Mooncat ‘Lost in a Folktale’ Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

Yes it’s true, I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Mooncat. YES, I did in fact make a Twilight reference for that, and I’m not ashamed. We all know the cultural impact that franchise had on us.

And it’s accurate, because Mooncat truly HAS stole my heart. The collections and color palettes they’ve been releasing lately have been SO COOL and so unique, and I just want them all. Especially with this mystical, forest themed set we’re looking at today, I basically had no choice. (Always a joke here, obviously we don’t NEED nail polish, and we should never go into debt for it).

So let’s look at this set of 6 beautiful shades. This is the ‘Lost in a Folktale’ collection, and as the title suggests, it gives out all of the whimsical and magical vibes of a sunny forest. We have 6 shades in a variety of finishes, from flakey, to shimmery, to magnetic. A little something for all forest moods.

These are, of course, available on the Mooncat website – both in a little discounted bundle as well as individually. These photos just speak for themselves, so let’s dive right in already! Onto the swatches!

Read More »

Sally Hansen x Peeps Insta-Dri 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

Y’all know I love a themed collection, an unexpected collaboration, and a weird little texture. So if any of those things have your ears pricking up, keep on reading, and this collection will be for you.

Today we’re looking at the newest release in the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri line: a collaboration with Peeps, just right in time for the Easter holidays. If y’all aren’t familiar with Peeps, they’re a marshmallow company known for releasing chick and bunny shaped sugar covered marshmallows each year in the spring time – mostly for the Easter holiday. As a child I loved eating them (as they were just pure sugar) or microwaving them so they would inflate and blow up (it’s fun, I tell you).

Sally Hansen has collaborated with other candy brands before for their Insta-Dri line, such as Jelly Belly for jellybean themed polish, so honestly this collection and set made sense in my opinion. We have 7 shades here, 6 full color textured shades, and 1 topper. They all have the Peeps logo printed right onto the cap, and they’re named after the different shaped and colored marshmallow creatures they release. 6 of these shades also dry with a textured finish, just like a sugar coated marshmallow. I always love when a brand commits to a theme and of course, so I was very excited when I started seeing promo for them. (And I’m even more excited to see what they continue with in the future).

These are available from Ulta (although always beware their terrible polish shipping), or other drugstores like Walgreens and Walmart. Let’s get on into the swatches!

Read More »

Zoya ‘Daydreaming’ Spring 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

We have our next Spring collection review here, and this set will most likely be the one that’ll have you looking at the color palette and going “spring?”

That’s right, this is the ‘Daydreaming’ set, and it’s Zoya’s release for Spring. It features 6 shades all with a more sheer jelly base and gorgeous multicolor speckled shimmer. We’ve got a deeper blue, some purples, a ruby red and some coppers here, breaking us out of the normal pastels and soft candy shades we normally see for the season. Now, I’m never here to let “out of season” stop me from wearing any color I’m feeling, but of course I understand if these aren’t quite giving you the spring feelings. NO MATTER WHAT, we’re reviewing these shades today and you can’t stop me!!

I purchased these in a little bundle off of Zoya’s website, which came with their wide brushes as well. (It’s Zoya’s annual Earth month sale going on now, so you can grab these for 50% off through April 30, even without donating any old polish). These are also available on the Beyond Polish website for quite a lovely discount as well – and I added my little affiliate code down at the bottom of this post if you were interested.

Alright let’s just get right into these swatches!

Read More »

Glam Polish – ‘Songbird’ Trio 2023 – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

PR SAMPLE

Glam Polish is always up to something, and releasing some new shades, and this month is no different! But this time all I have is a cute little trio to show you! Easy enough to digest, huh. (Well, okay, they did also release an 8 piece collection at the same time inspired by Daisy Jones & The Six, so there’s that too. But we’re only talking about the trio, there’s only 3 polishes here.)

This is the ‘Songbird’ trio, and each shade is named after a different very famous and popular song by the well known American band Fleetwood Mac. Each of the 3 shades is a crelly base just jam packed with various metallic flakes for a gorgeous shifty and unique look.

Of course, these are available on the Glam Polish website for purchase now! Now, there’s only 3 polishes to talk about this time, and I don’t want to spend more time on the intro than the actual post, so let’s just get on into the swatches already!

Read More »

Essie ‘Feel the Fizzle’ Spring 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

AFFILIATE CODE/LINK

We’re continuing with the spring collections, and this one just might be the most Spring™ of them all. It just slaps you in the face with the most Spring colors you could imagine. It fills your mind with chirping birds, blooming flowers, warm sun on your face – okay I’m done. So yes, it’s very spring, yes.

And I’m talking about the newest seasonal release from Essie. This is the ‘Feel the Fizzle’ collection for Spring 2023, and it features 5 saturated spring cream shades, and 1 iridescent topper. Super gorgeous, and just imagine those skittle manicures you can wear with these.

I purchased this lovely little set from Beyond Polish (exciting, this is now an affiliate link! Which means if you click on that and purchase through it, I’ll receive a little commission. You can use GINGERLYPOLISHED for 10% off your order as well – on regular priced items, not the bundle, but no pressure either way! You can just go to Beyond Polish’s website on its own. I wouldn’t link to any websites I don’t use and trust and love myself). Beyond Polish does also have an Essie bundle that gives you a little discount as well if you’re not comfortable using my code! (Essie releases far too much to pay full price amirite).

Alright enough talking about how Spring it is, and let me just show you! Into the swatches!

Read More »

Orly x NASA 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

PR SAMPLE

What more could one need than NAILS and SPACE! You can truly never go wrong with a space themed nail polish, in my humble opinion. And if you agree with that humble opinion, well do I have the collection to show YOU. (Could you ever guess what the theme is here).

Orly recently collaborated with NASA (yes that NASA) and released a space themed (well duh what else) quartet of polishes! We’ve got 3 gorgeous full color shades and 1 topper, all inspired by various explorations and space travel. I was so excited when I saw this release, and couldn’t wait to try out the shades when they showed up on my door!

They also released 4 sets of nail wraps with various space imagery and the NASA logo on them as well, if you’re looking to step up your nail look at all. All of these are available on the Orly website, both in little bundles as well as individually!

These are so gorgeous, I don’t need to ramble on more, so let’s jump right into the swatches!

Read More »

China Glaze ‘Hey Sugar!’ Spring 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

We’re continuing right along with the spring posts with the BRIGHTEST and PUNCHIEST offering this season. This is from China Glaze, and their ‘Hey Sugar!’ collection. We have sweet themed names and shades for these 6 cream polishes. There are rich pinks, oranges and a yellow here to really brighten up your nails and it’s quite the change from the previous muted and vampy winter shades we’ve all been holding on to. It’s SPRING, time to let them GO.

With a name including “sugar”, I did also originally wonder if these might be textured, to mimic some sugary nails, but these are straight, smooth creams. No worries for you texture-haters out there. (I’m a texture-lover so I would have been on board, but fine, I get it).

As always, I purchased this set from my favorite, polishpick.com. Especially for China Glaze, they have amazing prices and I won’t ever be paying full price for a bottle.

Okay, I know those beautiful colors above are calling to you, and you’re anxious for swatches, so let’s dive in!

Read More »

OPI ‘Me, Myself And OPI’ Spring 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished2 Comments

IT’S SPRING here in the nail polish world, even if it wants to continue snowing here in Chicago. I do love a spring collection, with fun shades that brighten up the gray days that we’ll have for the next few weeks still. And it’s always most exciting time over here on the blog when we have a new OPI collection.

So if you haven’t guessed already, we’re looking at OPI’s newest seasonal release. Today we’re looking at the newest spring drop, and it’s the “#MeMyselfAndOPI” collection. This, of course, features 12 shades, and OPI describes it as a way to “Share who u r in a colorverse of ♾️ expression.”. If you can’t tell, or can’t understand that sentence, we’re going for a Social media, tech-y kind of vibe here with the names. (I’ll say in advance, not my favorite, but I get they have to try to keep hip with the times – but I do miss the location themed collections already). We’ve got a rainbow of shades, from pastels to bright creams and some interesting shimmers.

As always, I purchased this whole set from my favorite place, polishpick.com. Y’all know the drill, the best prices for OPI, fast shipping, we love it all around. I’ve ordered from there so many times for so many years and have never had a problem.

Let’s get right into the swatches!

Read More »

Orly ‘Hopeless Romantic’ Spring 2023 Collection – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolished4 Comments

PR SAMPLE

Y’ALL, that label in the corner isn’t lying, yes I’m now officially on the PR list for ORLY. I believed in myself and reached out to sell myself, and they liked what they saw and have been sending over their products! This is a lesson to believe in yourself, and make the first move every so often. Sorry just had to talk about that because I was so excited and proud of myself.

NOW. Y’all also know the drill, the spiel if you will. Just because I’m now receiving these products for free will not change how I’m reviewing them. You can look back on this blog over the years and see that I purchased these Orly collections myself for YEARS. And if they had said no, I would still be purchasing them to review myself. If I hated a formula, and it was so hard to work with? I would absolutely still tell you. You would be able to SEE it in the videos, those aren’t ever edited to improve formulas, they won’t lie. Overall PR just helps me out in the way of freeing up some more funds in my polish budget so I can review other brands for you all. I’ll still continue to buy so much polish on my own and I would never give up your trust in my reviews. Nothing’s changing there.

OKAY I’M DONE, THIS WAS THE FIRST BIG MAINSTREAM BRAND SENDING ME STUFF, we had to go over it all.

NOW. Let’s talk about this little collection, shall we?

This is the ‘Hopeless Romantic’ collection and it’s Orly’s spring release. It features the typical 6 bottle release, with 3 shimmers and 3 creams. The color palette overall has a nice whimsical spring feel to it, spanning from some blues and purples, over to the pinks, peaches and reds. These are available on the Orly website, and I do always recommend their Color Pass if you’re so interested in trying out some shades at a discounted price.

Alright, let’s get right in the swatches!

Read More »

Glam Polish ‘Cutest Crellies’ Collection (5 Shades) – Swatches & Review

GingerlyPolishedLeave a comment

PR SAMPLE

It’s another month, and another Glam Polish release! Yes they release a lot of polishes, there’s always a lot to talk about, I’m glad I can at least show you some swatches to help you out with some decisions here. Your Glam Polish guide (for 5 of the shades). So let’s just talk about this one already!

This newest release is the ‘Cutest Crellies’ collection and it features 10 new crelly shades, all inspired by classic cartoons. We have squishy bases filled with various colors of glitter mixes all with cute names based off of quotes or iconic lines from classic cartoons.

If y’all aren’t familiar with a crelly formula – it’s right in between a cream and a jelly formula (cream + jelly = crelly). So they’re going to be more sheer, especially to allow pieces in the formula to layer and build up and peek through and create this dimensional look! Overall it’s about building up the base color, but there’s enough pigment to that base that it will build up to full opacity, rather than the squishy look of a true jelly.

As mentioned I have 5 of the new 10 shades to swatch up for you today! These are all available on the Glam Polish website. Let’s get on into the swatches!

***

Read More »