Monday, December 30, 2019

Polish Pickup January 2020 Written in the Stars Swatches and Reviews

*press samples*


Hi guys! Long time, no blog! If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a great one. I traveled to my husband's family up in Maryland and it was a great one. I will be visiting my family this week for New Years. We tend to visit my family for Thanksgiving, and the husband's family for Christmas Eve and Day. I say this every month, but I can't believe Polish Pickup is coming up this weekend.
This month's theme is Written in the Stars, and some makers have really thought outside the box this month. Some were inspired by their zodiac signs, so some makers may have the same sign, but they interpreted it in a completely different way. New to PPU? If so, here's how it works:

Definitely join the Polish Pickup Facebook Group. You don't necessarily need to actively participate in the group, but it will give you a look at the polishes that will be available in the coming month. PPU themes are chosen by the people, often a few months in advance (brands need time to find their inspiration and test their polish). Any indie brand that has been around for at least a year can participate and each has their own specific inspiration picture and polish for that month. All you need to do is go to the Polish Pickup site during the pre-order window (the first Friday-Monday of the month) to make all of your purchases of these exclusive polishes. There's no need to pay for multiple shipping charges; since this is a pre-order, all polishes get sent to Polish Pickup and they send you the polishes you ordered. Yup, it's that simple. Oh, and shipping is a flat-rate of $3 to the US ($5 for Canada and more for international). Recently they also opened a UK site which you can find here. Since all orders are pre-orders, shipping will take place about 3 weeks after the end of the pre-order.

PPU starts Friday, January 3rd at 11:00 AM ET and ends on Monday, January 6th at 11:59 PM (but if a polish has a cap and sells out before the end of the pre-order, it's gone, unless you get lucky and the cap gets raised...which is rare) on the PPU website.

The website is currently open for wishlisting, so go check out this month's offerings STAT. Time for swatches!










Noodles Nail Polish The Sea Goat (2 coats)
Price: $11.50
Cap: None
Inspiration: Capricorn's Sea Goat


Natalie is a Capricorn, so took inspiration from the sea goat. The Sea Goat is a dusty medium seafoam green crelly base with green aurora shimmer, aqua/green/gold flakies, and gold and blue micro glitters. I was expecting to need 3 coats for this one, but I am delighted to say that 2 was plenty. It applied easily, but dries with some texture due to the glitters, so use a thick topcoat to smooth it all out. I absolutely adore Natalie's flakie/glitter combos, and this is no exception. 






Static Lacquer Fehu (3 coats) 
Price: $12
Cap: US cap 200 UK cap 20
Inspiration: áš  The Nordic Birth Rune for Fehu (June 29th - July 14th) the Nordic birth runes are based off of the position of the sun in the sky instead of constellations like our own zodiac. 
Fehu is inspired by the minerals that represent it: mossy agate, amber, and gold

website | Facebook Fan Group | Instagram

I definitely see the references to agate, amber, and gold in this month's Static Lacquer shade, Fehu. It's a light mossy green with gold shimmer, holographic pigment and flashes of crystal chameleon flakes. The flakes are best seen at angles, and the holo finish really pops in the sun. The gold stands out in lower light. This is so many polishes in one! I ended up using 3 thin coats for my photos, and it dried with no texture, despite the flakes. Love it!











Starlight and Sparkles I'll Make My Own Destiny (2 coats) over black
Price: $10
Cap: 200 bottles US, 20 UK
Inspiration: The inspiration for this one is pretty self-explanatory!  This is how I’ve always felt about things like destiny, and foreordained occurrences, and fate having already been decided.  I refuse that – I will walk my own path, make my own choices, and forge my own destiny. 

website | Etsy page | Instagram | Facebook Group | Facebook page

I find Issa's inspirations to be unconventional and inspiring, and she continues that this month. I'll Make My Own Destiny is a delicate, sparkling holographic topper, meant to look like twinkling stars (if stars were holo, anyway!).  This topper has four holographic components – micro flakes, micro glitter, linear holo pigment, and scattered holo pigment.  You can use one thin coat for a light effect, or two coats for a stronger holographic look. I went with 2 thin layers, because I want to sparkle like that. This one will last you a long time because it has so much holo in here. I used diffused daylight bulbs and my kitchen lighting to really show that rainbow. I do my swatching at night so I didn't get the chance to show what this beauty can do. It applied flawlessly with no texture. 













Starlight and Sparkles Celestial page marker and planner charm set
Price: $14
Cap: 45 sets

Confession: I love paper, planners, and Midori Traveler's Notebooks. Starlight and Sparkles has a 6-piece page marker and planner charm set and they are a golden sun, a silver moon, a golden star, a silver star, a golden disc with the marks of the zodiac, and a silver swirl of stars.  The charms are a crystal AB star and a silver disc with the zodiac symbols around an overlapping sun and moon. I do not have all of them to share with you at this time, but I do have 4 of them. These use rectangular paper clips, gold and silver tone charms, and a crystal star.  

Due to the shape of the paperclip, the charms can’t freely slide all around the paperclip, and these type of paperclips tend to be quite secure, can reliably hold quite a few sheets, and they're usually less likely to leave paperclip imprints in the page they’re attached to. The only paper you have to be careful with is 58 gsm Tomoe River paper which is extremely thin. These also make cute zipper pulls like I showed above. These are quite whimsical, and they are staying on my pocket Midori notebook. 

There you have it, folks! Don't forget, the sale goes live this Friday. The website is open right now for wish listing, so make sure to check it out and get your orders in early. What do you think? Which ones are you picking up? 

*These polishes were provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

1 comment:

Ananka said...

Pretty polishes and liking the topper :-D