis yet).

Today on this summery day, we’re looking at China Glaze’s newest seasonal release. This is the ‘What’s the Scoop?’ collection for Summer 2023. This features 6 saturated shades, all with fun ice cream names. To me summer always includes ice cream on a warm evening, so I’m already a fan of the theme. Most of these shades have a more squishy, jelly-like finish, with more sheer formulas and shiny finishes. Some of these jellies were gorgeous, giving a true melted popsicle look to the nails – while others were a bit more streaky – spoiler alert.

As always I purchased these from polishpick.com. They’re still my favorite place to pick up China Glaze from, as they have the best prices and shipping! They’re also available from BeyondPolish.com as well though they don’t seem to have the two pink shades any longer. (The pinks are still at Polish Pick). Y’all know the drill that I do have an affiliate code for BeyondPolish for 10% off individual items (GINGERLYPOLISHED)! Feel free to use it or not, up to you!

That’s all I have, let’s get on into the swatches!

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Mooncat ‘Pretty Prehistoric’ Collection – Swatches & Review

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Have you ever thought to yourself, “Hey I need some nail polishes inspired by dinosaurs?” If so, well, Mooncat has a new release for you! (Who hasn’t had that thought, really).

Listen, Mooncat has quickly made it’s way right into my heart, and I’m just always on the lookout now for their newest releases. They fully have a hold on me, I shall buy whatever they put out, and that’s just even more true after how much I loved this set of polishes. I mean, COME ON, DINOSAURS.

This is the ‘Pretty Prehistoric’ collection, and as you might guess, it features 8 gorgeous shades all inspired by the colors of the prehistoric age of the that we’ve all seen in textbooks and museums for years now. We’ve got some blues, greens and purples, and a gorgeous orange-red. Very Jurassic. There’s lots and LOTS of flakies and shimmers and shiftiness here, and the color palette and finishes just feel prehistoric somehow. Don’t ask me why, it just does.

All of these shades dry with a more matte finish, and of course, a top coat can be added on for another look and to bring out that shimmer even more. These are available on the Mooncat website, both in a discounted bundle, or individually.

Let’s get on into the swatches!

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Orly ‘Great Escape’ Summer 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

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My boyfriend and I are pretty active people – traveling a lot and constantly doing things (more like he’s very active and keeps me continually leaving the apartment, which I appreciate). With that and all of our previous planning, we ended up being busy/traveling 3 weekends in a row – with a Taylor Swift concert, a bachelorette party and then a visit to Washington D.C. Now. I do love being busy and I love all of these things. BUT I was also so excited when we had a free weekend finally. And I had big plans of being cozy on the couch and finally catching up on blog posts, as that was the thing to fall by the wayside over the busy month.

Then I fell asleep and watched YouTube videos and TikToks all day. Listen, sometimes the productivity is just doing absolute nothing.

But now I’m here, I’m rested, and it’s time I finally get all these summer collection reviews posted on up. (They’re always swatched on Instagram first, so be sure to follow me there, but I know it’s easier to reference and search later on the blog). This review is just the first of lots of catch-up posts on the way so if y’all subscribe you’ll get all of those updates sent right to you. Or just keep coming on back to see what’s new.

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Now for this next summer collection! This is ‘Great Escape’ and it’s Orly’s summer release. Just like Essie’s release, we get a “non-traditional” summer color palette with this one, and I’m always here to encourage that. We’ve got some oranges and some blues, and one lovely little chartreuse. This set features 2 cream shades, and then 4 more frosty shimmer shades.

Just like any other release, they’re available on the Orly website individually or in nice little bundles. You could also receive this currently when signing up for the Orly Color Pass – which I had for years before I was so lucky to receive PR from the brand. I absolutely loved the Color Pass when I had it – it’s where you pay upfront and then receive the 4 seasonal collections throughout the year, along with other goodies in every single box. Super nice if you’re planning on buying all the sets anyways. You can also just buy each collection box individually as well. We love the options!

Alright, enough with the purchasing options, I know you want to see what the shades look like before even deciding. Onto the swatches!

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